Georges St-Pierre has laid out his side of why a long-discussed superfight with Anderson Silva never materialized, saying his specific conditions were never met.
St-Pierre says the matchup was seriously floated once, around 2012, when UFC figures Dana White and Lorenzo approached him about moving up in weight to face Silva. The former welterweight champion explained that he agreed in principle but asked for several key terms.
"I was only asked once by Dana and Lorenzo… and I had the request because I was like, OK, you want me to get out of my way to go up a weight class, I need to be compensated because it’s different. I’m full of challenges in my weight class, so if I’m fighting someone bigger I need to change my training, try to get bigger, maybe," St-Pierre said. He added, "So my request was to fight Anderson Silva, I want to be put under contract," and continued, "I want to be compensated better, one. I wanted this to be done in a catchweight, because Anderson fought in PRIDE at 170, and I knew he could go down — I don’t know if he could’ve gone down in that moment … it seems like he got heavier as time goes by, so I don’t know. It’s only an impression."
St-Pierre also said, "And the third one was I wanted to have drug testing implemented. And they never got back to me."
Instead of Silva, St-Pierre eventually moved to middleweight for a one-off title fight against Michael Bisping at UFC 217, where he won by submission in round three. He retired after that event as middleweight champion on a 13-fight win streak.
