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Opinion & Analysis
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Staff Editorials
ADKINS COLUMN: Is there anyone, in any weight division, that will step up to face Anderson Silva?
By Adam Adkins, MMATorch Writer
Mar 2, 2008, 15:45
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Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world. Screw you, Floyd Mayweather, you know as well as I do that boxers aren't fighters like the MMA boys are.
Silva is king. Last night, he took some shots from Dan Henderson - some of those were really solid, I thought - and kept on ticking. He ended the bout at 4:52 of the second round, via a deadly rear-naked choke.
Silva overwhelmed Rich Franklin with strikes to win the Middleweight Title, back at UFC 64. Since then, he's choked out two guys (Lutter at 67 and Dan Henderson last night), and TKO'd his other two opponents (Franklin's rematch at 77 and Nate Marquardt at 73.) Is there anyone left in the Middleweight division for Silva to face?
A name that immediately came to mind was Georges St. Pierre, the current UFC Welterweight Champion. Yes, St. Pierre would have to gain some weight to enter the Middleweight Division, but for Dana White and company, it could be worth nudging him about. That could draw. UFC should realize that they have a dominating champion right now, and feeding him as many "big-name" opponents as possible will help bump up revenues. Now, St. Pierre could realize that facing Silva is suicide, and there really is no reason for him to leave the Welterweight Division, aside from a garguantan payoff, which is a possibility.
Another idea I've heard around is Chuck Liddell, but that'd require nearly 30 pounds of weight loss, and after Liddell's beatdown at the hands of Rampage Jackson, I doubt he could beat the Spider. Then again, is it about beating Silva? Probably not, frankly. Silva's passed the tests; he's extremely good at what he does. Liddell vs. Silva at UFC Whatever will draw like mad. Buy rates, son, buy rates. Also, don't forget that the only UFC event to ever get mainstream coverage (like, an AP article) was... Liddell vs. Jackson. Liddell's the UFC's premier asset, but he's also losing time. If you want to push a mega PPV fight, then nudge Liddell into going Welterweight. Yes, you still have Jackson vs. Liddell, but Rampage has other options right now, and Silva really doesn't, at least, none of them compelling.
Matt Hughes? Ehh. It could work, but Hughes isn't beating Silva.
Randy Couture is an off the wall possibility, but he's not nearly what he was, and that will mean an easy TKO for the Spider.
Chris Leben? Don't do that to the poor kid. He's taken his medicine from Silva before, no need to do it to him again.
Forrest Griffin. It's at least somewhat interesting, but once again, no one in their right mind is taking Griffin over Silva.
That's really not the point, though. We all know Anderson Silva is crazy good. So UFC's goal shouldn't necessarily be to find an opponent who could beat him - certainly don't ignore such a fighter, though - but just to find interesting fights for him. They have a killer fighter, they sort-of know how to pump a little MSM (MainStream Media) into the equation, and they are becoming more and more popular with seemingly every event.
But, hell, just seeing the guy work is enough for the hardcore fans. However, UFC is realizing that the hardcore fans don't produce profit; casual fans do. That's why Vince McMahon coughed up the dough to sign Mayweather; it gets the casual fan by alerting the media.
If I were UFC, I'd feed Silva as many opponents as possible, mixing in some no-name contenders with bigger stars such as St. Pierre.
Now, of course, Silva could get TKO'd in the first ten seconds of his next fight and throw all of this to hell.
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