No dream match
One of the matches fans have been talking about for the past few years is a potential superfight between two current UFC champions. Since both fighters have beaten almost all of the top contenders in their weight classes, Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre seemed headed for a meeting in the octagon.
However, St. Pierre seems to backing off accepting a potential fight Silva due to the vast weight difference between the two champions. It was just six months ago that St Pierre felt that he needed the match-up to reach his career goal.
“The primary reason I do the sport is not for the fame,” said St. Pierre. “I do it for myself. It’s important to me to always find a new challenge. I want people to remember me as the best fighter there has ever been in the sport. To do that, I need to do some crazy stuff like going up and challenging other champions, and that is in my plans. The fight (with Silva) would be very interesting for me.”
St. Pierre seems to be rethinking his decision
“I walk around at 185 lbs, and he walks around at 205 lbs,” said St. Pierre. “I would have to add a lot of muscle to get ready.”
Without that fight being in the immediate future for the welterweight champion, Dana White isn’t sure of St. Pierre’s next opponent.
“I have no clue who he’ll fight next,” White said.
St. Pierre is not likely to defend his title again until the end of 2009 at the earliest due to an injured groin suffered in the fourth round of his fight with Thiago Alves.
Tito in the Hall of Fame?
To say Tito Ortiz and UFC President Dana White have had a rocky relationship would be the understatement of the century. The two still exchange words almost routinely through the media whenever possible even though Ortiz has been out of the organization for over a year.
All of Ortiz’s victories were also noticeably absent from the UFC’s Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights show. His matches with Ken Shamrock were three of the most important fights in the company’s history. The UFC did make sure to show many of his losses though – including two to Chuck Liddell, and one each to Randy Couture and Lyota Machida.
While the bad blood remains, White believes Ortiz still deserves a place in UFC’s history.
“Could Tito Ortiz get into the UFC Hall of Fame? Yes, he could,” White said.
That comment even surprised the person who made it.
“Can you believe I just said that?” White said.
Ortiz is third all-time for wins in the UFC with fourteen. He trails only Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes. Both fighters have won sixteen fights in their careers.
Lesnar’s outburst
Much has been made of UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar’s eruption following his second round TKO victory of Frank Mir. While many people were entertained by Lesnar’s comments, the UFC President was not amused.
“I was blown away,” White said. “It’s not who we are, and it’s not who he is. The sponsorship thing was the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
After having a chance to reflect on what happened, Lesnar was very remorseful.
“I want to apologize,” said Lesnar. “I acted very unprofessionally after the fight. I’m a sore loser. I don’t like to get beat. There was a lot of emotion in that fight for me.”
The UFC heavyweight champion believes his prior career with World Wrestling Entertainment may have fueled his comments.
“I come from a business that is purely entertainment. I’m used to selling pay-per-views,” Lesnar said. “I screwed up, and I apologize. The only thing I had against Frank is that he beat me.”
Lifetime job security
With the loss to Mark Coleman at UFC 100, Stephan Bonnar dropped his second consecutive bout. After ten fights in the promotion, Bonnar holds a 5-5 record. Speculation began to grow if the match-up with Coleman would be his last.
White quickly squelched any rumor concerning Bonnar’s exodus from the UFC.
“Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin are like my kids,” White said. “I truly believe that if they didn’t do what they did that night on the reality show, we wouldn’t have made it to UFC 100. He’s helped me build this business and he’ll be here forever.”