Legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach has helped coach both Georges St.Pierre and Anderson Silva in the art of the ‘sweet science’, but despite a huge amount of interest in the two champions fighting in the UFC’s Octagon, it’s not a fight that he’d like to see.
Despite the fact that St.Pierre and Silva are only one weight class apart, Roach states in a new interview with MMAGrinding that the Brazilian is just too big for the Canadian to handle.
“Anderson Silva hits harder because he’s a lot bigger, but Georges is also a good puncher also,” Roach says. “But the thing is, size wise, I think Anderson’s a little more fluent at this point. He’s a lot bigger than Georges, of course. That’s why I don’t think that fight, they’ve been talking about that fight happening, I don’t think it will happen. I’ve talked to Georges about it and [Silva is] just way too big.
GSP himself hasn’t ruled out a potential meeting between himself and the long-reigning UFC middleweight champion, but he has clearly been hesitant to make the move as he too appears to have similar concerns about the weight differential.
For the welterweight title holder even getting beyond the 190lb mark would be a struggle, while Silva is known to walk around at over 220lbs so he’s right to be concerned.
That doesn’t mean St.Pierre couldn’t win however. Of course Roach will look at the fight purely from a striking perspective since by his own admission he doesn’t understand the ground game, but that doesn’t tell the full story.
If the two were to ever compete in the Octagon there’s no question that St.Pierre would be looking to utilize his wrestling, and if he could do so successfully, as he has too many other big name stars in the UFC, then he could negate both the weight disadvantage and the major striking threat that Silva possesses.
Nevertheless, I do agree with the basic idea that St.Pierre is a little small to be competing with Silva, and in an ideal world if there were to be only one superfight that the UFC put on I’d prefer to see Silva face light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Watch more from Roach’s interview below.
