Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva: Will Their Injuries Impact UFC's Growth?

Today the UFC suffered a huge blow as Dana White announced through Twitter that Georges St-Pierre will be out for 10 months due to an ACL injury. 

St-Pierre was scheduled to take on Nick Diaz at UFC 143 on Super Bowl weekend. Diaz is now scheduled to take on Carlos Condit for the interim title instead.

With St-Pierre out, the UFC is now down their two top fighters. 

Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champion and top pound-for-pound fighter in the world, will be out for the early part of 2012 as he nurses a shoulder injury. 

Silva and St-Pierre are two of MMA's biggest superstars. Both Silva and St-Pierre have been on lengthy winning streaks and are the longest reigning champions in UFC history. 

Although many fans complain about St-Pierre being boring, he is still one of the UFC's biggest draws. 

With the UFC making moves to go mainstream in 2012, having two of their biggest stars out may hurt the company. 

However, it may also help the UFC make new stars. 

Current UFC champs Jon Jones, Dominick Cruz, Junior dos Santos and Jose Aldo have all looked nearly unstoppable and are all under the age of 28. 

There are other young fighters like Diaz and Condit who could make a huge splash with a mainstream audience, too.

What's more, the UFC's biggest star, Brock Lesnar, will be returning at the end of the month and could have a big 2012. 

While the news that St-Pierre will be out for a while is bad, the UFC will continue to grow. 

2011 could have been a disaster year for the UFC as many big fights were changed or delayed and many UFC greats retired.

Instead, it turned out to be one of the best years in the organization's history. 

2012 will be even bigger, despite St-Pierre and Silva's injuries.