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Dana White: St-Pierre v Silva heading for Dallas

ESPN staff
September 5, 2012

UFC president Dana White may just have guaranteed Georges St-Pierre a few extra fans at UFC 154 after revealing victory will likely lead to a showdown with Anderson Silva.

The fight that MMA fans have wanted for years may finally be happening, with White even able to discuss the likely venue and weight category. Previous talk from the president regarding the fight has never been so detailed, giving credence to his claim that the super-fight may finally happen.

St-Pierre is scheduled to fight Condit in November in a bout that marks his long-awaited return from a knee injury. All eyes will be on the welterweight's ability to still dominate his weight class, despite the most serious injury of his career.

Silva currently has no opponent, and is not expected to fight again this year. He also has no outstanding challenger to his middleweight crown at present, so the timing of a GSP super-fight carries weight.

"I think we're pretty close," White told UFC Tonight. "If Georges St-Pierre beats Condit, that could be the next fight.

"These guys want to fight each other now. I think that if you're a fighter and you've dominated as long as Anderson has, and you've been great as long as Georges has, you finally say: 'You know what? I want to test myself; I think I can beat this guy.'"

But what about the weight issue? St-Pierre has always been hesitant about moving up to middleweight, while Silva has never looked too prepared to shed 15lbs to get down to welterweight.

"At one point, it sounded like Anderson wanted to go to 170 and wanted to take Georges' welterweight title, that's what he was talking at one point," White said. "Then it was 180 catchweight because Georges doesn't want to go to 85, he's going to stay at 70, and he goes, 'If I have to make the move to go to 85, I'd have to stay at 85.'

"So we figured that a 180lb catchweight makes sense."

And which arena will stage the biggest fight in UFC history? White predicts that honour will go to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which holds over 100,000 fans.

"If that fight happens, it will probably happen at the Dallas, Texas, stadium," White said.

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