We are oh-so-close to the super fight we have been dying to
see for years.
According to UFC president Dana White, should UFC
welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre unify the 170-pound titles with a win
over interim champ Carlos Condit tonight at UFC 154 in Montreal,
St-Pierre will fight UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in May 2013 at a
yet-to-be-determined venue.
White said that the bout would take place either at Dallas’
Cowboys Stadium, Rogers Centre in Toronto, or at a soccer stadium in Brazil. He
shared no other details about the bout, and didn’t know at what weight it would
take place at.
Regardless, this is big news.
For years, the Silva vs. St-Pierre dream fight was just
that: a dream fight. It was brought up to create hype and buzz more than
anything, but every single time it seemed to get closer to happening, someone
got hurt, another contender emerged, or some other excuse was given. So you’ll
have to forgive those who don’t believe what White is saying.
But the truth is White has never talked about the fight this
much. He’s never given a possible date for the fight. And now, with both men on
similar schedules and at similar points in their career arcs, the fight makes
more sense than ever. So don’t think this is all promoter talk this time
around, for I feel as though we are truly a mere just six months away from
seeing a bout between arguably the No. 1 and No. 2 pound-for-pound fighters in
the world today, and possibly of all time.
But not if Condit has any say.
The Team Jackson–Winkeljohn product, who is 5-1 in the UFC
with huge wins over Nick Diaz, Rory McDonald, Jake Ellenberger, Dong Hyun Kim,
and Dan Hardy, can end the talks of the super fight with an upset win tonight.
If Condit beats St-Pierre, there will be no Silva-St-Pierre super fight,
although the silver lining is we could see St-Pierre vs. Diaz. Still,
Silva-St-Pierre is a much bigger fight.
After a down year in 2012, the UFC is counting on huge
fights in 2013 to help build back momentum for the company. They’ve already
booked UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar, Michael Bisping
vs. Vitor Belfort, Alistair Overeem vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, UFC light
heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen, and Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida for first-quarter bouts. They need these huge fights to happen, and
they need the fighters to stay healthy for everything to go according to plan.
Of course, whether its fighters can stay healthy may be the biggest question of
all for the promotion as of late.
But the UFC’s 2013 calendar has to be scheduled around
St-Pierre vs. Silva. That’s the marquee event the UFC wants, and it’s the fight
the fans want. And now, for seemingly the first time ever, both fighters want
it, too. The only thing that can get in the way of the plan going down now is
Condit, and not money as you’d might expect would be the sticking point.
If St-Pierre proves victorious, it will be interesting to
see if Silva enters the cage and confronts the fellow legend, challenging him
to a fight. If that does happen, expect it to be one of the most memorablemoments in MMA history, an homage to PRIDE FC, which featured moments such as awhen Mirko Cro Cop called out Fedor Emelianenko. Those situations have been
rare in the UFC – aside from the mouthpiece Sonnen talking his way into UFC
title shots – so it would be particularly noteworthy if it occurred.
At UFC 154, look for a motivated St-Pierre to come out and
try to put on a spectacular performance against Condit in hopes of upping his
value for the Silva super fight, even if there’s no doubt that both men are
going to get paid handsomely for it when/if it happens.
For now, though, we have to play the waiting game, and see
if Condit can come through as the underdog, or if St-Pierre can do what he’s
best at – win. I’m thinking it’s the latter, but we’ll see.
