Georges St-Pierre says the lost Anderson Silva superfight did not die because he flat-out ducked the matchup. According to GSP, the UFC asked once, got his terms, and never came back with an answer.
St-Pierre explained the old negotiations during a conversation with Demetrious Johnson on MightyCast. The fight was the UFC’s fantasy-booking monster for years because GSP ruled welterweight while Silva controlled middleweight during the longest title reign in company history. Silva’s run lasted 2,457 days and included 16 straight UFC wins.
GSP said he could only speak for his side of the talks, not Silva’s.
“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.”
Watch the full MightyCast conversation below:
St-Pierre Wanted Pay, Catchweight Terms And Drug Testing
St-Pierre said the request covered more than a bigger paycheck. He wanted a contract adjustment, a catchweight, and drug testing before stepping above welterweight for Silva.
“So my request was to fight Anderson Silva, I want to be put under contract,” St-Pierre said. “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.”
That catchweight point was the key. St-Pierre eventually moved to middleweight years later, but only for one UFC title fight. He submitted Michael Bisping at UFC 217, won the 185-pound belt, and did not build the rest of his career around the division.
“So it would be at a catchweight, so after that I could [go back down]. … If I go up, I needed to go back down because I wouldn’t spend my career there. And the third one was I wanted to have drug testing implemented. And they never got back to me.”
St-Pierre also pushed back on the idea that his terms were some crazy poison pill. He said the fight was there if the UFC accepted the structure.
“That was my intention: ‘If you make that happen, I’m in, no problem,’” St-Pierre said. “If you made it 180 [pound] catchweight, I’m in. And if you compensate me, and it was reasonable… and also the drug testing. But they didn’t follow up with that.
“I don’t know if they asked Anderson about that, but they only asked me once.”
Silva later lost the middleweight belt to Chris Weidman in 2013. St-Pierre stepped away after beating Johny Hendricks later that year, then returned in 2017 for the Bisping fight. Silva left the UFC in 2020 and later moved back into boxing, while his UFC exit story with Dana White has stayed messy in retirement.
St-Pierre said the UFC asked him once, received his terms, and did not follow up. His terms were better compensation, a 180-pound catchweight, and drug testing.
