Before Anderson Silva (29-4 MMA, 14-0 UFC) earned a UFC 134 victory, UFC president Dana White mentioned Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) as a possible future opponent.
And following Silva's destruction of Yushin Okami in his record ninth straight title defense, White isn't changing his tune.
White said challenges remain for Silva at middleweight, but he said the time is approaching for a cross-division super fight between the UFC's two longest-reigning titleholders.
"I think there's a couple of other fights out there for him at 185," White said of Silva, who headlined Saturday's sold-out UFC 134 event at Rio de Janeiro's HSBC Arena. "It's very clear, No. 1, that the fans want to see this fight. And Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva are both getting into a position here pretty soon – first of all, they both only want big fights. But they're getting into a position here where that fight's going to make sense."
Silva hasn't lost a fight in nearly six years, and he avenged that defeat (which came via disqualification at an early-2006 Rumble on the Rock show) with Saturday's win over Okami. He's now won a UFC record 14 straight fights, defeated every one of the division's top contenders, and even has been successful in his two fights at light heavyweight.
Aside from a scheduled UFC 136 bout between Chael Sonnen and Brian Stann, there also appears to be little on the horizon for Silva. Stann could provide a marketable matchup, especially in the U.S., and Sonnen is the lone UFC fighter to put the champ in serious trouble (before Silva rallied for a come-from-behind fifth-round submission victory at UFC 117.)
But while Silva has been on a different level that most middleweights, don't assume it's because the division is weak.
"People will say, 'Oh, he needs to be challenged,'" White said. "The 185-pound division has a ton of great fighters. The reality is that this guy is so good, he makes it look like it's not."
In addition St-Pierre, who looks for his seventh straight title defense when he meets Nick Diaz at UFC 137, White has mentioned the possibility of Silva fighting light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones (13-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC), who puts his belt on the line against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson next month at UFC 135.
As he told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com), Silva simply wants big fights.
And "those are a couple that would mean something," he said.
A Silva vs. St-Pierre fight, of course, be one of the biggest events in UFC history. In fact, with the UFC planning a 100,000-seat show at the Convention Center of Manaus (one of many "sambadromes" located throughout Brazil), it could be part of the UFC's next stadium show if the stars align.
"It would be very good business, yes," White said. "I honestly believe that there are a couple more fights for Anderson and Georges. And if they both win, honestly I don't know if there's a stadium big enough to hold that fight."
