[Cat--Smasher]

GSP: Anderson Silva fight will happen on my terms, not his

"This fight is the cherry on the sundae," he said. "He wants to fight me so he can then retire. I would like to fight him too, but after I fight him and win the fight, what happens next? These days, yeah, there's a lot of money to be made, but I don't fight for the money. My motivation is to be the best. Like we said, to be the Wayne Gretzky of my sport. So if I fight him, what happens next? It will be over. So yes, I want the fight, but I want to take it when I decide the time is right, not when he wants the fight to happen.

"On top of that, he weighs 234 pounds; I weigh 188. So there's a big weight difference. I've fought guys who were bigger -- I'm not scared of him -- it's just that I will take this fight when it makes sense for me. I just came back from an injury, there's money to be made, there are fights in my weight class, other challenges out there, and if I fight him, I will have to gain weight, while he will have to lose weight, and then afterwards, I won't be able to come back to my weight class.

"First and foremost, I have things to do at 170 pounds. When I am ready and when I want the fight, that's when it will happen."

Other notes from the show:

* GSP wore sunglasses throughout the entire interview because he said he had yet to fully heal from the Condit fight.

* GSP said he had Christmas dinner last year at Sylvester Stallone's house after his doctor wouldn't clear him to fly home from Los Angeles following knee surgery.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger called to congratulate him after last weekend's win.

* He thinks he could fight until he's 45 years old, but he guarantees he will be retired by then.

* The host said GSP makes approximately $15 million a year in addition to his UFC fight purses. GSP did not disagree.

* He said he's not quite the Gretzky of MMA but maybe the Joe Sakic.

Georges St-Pierre: Anderson Silva fight will happen on my terms, not his - MMA Fighting


Tug of war over weight casts cloud over Anderson Silva vs Georges St. Pierre UFC superfight

A tug-of-war has already begun regarding what weight the hypothetical super-fight will be contested at. Silva and his camp have said they are willing to move down in weight but would prefer the bout take place at or around 177-pounds, which is splitting the difference between welterweight (170) and middleweight (185).

St. Pierre, in the brief instances he and his camp have discussed the matter, isn't so comfortable with that, at least not by his words.

"Rush" has maintained that a decision to fight Silva would likely mean moving up in weight, possibly even to 185-pounds. His stance has long been that if he were to do that, he would need to think long and hard about it because he would make the move a permanent one. His belief is that moving up and then back down would be so detrimental to his career that it simply wouldn't be worth it.

In that same vein, at the UFC 154 post-fight press conference, he brought up the fact that Silva has previously fought at 168-pounds earlier in his career. He brought this up multiple times, in fact, in various interviews after the press conference concluded. Was he saying he would ask for Silva to go all the way down to 170-pounds? No, but the implication is clear.

St. Pierre trainer Firas Zahabi would later say they believe Silva making the cut to welterweight would be the most fair scenario because that way he wouldn't be able to balloon up to as big as 200-pounds by fight time. The thinking, too, is that if the French-Canadian is giving up both a height and reach advantage, then the Brazilian should be willing to give up the weight advantage.

That sounds logical but can Silva get down to 170-pounds? For a man who looks comfortable fighting at 205-pounds, that seems unlikely and even potentially dangerous but we can't really be sure. Again, the Silva camp has maintained they would like the bout to happen at 177-pounds or as close to the middle between welterweight and middleweight as possible.

As more time moves along and talks get more and more serious, White will have quite the maze to navigate as he likely ends up playing mediator in the tug-of-war over weight. His angle all along has been that so much money will be involved -- this will easily be the biggest fight in UFC history and would likely break a lot of records -- that both men will get past whatever hang ups they have and ultimately climb inside the Octagon to face each other.

http://www.mmamania.com/2012/11/25/3...ufc-superfight