For years one of the most passionate debates among mixed martial arts centered around who would win should top pound-for-pound fighters and future hall of famers Anderson Silva and George St. Pierre ever step into the octagon against one another. At the height of the discussion both men were champions, decisively cleaning out their respective divisions and Dana White was much less open to the idea of a superfight between two of his top draws. But times have changed. St. Pierre is currently retired, vacating the welterweight championship he held for a record combined 2,204 days after his final fight against Johny Hendricks and has only recently begun publicly flirting with the prospect of a comeback. Silva has struggled since losing his middleweight title to Chris Weidman via knockout and dropping the rematch when he shattered his leg throwing a kick. He has a record of 1-2 since being uncrowned, winning a decision over Nick Diaz and most recently losing one to Michael Bisping. "The Spider" recently spoke out about his willingness to face GSP in what would still be an incredibly huge fight. While the two men were previously very non-committal when asked about the potential showdown, at the UFC 198 press conference, Silva said: "It could happen. It would be an honor to fight him." In addition to GSP, Anderson also became the latest in a long line of fighters to express his willingness to duke it out with the sport's reigning box office champion, Conor McGregor:
"I've never fought thinking of money. I really want to test myself against him. I think he's a great athlete. I think he's got great skills. Even though I've got my focus on my next opponent, I'd like to test myself against him. I never fought in the weight classes below, only when I was much younger...But for me to test myself it would be an interesting fight."
While the featherweight champion has made no secret that he's willing to jump weight classes for big money fights and has backed up his talk in that regard, it's hard to imagine this fight ever taking place. Silva competes at 185 pounds - a weight class that he's large for - and would absolutely dwarf Conor in size. Aside from that disparity, McGregor was handily defeated by Nate Diaz while Anderson squeaked out a victory over his more experienced and talented brother Nick. Nevertheless, now that Dana White and the UFC have gotten a taste of the kind of business these superfights between top stars who would have previously been hindered by weight classes and championships can do, if there's a way to make it happen and all parties are willing we very well may see this one go down. For now though Silva should remain focused on Uriah Hall who he faces at UFC 198 on May 18th in his home of Curitiba, Brazil.