Anderson Silva may appear to be an accommodating fighter when it comes to helping the UFC but he has his limits. He’ll step up and take a fight against underdog to save a show but don’t expect him to take the fight everyone wants to see and take MMA to another level.
[adinserter block=”2″]Anderson Silva is returning to light heavyweight at UFC 153 after a lengthy absence. It appeared that Silva was done with the division but an opening in the main-event in his home country lured him back. Without proper time to cut to middleweight, the UFC champion instead opted to fight at 205. But don’t be confused. This does not indicate a return to the division.
Silva made this clear in a conference call this week. Silva laid it out when he was asked about taking more fights in the division, one specifically against you know who.
“There’s always been a lot of talks about me moving up to 205, I know Dana has talked about it a lot, all the fans have talked a lot about me moving up and facing Jon Jones, but it’s something I’ve never wanted.”
“Well of course why would he? Silva expanded, I’m 37-years old and I feel like I need to be honest and to continue what I’ve built which is keep defending my belt at 185,” said Silva.
Honest? That is a perfectly fine statement except for a few things. One, he isn’t planning on defending his title until next year. Two, he has no interest in fighting any of the top middleweight contenders at this time. Three and most importantly, he has spent the last year lobbying for a fight with Georges St-Pierre, the welterweight champion who he outweighs almost three divisions when he isn’t cutting.
The only reason I can think of why Silva would not fight Jon Jones is that he is scared. There is no other logical reason I can think of. If he was that determined to defend his belt, he would be preparing to do so and not fighting Stephan Bonner and then looking forward to GSP. If he does fight GSP that would probably create a gap of over a year for title defenses. It’s time to just come out and say it or come up with a new story.
[adinserter block=”1″]The Jon Jones vs. Anderson Silva fight would be the biggest of all time. I think it would even be bigger than GSP vs. Silva because fans would see this as a more fair fight. How could someone regarded as the greatest of all time blatantly avoid the most challenging fight of his career? How could the UFC acquiesce to Silva and give him GSP while not pressuring him to take what could be the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight that breaks the UFC into mainstream sports.
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