St-Pierre reveals three conditions he set for UFC before Anderson Silva superfight could happen

Georges St-Pierre says the long-dreamed superfight between himself and Anderson Silva collapsed after a single conversation with UFC bosses Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, during which he laid out three conditions that were never answered.

Speaking with Demetrious Johnson, St-Pierre explained that when the UFC asked him to move up from welterweight to face the middleweight champion, he felt the request warranted specific guarantees. “I was only asked once by Dana and Lorenzo,” he said. “I don’t know what was happening on Anderson Silva’s side.”

The first condition was improved financial terms. St-Pierre argued that stepping up a weight class required a different training camp, potentially gaining muscle mass, and represented a departure from the challenges already available to him at 170 pounds. “I want to be compensated better,” he said, adding that he does not believe the figure he had in mind was unreasonable or amounted to pricing himself out of the fight.

His second condition was a catchweight arrangement. St-Pierre noted that Silva had competed at 170 pounds during his PRIDE days and suggested a 180-pound limit as a workable middle ground — one that would also allow him to return to welterweight afterwards without having committed to a permanent move. “If I go up, I needed to go back down because I wouldn’t spend my career there,” he said.

The third and perhaps most telling condition was mandatory drug testing. At the time, comprehensive anti-doping protocols were not standard practice in the sport, and St-Pierre made clear he wanted that safeguard in place before agreeing to the bout.

“That was my intention: ‘If you make that happen, I’m in, no problem,’” St-Pierre said. “But they didn’t follow up with that. I don’t know if they asked Anderson about that, but they only asked me once.”

St-Pierre and Silva are widely regarded as the greatest fighters in the history of their respective divisions. Their parallel dominant runs as welterweight and middleweight champions made a head-to-head matchup one of the most requested bouts in MMA history, yet it never materialised. St-Pierre’s account suggests the door was at least briefly opened on the UFC’s side, but closed before any serious negotiation could begin.