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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist
Three years ago, there were two super fights mixed martial arts fans absolutely demanded: Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre. All hope for Lesnar-Emelianenko is dead; both fighters peaked in 2009, declined sharply thereafter, and have since retired from active competition. However, it would appear that we're closer than ever to the "super fight" between Silva and St-Pierre.
Anderson Silva has elected to take the rest of 2012 off in order to preserve the matchup, evidently a 180 pound catchweight has been agreed to, and Cowboy Stadium is being looked at as the potential venue. The last hurdle in the way of what could go down as the biggest fight in UFC history is of course Carlos Condit, Georges St-Pierre's next opponent. But for the sake of argument, let's say GSP gets by Condit this November and agrees to the fight, the catchweight, and the venue.
The only question left at that point would be whether or not Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre is the fight fans still want to see.
The rise of Jon Jones really changed the whole "super fight" landscape. A few years ago, fans wanted nothing more than to see the two greatest UFC Champions ever meet in the Octagon; fast forward to today and there's much more discussion of a Jones-Silva super fight than anything else.
Of course, it should be mentioned that right now Jon Jones and Anderson Silva are both against the idea of fighting each other. But if the events of the last two weeks have shown us anything, it's A) what Jon Jones says in interviews means very little and B) when push comes to shove, Jon Jones will act in his own best interest.
Jones said he wouldn't fight Rashad Evans, but he wound up accepting a fight with him on television. Jones said he would take a fight with Chael Sonnen in "a heartbeat" and ultimately declined the fight when the time actually came for him to do so. Jones became good friends with UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz until he recently threw him under the bus during an interview at an opportune time. Something tells me that the one thing Jones actually winds up standing by won't be his opposition to the biggest fight of his career.
Ideally, the UFC could do both fights and all four parties would walk away well paid. But if the UFC actually goes through with Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre next year and Silva loses, the Jon Jones fight is dead.
At the same time, if the goal is to make the most money possible (and it always is), then the UFC is probably heading in the right direction. Online debate over what fans really want to see is fine (and that's obviously what I'm encouraging here), but Jones' pay-per-view numbers simply aren't on the level of the UFC Welterweight Champion. The average Georges St-Pierre pay-per-view, almost regardless of who he happens to be facing or who else is on the card, tends to do about 800,000 buys.
Fans vote with their dollars, and if you look at St-Pierre's numbers and Silva's numbers over the last few years, they are the bigger stars. A fight between them will more than likely do massive business in Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
Personally, I feel like the perceived shift in interest can be chalked up to Jon Jones' emergence as an elite fighter coinciding with Georges St-Pierre's lackluster performance against Jake Shields and subsequent year and a half layoff. The numbers definitely support the idea that Georges St-Pierre is the biggest star of the three, and either way, the consensus seems to be that the biggest fights the UFC could possibly put together all involve Anderson Silva.
Hardcore fans might be more interested in Jones vs. Silva today, but I doubt that lasts as we get closer to GSP's return later this year. At the end of the day, whatever makes the most money is obviously what the people want and keeping with that theory, Silva vs. St-Pierre is what the people want.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi and direct your "Ask the Torch" questions to askthetorch@gmail.com
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