Georges St. Pierre is perhaps the most dominant welterweight of his time, a fighter for the ages, and with his recent victory over Jake Shields he’s shown one thing: he needs to stay at Welterweight.
A fight against Anderson Silva, the only other fighter usually given the title of best pound for pound fighter in the world, would expose the flaws in his game more prominently than Shields did. GSP came in heavier for this fight than he has in any other beforehand and it showed in his game. Was it a dominant victory? Yes. Did GSP look better with more added muscle? No. And that’s the problem.
In order to permanently move to the middleweight division he would need to add on at least 10 to 15 more pounds from his UFC 129 fighting weight of roughly 190 lbs or so. While he was able to outbox a fighter with limited standup but still ended up looking the worse of the pair. Unlike his past fights, where his opponent has looked worse, GSP looked like he’d been through a war and barely survived. For a guy who was predicted by many to finish a fight, and who was noticeably disappointed he couldn’t, it looks more like a flaw from GSP as opposed to Jake Shields being a much tougher fighter to defeat than many give him credit for.
It’s why two judges could conceivably score it 48-47; Shields did enough damage to win a round, perhaps two, which is more than anyone else has against him since his first fight against Josh Koscheck. GSP still looked like the better fighter and perhaps the most dominant of his era but something was off. He didn’t look the same as he normally does and that’s a reflection on him as opposed to his opponent. Jake Shields has a fairly limited standup game, admittedly looking better than in the past, but still a massive liability that GSP exploited. It also leaves one thing open in speculation: What could Anderson Silva do standing against GSP?
Silva managed to inflict a significant amount of damage to Chael Sonnen in their fight and GSP would fight Silva in probably the same manner. GSP has a similar skill set and would wind up taking a number of shots in the stand up game to get the takedown for five rounds. Sonnen came out of that fight with his face reflecting the beating he took to establish the wrestling dominance he maintained and GSP would most likely look the same way afterwards. The difference is that Sonnen carries that sort of size a bit better than GSP would if you go by how he moved against Shields. He still looked impressive but Shields’ standup is limited and his boxing is stiff. Silva’s isn’t.
As much as a super fight between the two would seem like a once in a lifetime opportunity, GSP is going to take away a significant part of what makes him a special fighter by trying to get big enough to fight at a heavier weight. Most middleweights look like average sized light heavyweights and GSP doesn’t have that sort of frame. Putting on the weight to fight that heavy would also take close to a year and change the arc of his career, which he’s said he’s contemplated but hasn’t said anything definite either. So the odds are that he won’t be fighting Silva or moving up to middleweight, most likely. You know what makes better sense than a fight with Anderson Silva right now?
Nick Diaz.
Diaz is in a similar situation in Strikeforce. Every welterweight of note he’s defeated and there is no true top contender to his Strikeforce Welterweight Championship. Everyone in his path is either a retread of a past fight or a fighter not ready to face him. He’s a big fish in a small pond and now it’s time to throw him into the big ocean, to see if he can sink or swim. Diaz has finished nearly everyone put in front of him, as well, and impressed many fight fans by taking on Paul Daley in his strongest area (striking) and finishing the British fighter. His finish of Daley left him a champion in Strikeforce with no one left in the same way Alexander looked upon the breadth of his doman. Alexander wept because there was no more worlds to conquer. I doubt Diaz wept, though, because there is one man still left to conquer: GSP.
And he should get him right away.
Since he’s a title-holder of a major company in the same way Dan Henderson held Pride titles to be unified, and the way Anthony Pettis currently holds a WEC title to be unified against the winner of Edgar-Maynard (provided he gets past Clay Guida first), Diaz deserves the same level fight for his introduction to UFC fans. Bringing him in now as an active title holder and not giving him GSP would devalue his worth and Strikeforce as a whole.
He simply makes the best sense for GSP right now. He has a style that will frustrate St. Pierre and he can’t afford to stand and trade with him to avoid his jiu-jitsu like he did Shields. Diaz’s personality will also make it that much more interesting, as well.
It is obviously on Dana White’s mind, given that he and Zuffa attorneys have been meeting with attorneys from Diaz in regards to Diaz’s attempt at garnering a boxing fight. Diaz has contractual difficulties in that he’s signed to Strikeforce as opposed to the UFC itself, but is making it clear that he desperately wants either a big money match in the UFC or to box someone of note.
In the end Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva will probably never happen in the same way Fedor fighting in the UFC never will. And that’s not a bad thing because GSP vs. Nick Diaz will be a much better and more intriguing fight. That’s what the UFC Welterweight Champion needs next.
