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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Now that Georges St-Pierre has defeated Carlos Condit, the last major obstacle to his superfight with Anderson Silva has been cleared. However, getting that fight together still means some details need to be worked out. The primary concern at the moment is at what weight the fight will take place, and if St-Pierre and his camp have their way, it will be a lot closer to 170 lbs.
"I wouldn't want [St-Pierre] to move up, I'd want Anderson to come down," said St-Pierre's head trainer, Firas Zahabi, in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. "I don't know if Anderson can make 170 or something close to that. If Georges goes up, I know he won't be able to come back down, he's told me many times if he goes up he won't go back down, and I believe him when he says that because he'd want to spend some serious time getting extra size on him. and, ... I would want [Silva] to come down as close to 170 as possible if that was the case."
One of the main concerns from St-Pierre's camp is the significant size advantage that will be had by Silva if the two eventually fight. St-Pierre isn't ready to leave the welterweight division, and since it's Silva pressing for the fight, St-Pierre and camp want it to be on their terms.
"You know, the thing is, the next day he'll balloon up over 200, and I don't think that's fair," Zahabi said. "I don't think that's a fair fight. If he can make the cut to 170, that would be great. Georges has to fight everyone at 170, and that's the case. Really I think it would be even and fair. Even if [Silva] would balloon up the next day, he would be weakened by the weight cut, there would be something there."
For now, St-Pierre's going to take some time to enjoy his latest victory, then get back into things early in the new year with the UFC. Zahabi sees a number of potential fights as legitimate possibilities for St-Pierre to fight next, so if Silva's camp isn't willing to move a little further down, that superfight may not be it.
"At end of day, right now, we're just still enjoying the moment," Zahabi said. "I know that talk is going to come and it's going to come soon, you know, Georges has to figure out what he has to do with his management, but at the end of the day, there's still Nick Diaz, there's still Johny Hendricks, there's still some great fights out there, but again, 50/50, it could go either way."
Penick's Analysis: St-Pierre's got the leverage here, because Silva's the one that has been pushing for the fight, as has the UFC. He's never once said he absolutely wants to fight Silva, so if it's going to happen, it's going to have to come on his terms. Saying they want Silva at welterweight is a starting point to get them down from 177 or so lbs., and I think it's quite possible we see this booked as a 174 lb. catchweight. To negate the size issue, St-Pierre's camp rightfully wants Silva to have a harder cut, so we'll see some jockeying on this position for a bit, and it will ultimately come together.
[GSP art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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