Freddie Roach: Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva Is MMA’s Pacquiao vs. Mayweather
Freddie Roach, esteemed boxing coach and somewhat of a living legend in that community, has long been more supportive of MMA than the rest of his sweet science cohorts. He's even gone as far as training MMA fighters like Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva and Andrei Arlovski the finer technical details of the boxing game even if he's adapted application for MMA purposes.
In the above video, he tells UFC commentator Joe Rogan that a proposed super fight between GSP and Silva would be MMA’s version of Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather. Notably, I said the exact same thing just weeks ago. To wit:
GSP vs. Silva involves that rare moment in time when the most sporting significant bout intersects directly with the territory of being the most fan-demanded, most financially lucrative fight currently available. In a world where contractual limitations don’t exist, there are other fights that could be bigger. Fedor vs. Lesnar, perhaps at the time it was most feverishly demanded, could’ve been bigger. But that fight has lost its luster and is anyway unattainable. If we are talking about two fighters who exist in the same contractual universe whose pairing meets the aforementioned criteria, GSP vs. Silva stands alone.
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GSP vs. Silva is more Pacquiao vs. Mayweather’s little brother than peer. It won’t garner the world wide attention or breach the North American sporting consciousness in a way boxing’s mega fight would. But putting on GSP vs. Silva would be hugely beneficial in raising the awareness of what MMA’s finest fights can look and feel like, particularly in the absence of Pacquiao vs. Mayweather.
Some in the MMA community agreed, others did not. To those who didn’t, let this serve as a helpful reminder of how epically off the mark you actually are.
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