The Case For: GSP to NOT fight Anderson Silva OR Anderson Silva is a Bully and a Hypocrite
Now don’t get me wrong, no way am I trying to pick a fight with Anderson Silva. Nor am I saying Silva is necessarily a “Bad Guy”. I personally do NOT know Anderson Silva. I have never met nor will I probably ever get the chance to meet Anderson Silva but from the few people I know who have met Silva (and from numerous you tube videos and interviews) it seems to me that Silva is one of the nicest guys you could have the lucky chance of meeting. Plus a guy who can pull off a commercial like this, http://youtu.be/tOiq3N1HY6s its pretty apparent that Silva is a class act. So then what exactly am I trying to say by calling the man who many critics, and myself including, would consider the p4p greatest fighter to ever grace the Octagon a “bully and a hypocrite”?
I am questioning the reasoning behind Silva’s recent calling out of another p4p UFC great; current UFC “Undisputed” Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. To me this challenge of a super fight between two of the greatest and most dominant champions in UFC history is a fair comparison to Nelson Muntz calling out Bart Simpson in the Springfield Elementary school yard, very one sided affair. And yet shockingly there is a very negative backlash from many “UFC fans” against GSP for NOT accepting the fight. Some people have called GSP a “coward”, “not a TRUE fighter/champion” and a typical “French Canadian”. Now I can not defend the latter statement, as I share the same sentiments towards the French and our neighbors to the north, but I do feel that it is NOT only a reasonable respond from GSP BUT it’s the smartest choice he could have made.
There is absolutely no reason for GSP to face Anderson Silva, outside of a fat payday. Sure GSP is one of the best most well rounded fighters in the UFC, but so is Silva. There is a old saying in the fight world, “Between two talented fighters, the BIGGER man will always win”. Anderson Silva reportedly walks around at 230 lbs outside of the Octagon while GSP has weighted anywhere between 190 to 200lbs when he’s NOT training. For those who have never been in a real fight, 30 lbs is a tremendous weight difference. That’s basically the difference between TWO weight classes in the UFC. Its also probably about the weight difference between Muntz and Simpson in the example I stated above. So if Bart Simpson is given a pass for avoiding Nelson, how come GSP isn’t given the same credence for calling off this superfight? If anything this proves that Silva, being the bigger guy, is a bully for trying to pick a fight with the smaller man, GSP.
Now this isn’t the first potential super fight to be called off. A few months ago UFC fanboys were salivating at the thought of two other UFC champions throwing down in a catchweight Super Fight, and yet that fight was called off as well by one side deeming the fight to be “unfair”. That fight was supposed to be between current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and…Anderson Silva, and it was Silva who said “no” to the fight because he thought Jones would have the weight advantage (though from interviews with Bones, he claims to only walk around at 220 lbs away from the Octagon). This is also not the first time that Silva has said no to a catchweight super fight. About three years ago when there was first talk about Silva facing against GSP, another super fight that was thrown around was Silva going up in weight to face training partner and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida. Again Silva balked at the idea claiming that he’s sparred with Machida too many times and knew that Machida would “throw him around the cage” due to his size advantage. So once again Silva turns down fighting a BIGGER opponent because he claims it would be a lost on his record. Yet why is it that he isn’t being criticized or “talked” into taking a superfight against his wishes like GSP is? Kinda hypocritical don’t you think?
Some would argue that Silva has done his fair share of moving up in weight, and has proven he can fight bigger opponents. In reality those fights have been against subpar opponents. James Irvin never had a winning record in the UFC even by the time Silva turned him inside out. Belfort is not even the shadow of the man he once was when he was bulldozing people in the Octagon nearly FIFTEEN years ago. And the less I say about BOTH Forrest Griffin and Stephen Bonner the better. Silva has ONLY gone up in weight to fight lesser talent, fighters he knows he can beat and in impressive fashion. Maybe before we continue criticizing GSP, he should be given a chance to beat on some heavier opponents of questionable talent like Chris Leben, Ed Herman, CB Dolloway or bring back Kendal Grove, he at least won a TUF season.
Sadly, regardless of this long rant, GSP will eventually have to fight Silva before he retires. With GSP approaching his mid 30s, and a long personal dream of representing Canada in the Olympics for wrestling, he is looking more towards his finals fights in the UFC rather than his next fight. Add in the fact that BOTH GSP and Silva have pretty much cleaned out their respective weight classes of any viable contenders (sorry Hendricks, even with your ten second knock out win over Kampmann, you dont have more than a “puncher’s chance” against GSP) and its doubtful that UFC President Dana White would “Chael Sonnen” UFC contender Nick Diaz. So really the only “money match” left for GSP is to face Silva, but again that will probably be the BIGGEST payday for GSP as well. Honestly it just seems that in all fairness Silva should be forced to take a huge gamble on one of his fights (the Jones fight or even a rematch with former UFC contender Dan Henderson) after forcing GSP into a fight. But again until that day I think the talk about GSP ducking Silva or not being man enough to fight Silva should really just stop and let both men do what they do best, destroying the competition in their OWN weight classes.