Finding a challenge for Anderson Silva isn’t easy. Silva has cleaned out the division and left the UFC scrambling for opponents. That is why one former UFC champion is willing to drop down in weight and give Anderson the fight he has been waiting for…or so he thinks.
Picking a fight with Anderson Silva seems to be the new trend in the UFC. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans is the latest fighter to challenge the Spider. Evans took to Twitter following Silva’s second round thrashing of Chael Sonnen to throw his name in the hat and call out the champion.
[adinserter block=”2″]”@lorenzofertitta i want 2 pick a fight with the middle weight champion! Lol Make it happen!! Please!!” – @SugaRashadEvans
Lorenzo didn’t address Rashad directly, but did throw his name in the mix for potential Silva opponents. Fertitta tweeted the question to the fans, asking them who they want to see the champion fight next.
“Let’s hear from the masses. Who should silva fight next? #bones, #Gsp, #rashad, winner of Munoz/Weidman on Wednesday?” – @lorenzofertitta
At first glance, the idea of Evans moving down and fighting Silva is exciting. It is about as close as you are going to get to a Super Fight involving Anderson Silva. But this is the problem with Evans. Evans is a great talker, maybe the best in MMA. He does a great job of getting you excited for fights but once the fight starts it a different story. So I hope I can speak for everyone here in saying…NO!
I am over Rashad Evans. Evans lost all interest from me with his pathetic effort against Jon Jones. I heard for almost a year about how he knew how to beat Jones, how he would take the fight to Jones, how he has his best camp, etc, etc. What happened? He stood there like a punching bag for five rounds, ate shots, didn’t push the pace, and wasted everyone’s time and money who bought into his rhetoric. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…you know the rest.
Unfortunately the UFC needs an opponent for Silva and Evans fits the bill. Joe Rogan is probably drooling at giving us the whole, “Anderson has never faced someone like this guy before” story going into the fight when deep down he knows very well that Anderson would either thrash Evans or become so enraged at Evans’ comments that he would toy with Evans for a few rounds, giving us a repeat of his fight with Demian Maia.
[adinserter block=”1″]Now I will admit that Anderson’s weakness has been the takedown. Evans is great at taking down opponents and grinding out five rounds to a decision. Evans certainly has the cardiovascular conditioning to do so without blowing up and deviating from his game plan like Sonnen did at UFC 148. But I go back to the Jones fight and see an Evans that was afraid to take the shot and I think the same thing happens if he fights Anderson. Evans can take a punch but he is cautious to a fault sometimes when it comes to taking chances and that just makes for a boring fight.
Maybe if Evans backed up any of his tough talk even once I’d get a little excited for a fight with Silva? He hasn’t and a bout with Silva has the makings for an over-hyped ugly fight or as I like to call them, Rashad Evans’ fights. No thank you.
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Let him fight Rashad Evans. Pleeeease let him fight Rashad. I think the Spider would lay Evans down for nighty night time. Evans likes to stand and trade. We all know that Anderson Silva has steel for fists. If Evans gets the fight, I would gladly sing his lullaby.
Nice and really detailed post.
I think the same way… I hope the 'crew' from UFC don't do any stupid choice in this case.
Anderson needs a real fight, but not one with lots of promisses and no action on both sides (like we saw between Jones and Evans).
Thanks Divano