Prior to this weekend’s bouts, there were rumors floating around about the long overdue super-fight between Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva finally happening at UFC 206. Silva’s former opponent in Patrick Cote tweeted about the rumor, and a couple of days later, Anderson’s own son took to instagram to hint about it as well.
He posted this image which has since been deleted, and posted another one with the same caption shortly after.
The card happens this December, in Toronto, Canada. That’s when St-Pierre would be eligible to return after completing the USADA process, and the card which he has been clamoring to headline. While it seems to be plausible, UFC President Dana White once again shot down any rumors of GSP returning.
“GSP vs Anderson? That’s not true. That’s so not true,” White told Dan Hardy in an interview with BT Sport. “I know everybody keeps talking about it — GSP isn’t even close. I’m telling you again, I don’t think GSP wants to fight. I keep saying this. You guys know fighters as much as I know fighters, do you think GSP wants to fight?”
“GSP wasn’t crazy about fighting when he was fighting,” White said with a laugh. “Now three years later he’s just dying to fight? He’s not. I don’t think he is.”
“That fight is definitely not gonna happen. I just don’t think GSP ever returns,” he said. “And in some cases, that’s not a bad thing. The guy retired, he went out on top, he’s looked at as one of the greatest to ever do it and I just think he lost that fire a long time ago.”
“For some reason he’s got his own person reasons — he likes to keep his name out there like he might be coming back and everybody is anticipating his return, but at the end of the day I don’t think he wants it.”
The UFC president has been saying the same thing for a while now, and according to St-Pierre, it’s just a negotiation tactic to force him to cave and fight for “peanuts”.
Aldo recently stated that GSP was asking for $10 million to return, and while that seems like a bargain for the UFC, certain figures like Michael Bisping have said that St-Pierre is “pricing himself out”.
For what it’s worth, there has also been instances where White hasn’t been completely honest about various big fights being booked, in hopes that it doesn’t ruin their official announcements.
About the author
