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St-Pierre's future could be at middleweight

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Updated Jul 8, 2009 4:45 PM ET
     
 
Georges St-Pierre faces a stiff challenge for his welterweight title Saturday when he faces Thiago Alves in the co-main event of UFC 100.
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If St-Pierre earns his 11th win in 12 fights, it would add more fuel to the fiery talk that he should move up to middleweight. Victory won't come easy. Alves is a bigger welterweight than the champion, and also is better able than most to stymie St-Pierre's takedown ability. Clearing out the competition in a division convincingly is a prerequisite for moving up in weight class, and beating Alves likely would cement that. St-Pierre's run through the division received a big boost when he beat Matt Hughes at UFC 79. By finishing off the former welterweight champion for a second time, St-Pierre proved that Hughes no longer set the standard for champions. At UFC 83, St-Pierre avenged his shocking UFC 69 loss by routing Matt Serra — validating that the "biggest upset in UFC history" was merely an aberration. St-Pierre would take the "dominant" and make it a theme in his next two fights. His UFC 87 win over Jon Fitch was no small feat given Fitch came into their match on an eight-fight UFC win streak. Beating the second-best welterweight in the world in an easy decision offered tangible evidence as to the distance St-Pierre had created between himself and the rest of the division. St-Pierre would go on to own B.J. Penn, which fully crystallized that distance. The contrast between their UFC 58 struggle — which ended in split decision — and the UFC 94 affair — which had Penn quitting on his corner stool — startled those who were expecting a competitive encounter. Some will argue the Mike Swick-Martin Kampmann winner at UFC 103 would provide a good matchup, and Fitch himself has said he is not the same fighter that lost to the champion last summer. Despite those options, the most compelling and competitive fights for St-Pierre will be waiting for him in the middleweight division. On the top of the list for most fans is a super-fight between himself and champion Anderson Silva. While people will argue St-Pierre should have to prove himself in the division before getting an immediate title shot, those sentiments will be silenced if UFC President Dana White wants to broker the fight. Putting together a fight with Anderson Silva is a bit precarious these days, though. Silva has a fight with former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin in front of him at UFC 101, and beyond that there is a slew of middleweight contenders waiting in the wings, assuming he comes back to the division.

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However, what's really on the line is GSP's legacy. He can finish out his career by continuing to rack up wins in the welterweight division, or he can significantly increase the level of his competition by moving onward and upward. If he chooses the latter, he could set himself up to be the considered the best fighter in UFC history, but only if successful in his new division. And for a man who walks into the Octagon at around 190 pounds, the weight cutting process would get a whole lot easier.

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