Dana sits down on ESPN 1000 Chicago and says Anderson will fight Jones and GSP before he retires

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CHICAGO -- UFC president Dana White said Friday that Anderson Silva is on the verge of a new deal with the UFC and will fight Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones before he retires.

Waddle & Silvy

UFC president Dana White joined "Waddle & Silvy" to discuss Anderson Silva's future, Saturday's UFC on Fox 6 and more.

"You will have both those fights before Anderson Silva retires," White said Friday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN Chicago 1000. "Anderson Silva is on the verge of signing a new big deal with us, and he wants big fights. That's what he wants."

St-Pierre will fight Nick Diaz next -- in March at UFC 158 in Montreal.

"Georges St-Pierre wanted to fight Nick Diaz," said White, who is in Chicago for Saturday's UFC on Fox 6 at the United Center. "He's been off for a little over a year; he had that knee surgery. Let's see how this Diaz fight goes. That fight isn't dead. That fight is going to happen. Let's say Diaz beats Georges St-Pierre, Diaz has said straight up he wants to fight Anderson Silva. We'll see what happens."

White had said a fight between welterweight champion St-Pierre and middleweight king Silva would happen if St-Pierre beat Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in November, and GSP delivered a victory.

Silva defended his middleweight title in July against Chael Sonnen, and he has waited since for a challenger to emerge. Chris Weidman has tried to lure Silva into the ring, but Silva does not have his next opponent lined up.

"The great thing about it is Anderson Silva is the greatest fighter ever in mixed martial arts. He's 185 pounds, and he lands right in the middle of Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones, so he can fight both of those guys," White said.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story/_/id/8880830/anderson-silva-fight-georges-st-pierre-jon-jones-retiring

I just don't see GSP ever stepping into the cage with Silva, especially now with how the Welterweight division has improved.

I don't necessarily think Welterweight has "improved" so much as GSP was running through guys and it was becoming difficult for clear contenders to emerge out of the veritable shark tank that is the 170lb division. Much like it's so difficult for guys to string together enough wins to be unquestionable contenders at lightweight, it's just a very deep division filled with well rounded fighters as is this one.

Ludo wrote:

I don't necessarily think Welterweight has "improved" so much as GSP was running through guys and it was becoming difficult for clear contenders to emerge out of the veritable shark tank that is the 170lb division.

I do, there's alot more guys in the division now who are solid at both wrestling and striking.

Ali* wrote:

Ludo wrote:

I don't necessarily think Welterweight has "improved" so much as GSP was running through guys and it was becoming difficult for clear contenders to emerge out of the veritable shark tank that is the 170lb division.

I do, there's alot more guys in the division now who are solid at both wrestling and striking.

Most of those guys have been there a while though. Koscheck has always been there, Jon Fitch has always been there, etc etc etc. It's just difficult to put together the kind of streak Hendricks is putting together in this division where even the bottom end of the top 10-15 is still filled with guys who could potentially beat the #2 and #3 guys on any given night. There are the Martin Kampmanns and Jake Ellenbergers who could, on their best night, beat the Jon Fitch's and Josh Koscheck's and Carlos Condit's and Nick Diaz's of the world.