Date Posted: May 24, 2011
Print Edition: May 13, 2011
By Trevor Fik (The Cascade) – Email
With the largest mixed martial arts show in North American history in the books, fans and followers of the UFC are looking towards the future for the fighters that put on arguably the best performance of the year for the more than 55,000 in attendance at Rogers Arena in Toronto.
No one fighter at UFC 129 had as much media attention and scrutiny leading up to the event as George “Rush” St-Pierre, the man who successfully defended his welterweight title for the sixth consecutive time at UFC 129 against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields in the main event of the evening.
Talks of a GSP and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva super fight were prevalent even before St-Pierre’s decision victory over Shields, leading many to ask not only if the super fight was going to occur, but when?
And while the biggest offence Shields was able to mount in his quest for the welterweight title was an accidental eye poke that left GSP unable to see out of one eye, the victory was not the overwhelming display of striking and jiu-jitsu we have come to expect from the champion. To say GSP dominated the fight would be vastly overlooking his tentative demeanour throughout the five-round matchup.
GSP was cautious, uncertain, and unwilling to make a move throughout the title fight. In so many words he did not look like the competitor that could possibly unseat Anderson Silva from the middleweight throne.
The words super fight imply a battle between two competitors who have dominated all comers in their division, cleaning out their respective weight classes and leaving only each other to fight. And while Anderson Silva has proven that he can go toe-to-toe with the best the middleweight (and some might argue light heavyweight) division has to offer, GSP did not look impressive enough to merit moving up to 185 pounds.
However the argument has been put forth that GSP has beaten the best the welterweight division has to offer, leaving only a transition to the middleweight division left for the fighter who beat Matt Hughes, Dan Hardy, and Josh Koscheck with relative ease. That being said, there still remains several interesting matchups for the fighter who has held the welterweight championship since 2008.
Current Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz has thrown his hat in the octagon as a potential opponent for GSP. The fight against Diaz holds a much more interesting possibility for a match up then a fight against Anderson Silva, as both fighters are in the same weight class and could unify the Strikeforce and UFC welterweight championships.
While Diaz’s run in the UFC was forgettable at best, having lost two matches in a row against Sean Sherk and Joe Riggs, the Strikeforce champion has put together a solid run in the past several years, having won multiple fights in a row. His last win against former UFC welterweight competitor Paul Dayley was of particular note, as Diaz dominated Dayley with ease on his way to a first round victory via knockout.
I personally have never been a fan of the proposed GSP/Silva matchup. Both fighters style lends itself to what would amount to an inevitably boring matchup. It is not in the UFC’s best interest to showcase a fight that would have both its headliners roll around the ground for 25 minutes, grinding out a victory by pressing their opponent against the cage.
GSP simply has too much to lose against a fighter who has moved up to light-heavyweight with relative ease. The size disadvantage aside, both GSP and Silva still have several interesting matchups in their respective divisions. GSP would match up well against the formidable Nick Diaz. Meanwhile, Silva could match up well against a fighter like Chael Sonnen, or even Yushin Okami.
The super fight talk, for the time being, has been stifled in light of Dana White’s announcement that Anderson Silva would defend his middleweight title at UFC: Rio against the man who gave him his last loss (albeit through disqualification) Yushin Okami.
Although a GSP/Silva super fight would be sure to sell tickets and pay-per-views, both fighters have little to gain by agreeing to the fight. The argument over who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts would not be settled by throwing both competitors into the ring, but should be taken under the consideration of the breadth of opponents both fight, and under the conditions in which they achieve victories over these fighters.
