Dana White Tells Troops Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva Fight Could Happen In 2011

On Friday, UFC President Dana White told a small group of troops at the Fort Hood military post in Killeen, Texas, that the fight everyone has been waiting for between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva could happen in 2011.  According to MMAFighting.com, White spoke of what could bring about the highly anticipated scenario at a question-and-answer session that was closed to the public and attended only by military personnel.

“If (Silva) wins that fight (against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126), then Georges St-Pierre needs to beat Jake Shields in Toronto (at UFC 129),” White said. “If that happens, then we’re probably going to do that fight (between St-Pierre and Silva). If they both win, that fight makes all the sense in the world.”

White also gave more specifics that will be of interest to MMA fans everywhere.  “Georges St-Pierre – he would move to 185 (to fight Silva) and stay at that weight and not go back to 170.  Should (they) win (their next) fights, that fight will probably happen this year.”

The fight makes a ton of sense for St. Pierre.  If he defeats Shields, in essence he will have completely cleaned out the welterweight division.  There just isn’t anything left but fighting guys he’s already taken on.  Further, most people’s money will be on him to defeat the former Strikeforce champion, as he holds a definitive striking advantage over him and a likely wrestling advantage as well.  Though submissions favor Shields, most don’t believe that will be enough.

Silva has also cleaned out the middleweight division, save for Belfort.  However, unlike his fellow Canadian champion, “The Spider” has not looked all that impressive in his two most recent fights.  Against Chael Sonnen, Silva was downright dominated until pulling out a final round submission that will forever be remembered.  Against Demian Maia, he did partake in a one-sided bout, even if his showboating and willingness to simply ride out a decision victory seemed to leave a bad taste in a lot of fans’ mouths. 

Could Belfort conceivably pull off an upset and derail the train that should be St. Pierre vs. Silva later this year?  How about Shields?  Regardless, if the two champs come out on top in their upcoming bouts, anything less that a “Rush” vs. “The Spider” showdown would be absurd.  Rather than see a bunch of retread fights, a champion vs. champion encounter would be way more interesting.  It would be one of the biggest UFC fights of all-time.  Heck, it would be one of the biggest MMA fights of all-time.  Reminds me of the old Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler boxing bout, at least in some ways.

By the way, anyone else finding it odd that with such a huge potential match up on the horizon, Silva is talking about fighting Michael Bisping (see Brian Lopez-Benchimol’s article detailing this)?  Bisping is a very good fighter, but he’s lost two of his last five.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing if both fighters are able to follow through against worthy adversaries.  If not, the UFC will have fallen one fight short of putting this mega-blockbuster together.  And that would be a shame.