Silva, UFC root for St. Pierre win to set up superfight
There will be at least one very familiar face cheering along with the thousands of partisan fans rooting for national hero Georges St. Pierre when he makes his Ultimate Fighting Championship return Saturday.
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva will be front and center cageside as welterweight champ St. Pierre competes for the first time since April 2011 when he defends the belt against interim champion Carlos Condit in the main event of UFC 154 in Montreal.
In fact, just about everyone in the organization will likely be hoping for a St. Pierre victory, at least internally.
Should St. Pierre get by Condit, it now appears a virtual certainty that a so-called "superfight" between Silva and St. Pierre will become a reality.
"There's no doubt Anderson Silva is showing up to cheer Georges St. Pierre on," UFC president Dana White said on a conference call. "He wants him to win this fight, and he wants to fight him after."
Silva is expected to enter the cage in the event of a St. Pierre victory to issue an official challenge.
A fight between the two longtime champions is expected to be the biggest in UFC history.
White has grand plans for the event, which he says could take place either in the massive Rogers Centre in Toronto or a soccer stadium in Brazil.
The favorite to land the fight, however, is Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, a venue the UFC has long desired to visit.
"Believe me, they're pumped and ready whenever we can bring an event there, they're ready for it," White said.
Condit, who enters as a plus-270 underdog, seems to be all that is standing in the way now.
■ TOP GUN - Flying as a passenger on a $30 million F-16 Fighting Falcon performing tricks over Las Vegas felt far safer than making the trek to the city from Southern California for Strikeforce (and possibly future UFC) women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
"I wasn't scared. I knew they had very qualified people helping and making sure everything (was going right)," she said after a one-hour flight with the Thunderbirds on Friday. "I'm sure it's more dangerous for me driving to Vegas in my Honda than actually flying upside down with (Air Force pilot Capt. Michael Fisher)."
Rousey did the ride-along as part of an air show at Nellis Air Force Base. Tech. Sgt. Jake Richmond, a spokesman for the Thunderbirds, said having celebrities such as Rousey do the flights helps reach young people who might be interested in an Air Force career.
"Ronda Rousey has a huge contingent of young fans," he said. "They might not even know who the Thunderbirds are, but if Ronda Rousey says the Thunderbirds are cool and the Air Force is cool, they might take her word for it and go to our website or come to an air show, and that's exactly what we're looking for."
Rousey evaded questions about reports Strikeforce will be dissolved into the UFC and that she will be named the first-ever female UFC champion.
She was more forthright about her disappointment that she pulled "only" 8.8 G's in the air, as compared to UFC fighter Josh Koscheck, who she believed had pulled 9.5 G's when he participated in 2009.
"I really wanted to go 9.5" she said. "I was game."
■ RETURN TO JAPAN - Following the UFC's first event in China on Saturday, UFC Asia managing director Mark Fischer announced the organization plans to return to Japan for an event in Saitama on March 3.
The organization expects to announce an event in Indonesia soon, Fischer added.
■ ALL CLEAR - Though it took longer than expected, the Nevada Athletic Commission received clean results of random drug tests conducted last month on UFC heavyweights Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson.
The results were delayed because of the storm on the East Coast. Carwin and Nelson, the coaches of "The Ultimate Fighter" season airing on FX, will fight Dec. 15 at the Hard Rock
All fighters from both the World Series of Fighting and Resurrection Fighting Alliance cards also tested clean.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
