Silva’s victory brings megafight with St. Pierre closer to reality

Anderson Silva, the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion, did his part by beating Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 on Saturday. Now, if welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre can defeat Jake Shields in April at UFC 129, a bout between the organization’s two dominant champions looks like it will become a reality.

UFC president Dana White reiterated his plan to make the fight happen after Silva’s victory at Mandalay Bay.

White said St. Pierre would abandon the welterweight title and move up to 185 pounds for good. The megafight would take place this year, White said, despite St. Pierre’s previous statements that he would want about nine months to properly put on the weight.

"The most difficult part of putting this together is going to be where we hold it. I really don’t know," White said. "It totally makes sense that we’ll do a stadium show. If there was ever a fight that we were going to do at Dallas Cowboys stadium, this would be the fight."

Silva said he would prefer the fight be held in his native Brazil, with Las Vegas as his second choice. The show would be huge if held in St. Pierre’s native Canada, where he is a superstar.

A Silva-St. Pierre bout would not be a happy development for top middleweight contender Yushin Okami, who would once again be skipped over for a title shot.

"I feel bad about it," White said. "He’s been waiting forever, and Okami does deserve that fight. I have a lot of respect for him and he’s going to get that title shot he’s been waiting for."

Of course, the entire plan goes out the window if St. Pierre fails to beat Shields.

■ WHITEHEAD DEAL CLOSE — A lawyer for Mike Whitehead said in a Las Vegas court a plea deal is near in the sexual assault case against the fighter, The Associated Press reported.

Whitehead, 29, was not in court Monday when attorney Keith Brower asked a judge to postpone the preliminary hearing on the case that stems from an incident in Whitehead’s home in April.

Brower declined comment to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Whitehead, who had one UFC fight in 2006, and faces charges of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault and lewdness. Another hearing is scheduled Feb. 28.

A woman claims Whitehead attacked her while she and another woman slept at his home following a barbecue. The second woman allegedly witnessed the incident and said she also was groped by the fighter.

■ TOURNAMENT BEGINS — The Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix begins Saturday with two quarterfinal matches.

Fedor Emelianenko will take on Antonio Silva in the main event of the card at East Rutherford, N.J., and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski will fight Sergei Kharitonov.

No date has been set for the remaining quarterfinals, which include Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem against Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett taking on Brett Rogers.

Saturday’s card will air tape-delayed on Showtime at 10 p.m.

■ UFC 130 — The organization officially announced UFC 130 will be May 28 at the MGM Grand.

The card is loaded, including a lightweight title bout between champion Frankie Edgar and Las Vegan Gray Maynard as the main event. The two fought to a draw at the same venue Jan. 1.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who turned down an opportunity to fight for the light heavyweight title against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in six weeks, will meet Thiago Silva. Also, Roy Nelson and Frank Mir will square off in a battle of heavyweights from Las Vegas.

■ GRIFFIN UPDATE — Las Vegan Tyson Griffin will drop to the UFC’s new 145-pound weight class, the fighter announced by video on his website.

Griffin is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery last week to "clean out some tears in his meniscus"

He lost all three of his fights in 2010, but two were by split decision.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.