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Now that GSP's gotten past Carlos Condit, will the Anderson Silva fight come together? Or will GSP be fighting Johny Hendricks next?
RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
You can ask me until you're blue in the face, but only Georges St-Pierre knows the answer to that question. More specifically, only St-Pierre knows exactly how much money it will take for him to reluctantly pack on enough muscle to move out of his natural weight class (possibly for ever) just so Anderson Silva can show him that while Carlos Condit can kick, Anderson Silva can kick REAL hard. So once GSP sets that number in his head, it's up to Dana White to either match it or negotiate it down a bit. I hope it doesn't happen, because GSP doesn't need to be fighting Silva who doesn't need to be fighting Jones who doesn't (yet) need to be fighting Overeem. I don't see the logic behind fans calling for champions to fight in non-title fights against much smaller or much larger opponents. Not to mention the danger inherent to the larger fighter having to cut so much extra weight. It's just a bad idea for everyone other than the people who will make fistfuls of dollars off of the spectacle.
So of course, it'll happen in May.
BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Dana White seems dead set on making the GSP vs. Silva fight happen no matter how less relevant it is than Silva-Jones, but he seems to have forgotten that GSP has been sidelined for a long time and Condit failed to ever even attempt to defend his belt. Both of these divisions need active champions defending their crown. Sure, the case can be made at 185 that there's no clear contender, however at 170 Johny Hendricks has shown us that he is legit, he is a steamroller and that he will bust heads until he gets that gold. All in all, I believe GSP gave the right political answer after the fight, but Dana White is going to make Silva-GSP happen.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I think GSP fights Silva. There's just too many reasons not to, mainly money. It would be a monster fight, second only to Silva fighting Jon Jones in my eyes. I could see the fight falling apart, though, but the UFC should really make it happen if they can.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Either way, we win big. If history has taught us anything, it is Dana White usually gets the fights he wants. He can and will put this fight together. This fight will be the biggest PPV ever and he knows it. White and Zuffa will put in as much money as necessary to get this fight together. I am not sure if GSP is really concerned with the weight difference between he and Silva, or if he is playing hard to get to nab a bigger payday. He deserves the most amount of money he can get and so does Silva. If the UFC cannot put that fight together, a GSP vs. Johnny Hendricks will be a great fight too.
JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
It's now or never for this super fight and I think Georges St-Pierre will succumb to the pressure. Anderson Silva is ready to do the catchweight and the UFC is ready to do a stadium show for the fight. There's so much money on the table and really no way out of the fight for GSP that doesn't make him look like he's afraid of "The Spider."
This is a legacy fight and would easily be the biggest accomplishment of either fighter's career. I'm sick of all the nonsense about Anderson Silva being seven feet tall and cutting down to 185 and rehydrating to 265 pounds by the time he steps into the cage. Silva is the same height as the guy St-Pierre just fought and he's got the same reach as GSP. Silva is going to be heavier than GSP in the Octagon, but not by nearly as much as people are talking about, and St-Pierre is the better wrestler by far.
The Johny Hendricks fight would be awesome in theory if we hadn't already seen Hendricks outwrestled by Josh Koscheck, Mike Pierce, and lose a wrestling based decision to Rick Story.
He has one big punch, just like Josh Koscheck did. He'd get jabbed up for five rounds and GSP would move on to the next wrestler with a big punch that's lining up to face him at 170.
I'm obviously minimizing Hendricks' chances a bit for effect, but that's generally how the fight would go. Anyone who thinks Johny Hendricks and his one punch of doom should take precedence over the biggest fight in MMA history (one that would bring tons of eyeballs to the sport and to websites like this one) is completely fooling themselves and is probably going to bed at night sporting a Georges St-Pierre Affliction shirt.
[GSP art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]
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