Looks like UFC President Dana White has given up hope on a fantasy showdown between two of his company’s top champions.
White told a slew of media on hand for a pre-UFC 162 press conference Thursday that he doesn’t think 170-pound champ Georges St-Pierre will ever fight middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva (via MMA Junkie). The reason may be a bit shocking for some to hear.
"There's no doubt about it – that's a fact (that St-Pierre doesn't want the fight)," White said.
"If that was the case, he'd say, 'F--k Weidman. I'll take that fight. I really think Weidman's going to beat him, but I don't want Weidman to beat him. I want to be the guy to beat him.'"
Georges St-Pierre was the first fighter to endorse Weidman months ago, stating that he believes “The All-American” will finish Anderson Silva to capture the middleweight title this weekend.
For that reason, GSP said there is no reason to keep talking about a fight between him and Silva, since “The Spider” is about to be dethroned.
Still, it seems that logic doesn’t really sit well with the UFC’s head honcho.
"At the end of the day, he weighs 170 pounds," White said. "Any guy who's going to fight up in weight – 'I'm the man here at 170. If I thought I was the man at 185, I'd be at 185.' I get it.”
“But it's a fight a lot of fans want to see, it's a big fight. It's a legacy fight, and it's a fight for the pound-for-pound best in the world.”
“Georges St-Pierre could do this catchweight fight and he could still be the champ at 170. But what's crazy to me is, GSP opted to take a very dangerous fight (against Hendricks) at 170 without trying to take a dangerous fight at 185."
Of course, for the long-anticipated fight to happen, both champions have difficult title fights awaiting them in their respective weight classes.
Silva must face a very tough grappler in Chris Weidman for UFC 162 this evening, while St-Pierre faces knockout specialist Johny Hendricks at UC 167 this November.
Is the notion of a superfight between St-Pierre and Silva still intriguing for MMA fans or has this hypothetical match up finally lost its appeal?