St. Pierre not yet on board for Silva

It seems the entire mixed martial arts world is gearing up for what undoubtedly will be the biggest fight in the sport's history.

That excitement doesn't seem to have spread to one of the expected combatants.

The impressive decision victory by Georges St. Pierre over Carlos Condit on Saturday at UFC 154 in Montreal was the final hurdle in matching the longtime welterweight champion against dominant middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva, an attraction that has Ultimate Fighting Championship officials discussing venues such as Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas.

It's the matchup fans have discussed and the organization has dreamed about for several years.

Silva is in. St. Pierre? Not just yet.

St. Pierre, who would be moving up from his normal fighting weight of 170 pounds to probably a catchweight of 177 against the 185-pound champion, appears to be the last to jump on board.

Immediately after Saturday's victory, St. Pierre refused to commit to the fight everyone expects to happen in mid-2013.

"I know that Anderson Silva is here right now, but I was just focusing on Carlos Condit 100 percent," he said. "I need to take some vacation and think about it to see where I want to take my career. I want to make the best choice for myself, for the UFC and for the fans. But I want to make sure I make the right choice. I'm going to have a talk with my manager and my entourage about it, and we'll see what is going to happen."

He expressed irritation at Saturday's postfight news conference that so much focus leading up to his fight against Condit centered on the potential matchup with Silva, calling it disrespectful to himself and Condit.

While St. Pierre never has been overly fired up about the possibility of fighting Silva, UFC president Dana White wrote off St. Pierre's lack of enthusiasm as little more than exhaustion from a five-round battle with Condit after a lengthy injury layoff.

"I'm going to make the GSP-Silva fight," White said on the postfight show on Fuel TV. "GSP is sore, he just got hit by a bus, and he hasn't fought in 18 months. But I'll make this fight. They'll fight, and it'll probably be around May. It'll either be in Toronto, Dallas or Brazil."

That is welcome news to fight fans but a disappointing update for Johny Hendricks. The former Las Vegas resident became the No. 1 contender to St. Pierre's belt with a quick knockout of former training partner Martin Kampmann.

Should St. Pierre fight Silva, the welterweight belt would be tied up for a while, leaving Hendricks to decide whether to take a fight in the interim or wait for his shot against St. Pierre.

■ CARWIN REPLACED - The UFC announced that heavyweight Matt Mitrione will step in for the injured Shane Carwin to fight Las Vegan Roy Nelson in the main event of the UFC event Dec. 15 at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Carwin and Nelson are serving as coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter" and were scheduled to fight on the season-finale card.

Nelson and Mitrione were castmates on the show's 10th season, which Nelson won.

■ MAYNARD OUT - An injury-plagued 2012 continued for the UFC with the announcement that former lightweight title challenger Gray Maynard suffered a knee injury and has been forced out of his fight with Joe Lauzon at UFC 155 on Dec. 29 at the MGM Grand.

Lauzon instead will fight Jim Miller.

The card is headlined by a heavyweight title bout between Cain Velasquez and champion Junior dos Santos.

■ TUFF-N-UFF EVENT - The Las Vegas-based amateur organization will host FestiBrawl on Wednesday at the South Point.

The event includes a 13-fight amateur card, accompanied by live music and food trucks.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.