UFC Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre may have turned down a super fight with Middleweight Anderson Silva but he can't resist doing a little prognosticating about Silva's next bout, a title fight with tough challenger Chris Weidman at UFC 162 on July 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
GSP tells SportsNet:
"I believe [Weidman] is going to beat Anderson Silva," St-Pierre declared to Canada's Sportsnet. "I believe it's a bad matchup for Anderson Silva. It's very bad.
"Not only is he going to beat, I believe he is going to finish Anderson Silva. I believe it's not going to be too long, that fight. This, people will be shocked."
Josh Gross of SI.com disagrees:
But he hasn't. Instead, Silva chose to go after Weidman at the most uncertain time of the young challenger's career. Feel free to criticize Silva's decision, but tactically speaking there's not a whole lot to quibble with. Silva realized that unless he retired soon he'd need to fight Weidman, so he decided to go ahead with it now because, on the surface at least, the advantage remains his.
...So he made the smart play. Silva will return to face down a young lion who may not be mature enough (physically, yes, but in terms of experience and mental readiness, who can say for sure?). As an example, when they step in the cage, Weidman will have been out of action for almost a full year.
...But he did so plausibly contemplating that Weidman couldn't be as good in July as he would be by the end of the year. The UFC middleweight champion's decision to let Weidman challenge him comes off as a pre-emptive strike. A smart one.
The oddsmakers agree with Gross and have Silva as a heavy favorite over Weidman.