Georges St-Pierre reveals the obstacles that stood in the way of Anderson Silva superfight
Conversations took place for a Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva superfight, but it wasn't to be.
UFC is known for pitting the best fighters against each other, making sure the greatest in the world never avoid the hardest opponents, unlike its sporting rival of the last few decades, boxing. The octagon is a place where the vast majority of the top martial artists reside, and if the stars align and they find their way to the top of their respective divisions, they'd have fought through a handful of elite, hungry challengers, making them worthy of their spot at the sport's summit.
Superfights have been a topic of conversation within the UFC ever since its birth in 1993. Fans have pushed for two fighters at the top of their game to lock horns inside the cage, but arguably none more so than an affair between Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva.
GSP and 'The Spider' are considered two of the pound-for-pound greats in MMA history. Despite competing in separate weight classes, a meeting between the two was being drawn up by the UFC.
"What happened is that, at the time and when I was in my prime and Anderson Silva was in the prime... I can only speak from my side," St-Pierre said. "I don't know what was happening on Anderson Silva's side."
"I was only asked once by Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta]... 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."
Discussions were in motion, which would have undoubtedly been one of the biggest fights in UFC history. Before two-division champions were running riot in the sport, one active champion facing another was a rare commodity. And not only were they titleholders, but they were also both record-breaking, near-unbeatable, generation-transcending icons who dominated their weight classes.
However, while he considered his requests reasonable, Georges St-Pierre believes that he forced the company to go in a different direction.
"So my request was to fight Anderson Silva, I want to be put under contract," St-Pierre continued. "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."
"So, it would be at a catchweight, so after that I could [go back to welterweight]... 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's demands may have pushed the UFC away from its plans, with the company having a clear change of heart following talks.
"That was my intention: 'If you make that happen, I'm in, no problem,'" St-Pierre stated. "If you made it 180 [pounds] 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."
Listen to Georges St-Pierre reveal the story behind his failed superfight with Anderson Silva during a linkup with fellow UFC great Demetrious Johnson in the video below.
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 9:08 AM.