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Don’t count Anderson Silva out just yet! The former UFC champion is about to begin a long road back to the octagon. The former world champion says he will fight again after suffering one of the most gruesome injuries in UFC history.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that The Spider is crawling his way back to the UFC. The former champion is set to begin rehabilitation which could culminate in a return to the UFC. While that fight probably wouldn’t take place until 2015, Silva’s management are already throwing out possible opponents. Some of which probably won’t surprise you.

I bet you won’t be shocked to read that Silva wants Chris Weidman…again! Silva’s management are already politicking for a third fight with Weidman. But hey if they can’t get Weidman they’d be happy to take Georges St-Pierre…who isn’t fighting anymore.

“I mean, GSP’s definitely an option, but like we always say, who knows? At the end of the day, Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta] decide — if Anderson decides to come back. There’s a few options. It could be him. It could be who knows, a Michael Bisping?

It could be even a Chris Weidman because at the end of the day, people look at Chris Weidman’s two wins — and in a way it’s almost unfortunate for Chris — but like you said, they are controversial wins. Who knows? Maybe even a rematch if it came up would make sense, but like I said, at this point in time I still feel it’s too early to talk about that.”

Well Weidman’s win in the first fight was controversial but I hate to break it to Team Silva but there was not much controversial about win number two. Quite frankly Team Silva are lucky the fight wasn’t stopped in the first round because it probably should have been. I certainly wouldn’t have ever counted Silva out in that second fight but he did nothing to lead me to believe that he had any answers for Chris Weidman.

What does the UFC do with Silva when he is ready to return? I can certainly understand why Silva wouldn’t want his final career moment to be him screaming in pain on a stretcher. But what do you do with the Spider when he returns? This whole idea of a GSP fight is a pipe dream. It’s never going to happen and it makes my skin crawl every time I hear Silva’s team or Dana White bring it up. So who do you book?

I think there are a few ways you can go. I think Michael Bisping would probably be a good choice. Bisping is a name and he will talk enough smack that the fight would probably be do exceptionally well. It is a very winnable fight for Silva, almost a layup if you will from the UFC. I would almost look at it as a tune up fight. While beating Bisping doesn’t prove a whole lot, I think it is a great way to get Silva back in the mix without exposing him to one of the bigger wolves of the division.

The Vitor Belfort-Chris Weidman loser probably makes the most sense. The only problem here is if Belfort beats Silva you have him back in the title mix once again after losing to Weidman this year. I have to think that the UFC don’t want him anywhere near the mix if he loses. It is anyone’s guess at this point if Silva could take Belfort coming off of such a long layoff.

I could see the potential here for Silva vs. Weidman III if Weidman loses. I don’t know that I’d necessarily be against hot shotting him to a title fight either against Weidman. He lost twice and while I hate the idea of anyone coming off of two losses getting a title shot, less deserving title shots have been booked. I highly doubt it goes down this way but at the end of the day this is a business and if that is what is best for business it could happen.

Silva is confident that he will be back and that is a promise. “When I saw that my leg was broken, I was terrified, I couldn’t tell if the fracture was exposed or not. Then, I spoke to the judge who was there with me so they could put my leg in place as quickly as possible, and the pain was absurd. I only thought one thing: Is it over? Will I ever walk again? Am I alright? But, I am confident that I will succeed. I will return.”

Is Silva done? Has he past his prime? It is so tough to say. Could it be that Chris Weidman is just that good? Weidman possessed the perfect arsenal of tools to beat Silva and he has been impressive throughout his UFC run barring one fight on short notice. I am curious to see Silva tested as I don’t think there is anyone out there that can dominate him like Weidman. I still think that Silva had a chance if the fight went deeper but none of us will ever know. Seeing him against Belfort or Bisping will answer a lot of these questions.

Regardless of who wants to fight Silva next it is a long road back to the octagon. Silva has some brutal months ahead of rehab and nobody knows how his leg will hold up once he starts training again. I won’t count him out yet I have to wonder if this is truly the end of an era or the start of one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

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