Fighters Only

Issue 112

March 2014

SILVA CAMP SEEKING ST PIERRE SUPERFIGHT FOR RETURN

The team behind former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva have said they would be interested in a fight with former welterweight champion Georges St Pierre should both men fight again.

Talk of a superfight between the pair reached fever pitch in 2011 and again in early 2013 when both were injury-free and available. But, St Pierre and Silva were lukewarm on the concept with the French-Canadian suggesting for him any move up in weight would have to be permanent.

Despite the foggy details surrounding the respective competitors’ returns, Silva’s manager Ed Soares said: “If we were able to pull something like that off, it would be a win-win for everybody – the fans, the UFC. That would be awesome.”

St Pierre announced a hiatus from the sport in December but said a return to mixed martial arts was possible, although gave no time frame.

Silva broke his left tibia and fibula trying to regain his 185lb belt at UFC 168 in December when his leg kick was checked by champion Chris Weidman. His surgeon, Dr Steven Sanders, has predicted anything from six months to a year before Silva returns.

BACK TALK

EMANUEL NEWTON (Bellator interim 205lb champ): “When I broke my arm I had a bad infection and it took me a long time to heal. But a break like that, he’s going to have to do so much physical therapy and rehab. Who knows if it will ever be the same? I would love to see them go at it, but I’d like them both to be 100% healthy.”

UFC BOSS DANA WHITE CALLS EX CHAMP GEORGES ST PIERRE’S DRUG TESTING QUALMS ‘RIDICULOUS’

UFC president Dana White says former 170lb champion Georges St Pierre’s issues with the promotion’s attitude towards drug testing are “ridiculous.”

‘Rush’ recently told the French-Canadian press he was “disappointed” by what he believes was the promotion’s lack of support for his desire to have more stringent drug testing prior to fighting Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in November.

At the UFC Fight Night 35 post-fight press conference White replied by noting the organization screens all fighters for events held where testing is not mandatory, and that tarnished the ‘Fight of the Year’ contender between Mark Hunt and ‘Bigfoot’ Silva when the Brazilian’s test showed impermissible testosterone levels. White said: “If that’s lenient on drugs, I guess we’re lenient then.”

At the time of going to press, UFC champions had an average of one loss per titleholder. Five years ago it was an average of 2.4. Could all UFC royalty be undefeated inside another five years?

2020

Anthony Pettis will have to successfully defend his lightweight UFC belt until May 24th 2020 if he wants to break Anderson Silva’s record for longest reign in promotion history of 2,457 days.

WHAT'S HOT

MAIN EVENT LIGHTING

Arena blackout with spotlights in the cage. A little bit of Strikeforce making its way into the UFC

FEMALE 115LB TUF

The more we think about a women’s UFC title getting decided in a TV tournament, the more we like it

CROSSOVER PPV

First it was WSOF challenging Bellator, now seemingly everyone’s at it. Bring it on

WHAT'S NOT

ST PIERRE VS. SILVA

We’d love to see it, but surely everyone would have preferred it a year ago

POO DA MAN?

Are we buying Yoel Romero’s “water” excuse for the dubious mark on his UFC Fight Night 35 trunks?