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Anderson Silva, who suffered a fourth-round TKO loss to Uriah Hall in his final UFC fight at UFC Las Vegas 12, was at one point considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the promotion.
During his run as UFC middleweight champion from 2006 to 2013, Silva seemed to be nearly untouchable and had cleared out almost every contender in the 185-pound division, which led to speculation regarding possible super fights outside his weight class.
One such super fight that was often discussed was one against Georges St-Pierre, who was the reigning UFC welterweight champion at the time, and was equally as dominant as Silva.
The Silva-GSP matchup was one that fans and experts alike all called for, in an effort to see just who was the UFC’s top guy at the time.
Unfortunately for fight fans, the fight never took place, and now, it’s likely that both Silva and GSP are done with the UFC.
During the post-fight presser for UFC Vegas, White revealed exactly why that fight never took place, and just how close it was to coming to fruition.
“Never,” White said outright. “GSP didn’t want that fight. We had these deals where, at that time, Anderson Silva was in a very unique position. He could have gone down [to welterweight] to fight Georges St-Pierre, they could have come up with a catchweight…GSP didn’t want to move up [to middleweight] to fight Silva.”
Dana White reveals Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones was also discussed
Apart from a George St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva bout, another super fight that Dana White says was discussed was one between Silva and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones.
Right around the time that Anderson Silva and GSP were at their peak, Jon Jones was an emerging champion and was slowly becoming one of the UFC’s biggest stars.
Silva, who had previously gone up to light heavyweight on multiple occasions, possessed a similar well-rounded style as Jones, and was an intriguing match-up for the young 205-pound king.
But, as was the case with GSP, the two sides could not reach an agreement.
“[Silva] could have moved up and did a catchweight with Jon Jones. Silva didn’t want to move up [to light heavyweight]to fight Jones…so none of those fights ever happened," White said.
