UFC boss White: Belt wouldn't be on line if Anderson Silva met Georges St-Pierre at 170

Following his win over Carlos Condit this past Saturday, UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre questioned whether he needed to gain weight at all to fight middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva. 

Silva, he said, fought in PRIDE at 168 pounds and possibly carried the kind of frame suited to weight gains and drops – unlike him. 

Silva again expressed his desire to fight St-Pierre following UFC 154.  And while UFC President Dana White still hopes to make the match in 2013, one incentive would likely be off the table if Silva dropped to welterweight: GSP’s belt. 

“Probably not, because I don’t know how many times Anderson would actually defend it,” White said at the post-event press conference for this past Saturday’s pay-per-view event. 

St-Pierre, who outpointed Carlos Condit in UFC 154’s headliner, said he needed to confer with his team before committing to a superfight with Silva, which he said could take place at a catchweight. 

However, St-Pierre’s longtime coach, Firas Zahabi, echoed an assertion made by the fighter as far back as two years ago when buzz around the superfight was at its peak.  He told MMAFighting.com that a catchweight bout might prompt a permanent move up in weight.  A welterweight fight would be fair. 

Meanwhile, Silva, who’s defended his middleweight belt a staggering 10 times, suggested the potential fight should take place at 177 pounds.  The long-limbed champ has two fights remaining on his current contract following a first-round decimation of light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar at UFC 153. 

The 37-year-old Silva’s dwindling time inside the cage, coupled with St-Pierre’s weight concerns, have lessened the importance of putting a belt on the line. 

“It’s more of a pound-for-pound, legacy-type fight,” said White, who plans to give St-Pierre plenty of time to recover from his recent bout before approaching the possible matchup. 

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site. 

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