Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva is one of the greatest UFC fights to never happen.
The duo are a pair of the best fighters of all time and widely considered the greatest of all time in their respective divisions. Much of their title reigns overlapped, and there was definitely a period where there were not particularly interesting challengers for either man. All the way back in 2012, the super fight was negotiated but never actually came to fruition. Fans and pundits alike continued to discuss and break down the possible matchup for many years, but those 2012 negotiations were as close as pen ever came to paper.
Advertisement
St. Pierre has previously admitted to turning down the Silva fight, but is that the whole story? “Rush” recently appeared on Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast to elaborate on his side of the negotiation table.
“What happened is that, at the time and when I was in my prime and Anderson Silva was in the prime … I can only speak from my side,” St-Pierre explained (via MMA Fighting). “I don’t know what was happening on Anderson Silva’s side.
“I was only asked once by Dana and Lorenzo… and I had the request because I was like, OK, you want me to get out of my way to go up a weight class, I need to be compensated because it’s different. I’m full of challenges in my weight class, so if I’m fighting someone bigger I need to change my training, try to get bigger, maybe.”
Johnson can surely relate on the issue of asking for more money to do a super fight … and getting denied.
Advertisement
“So my request was to fight Anderson Silva, I want to be put under contract,” St-Pierre continued. “I want to be compensated better, one. I wanted this to be done in a catchweight, because Anderson fought in PRIDE at 170, and I knew he could go down — I don’t know if he could’ve gone down in that moment … it seems like he got heavier as time goes by, so I don’t know. It’s only an impression.
“So it would be at a catchweight, so after that I could [go back down]. … If I go up, I needed to go back down because I wouldn’t spend my career there. And the third one was I wanted to have drug testing implemented. And they never got back to me.”
Though the super fight didn’t happen, St. Pierre did eventually hop to Middleweight for a one-off title fight versus Michael Bisping, dropping and strangling “The Count” in round three at UFC 217 nearly a decade ago. Afterward, St. Pierre would retire with the belt, thoroughly pissing off Dana White and ending his career on a remarkable 13-fight win streak.
If you miss “GSP,” you can catch him on the big screen sometime in the next few years. Otherwise, “GSP” appears very content in retirement despite numerous fight offers.
