May Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida switch belts?

by BlueberryMuffin on Oct 27, 2009 4:49 PM EDT

I read a reply in a different post where it was suggested that Machida should go down a weight-class. The suggestion was, as should be, not taken very kindly by most other BloodyElbowers and I must admit that I chuckled somewhat when I read about it. But... then I thought about it some more...If Machida wins against Shogun, the disussion is moot. He is then the reigning LHW-champ and will likely remain so for quite some time. But if Machida loses he is stuck in limbo.

The logical challengers to Shogun would be Rashad Evans (if he wins against Thiago SIlva), Little Nog (if he beats Cane). Rampage is out and Tito Ortiz would need a couple of wins before he can be passed off as a challenger.

However. The most likely challenger of them all would be Anderson Silva. Shogun would have beaten the "pupil", time for the master to step forward. Anderson wouldn`t fight for the title since it was MAchida`s, but if MAchida is out, Anderson Silva would probably step in.

Machida could in the meantime drop down to middleweight, which he probably could do tomorrow and would soon be fighting for and very likely winning the middleweight title that Anderson Silva would vacate as soon as he had won the LHW-title. As soon as Anderson Silva lost the LHW-title, or retired, Machida could once again move back up a weight-class.

All this depends of course on a lot of "if"s and "maybe"s but if:

a) Shogun beats Machida in the rematch

b) Anderson SIlva gets the next title-shot (not unlikely)

c) Anderson Silva beats Shogun and then vacates the MW-title.

...Machida may drop down to MW.

I actually think that some of Anderson`s posturing regarding the Shogun-Machida fight is partly to put himself in the limelight and position himself where he can legitimately challenge Shogun.

That being said, I will still be rooting for Machida on January 2.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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I doubt the UFC would let him vacate the MW title.

But nevertheless Silva only has 3 fights left on his contract, One of those fights will be against Belfort, so even if Machida does lose his title in a rematch with Shogun there wouldn’t be a need for him to go down to MW since Silva would only have one match left after he would win the title.

So with Silva as champ Machida would be better off just getting a tune up fight against another contender and get a LHW title shot after Silva retires.

"Did you feel you did well against Lindland?" "
Hell no.. I wanted to break the law"
---Rampage

by TearsofaClown on Oct 27, 2009 6:27 PM EDT reply actions

In a perfect world this would happen. Unfortunately, there are too many ifs in there to think this could actually happen. That and the UFC brass would have to get down with the idea which is unlikely

by HighNoon on Oct 27, 2009 6:54 PM EDT reply actions

Machida cannot make 185.

Twitter: @FlyByKnite

by FlyByKnight on Oct 27, 2009 8:47 PM EDT reply actions

Meh

I bet he walks around 210-215ish. He looks like he enters fight night with something like 8-10% bodyfat, and doesn’t have to cut much water weight at all. He could make MW. So could Rashad though, and so could Shogun to be honest. But being large for your weightclass doesn’t mean everything. Just ask Fedor

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'09 is the year of the FW's.

by ElliotMatheny on Oct 27, 2009 9:34 PM EDT up reply actions