| Sign Up | Google+
 

Josh Gross: Anderson Silva Wants to Fight at Heavyweight

Stay connected for news and updates

Asilva_medium

File this under the crazy section.  Josh Gross says that Anderson Silva wants to fight at heavyweight, and has a certain opponent in mind:

Anderson Silva wants big-money event fights. And he's willing to work at heavyweight to make sure they happen.

Not only that, they already had an opponent in mind: Frank Mir.

Disinterested by middleweight contenders Nathan Marquardt, Demian Maia and Dan Henderson, and unwilling to fight close friend Lyoto Machida at light heavyweight -- where Silva could conceivably knock off challengers and make a disaster out of the UFC's marquee division -- "The Spider" needs new, challenging scenarios to stay motivated. A move to heavyweight would certainly achieve that, and according to Silva's manager Ed Soares, the UFC was receptive to the idea.

There is a bit of logic to the move; Anderson Silva won't fight Lyoto Machida, so having him tear through the 205 division makes no sense.  He's a little bit smaller than Randy Couture, though without a wrestling background his size will be a liability at heavyweight.  I actually think that if they go this route a fight with Randy makes a lot more sense from a business and sports perspective.  

I don't really like all the weight class jumping, especially two classes.  Brock Lesnar vs. Anderson Silva?  It sounds more like a freakshow fight than a marquee title match, though it would undoubtedly do huge business, and you could argue that Anderson is about the same size as Randy.  It just strikes me as a little galling to ask the UFC to jump through all these hoops to keep their champion motivated.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Recent Posts

The Next Read

There are 218 Comments. Load Now. Loading

Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.

C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read

R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next

Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read

Comment Settings

Live comment alert: Hide it!

Comments for this post are closed.

tracking_pixel_5349_tracker tracking_pixel_5351_tracker