Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva: The Perfect Setup

I know the Anderson Silva/UFC 112 discussion has been beaten to death, but just one more piece from me.  Over at BloodyElbow, Michael Rome wrote a piece that compared the unwillingness to put together the superfight between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and middleweight champion Anderson Silva to that of boxing's two premiere players Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.  I have to wholeheartedly agree.  I think the culmination of what transpired at UFC 111 with Georges St. Pierre's spirited effort to show his fans and the world that he could put away opponents in dominant fashion and Anderson Silva's total lack of respect for Demian Maia while still proving to be leaps and bounds a greater fighter would make the perfect storyline.  Vince McMahon would salivate at the opportunity to put together his most revered athlete and his most hated one in an epic battle.  I know though, that most MMA hardcore fans despise the pro wrestling correlation but to be fair, the biggest draws in MMA right now are Brock Lesnar (a former pro wrestler with the look and persona of one) and Kimbo Slice (a character in his own right).  With that said, it's safe to say people pay to see great fights and great fighters but they're drawn to those fighters with 'personality'.  It's the same reason a guy like Tito Ortiz, well beyond his heyday, can still draw viewers to the screen. 

In a potential Georges St. Pierre/Anderson Silva bout, we have the classic 'hero vs. villain' scenario.  GSP is one of those fighters that you watch and it's hard not to like him because you can tell he takes the sport serious and he thrives to be the best.  With Anderson Silva, you have a fighter that has shown and proven to be quite possibly pound for pound the best fighter that mixed martial arts has ever seen, but his flashiness and at times lack of respect for his opponent plays a major role in the duration of his fights, making his artistic techniques seem silly and childish as he drags out the disrespect unnecessarily.  Thus, placing these two inside of a cage now, would probably send most MMA blogsites into a meltdown due to the overwhelming hype that it would generate.  Fans would flock to see if GSP could humble the now dubious 'Spider' and prove that hardwork and respect outweighs pure talent; and in the same vein fans would flock to see if Anderson is just simply THAT good and how he'll show up in a fight with someone as regarded as himself.  This practically markets itself!

Finally to show my true inner nerd, we've seen Anderson Silva wear the Venom shirt many times in his trainings.  That's a good assessment as Anderson Silva could easily be the Venom to Georges St. Pierre's Spider-Man.  In the comic's though, Spider-Man had one heck of a time putting away Venom but finally got the job done.  I could see that scenario playing out exactly like that in the octagon.