‘It Would Be a Crime’ for Anderson Silva to Fight GSP at Welterweight, Says S&C Coach

In an interview with the Radio-Canada Television program “Tout Le Monde en Parle,” GSP made clear that he will fight Silva only when he feels the time is right, adding that he still has “things to do at 170 pounds.” Coupled with a recent remark from St. Pierre trainer Firas Zahabi that a meeting of the champions at welterweight would be “even and fair,” it appears the Canadian side could be angling to bring Silva as far down the scale as possible.

However, speaking with Sherdog.com this week, Silva’s strength and conditioning coach, Rogerio Camoes, rejected the possibility of “The Spider” dropping to 170 pounds.

“It would be a crime for Anderson to fight at 170,” asserted Camoes. “He could make the weight, but the physical loss would be too great. We have to respect GSP, who, besides being a great fighter, is a monster physically. The Canadian would have a considerable physical advantage if they fought at welterweight.”

Camoes, who also trains such fighters as Erick Silva and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at Rio de Janeiro’s X-Gym, believes a middle ground would be ideal for the duel.

“For me, this fight should happen at 177 pounds, which would be terrible for Anderson. It would be his first time at this weight in the UFC and we would have to implement a very specific plan for him to perform 100-percent up to his capabilities.”

With UFC President Dana White recently stating that the fight could take place in May, Camoes says Silva has been keeping his weight down in order to more easily adapt to a sub-185 weight cut.

“Right now, Anderson is between 203 and 207 pounds, already thinking about having to cut weight to face GSP,” said Camoes. “Anderson moving down 7 pounds and St. Pierre going up 7 pounds would be more fair to them, and for the audience to see a great fight.”