Dana White: "Rory MacDonald will fight Georges St-Pierre. I know it, you know it, everybody knows it"

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"[MacDonald] will fight Georges St-Pierre. I know it, you know it, everybody knows it. This is my prediction. I think if he beats Robbie Lawler, he's going to move out of Georges' house, and I think things are going to change. I think this is the fight for him that's going to put him in the direction of fighting GSP. I think if he wins this fight, he's moving out, he's leaving his own place.

You can't see that this kid wants to fight Georges St-Pierre? He's living in Georges St-Pierre's house. What you don't do, is you don't say you want to fight this guy. That's like saying I don't want to punch the guy in the face whose house I'm living in. I know Georges St-Pierre. I know what a professional he is, and I know, when has GSP ever not fought someone who deserved to be next? GSP has never been one of those champions who says 'I don't think this guy deserves to be fighting me.' he says 'Who's next.'"

-Dana White talks to reporters after the pre-fight press conference for UFC 167 about why he thinks Rory MacDonald and Georges St-Pierre will wind up fighting if they both win this weekend (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com).

Penick's Analysis: White's done this before. He's successfully split up two teammates and essentially forced one out of their gym before. That's what happened with Jon Jones and Rashad Evans, leading Evans to leave Greg Jackson's camp and start up with the Blackzilians after Jones commented that he would take that fight if the UFC asked it of him. All it takes is GSP to break any sort of spoken or unspoken thing between he and MacDonald and say, 'yes, I'll defend against anyone, and if he wants that fight, I'll fight him.' Or for MacDonald to realize that it's the fight he would need in order to become Champion for himself. That's what White is attempting to do here, he's trying to sow the seeds of discontent to break them up. Will he be successful this time? Maybe, maybe not, but he's going to do his best as a promoter to try to get that fight together if it is next in line.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_19236.shtml

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