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By: Adam Schwartzbard, MMATorch Specialist
If you were given a choice right now to decide what weight class Anderson Silva should fight at, what would you choose? To me it’s a no brainer; he has cleaned out the middleweight division, he easily fights at light heavyweight, and has recently dominated a former light heavyweight champion who is still towards the top of the division.
In my opinion, Anderson Silva should be competing exclusively at light heavyweight. He is basically already deserving of a title shot there, which would set up an amazing battle between Silva and the current Light Heavyweight champion, Lyoto Machida. Unfortunately, we all know these two are training partners and friends and have vowed not to fight each other, robbing all of us of a potential classic fight. In this article I will examine the possible ramifications of this decision and analyze what would happen if somehow this Dream Fight was to come to fruition: Anderson Silva vs. Lyoto Machida.
When I first heard the rumblings awhile back about Silva and Machida’s refusal to fight each other I began to think about the possible ramifications this could have on the sport. Not so much for this one specific fight, but what if this becomes a trend in MMA?
Training partners and friends refusing to fight each other is a problem that is unique to combat sports; Venus and Serena Williams may not like facing each other in tennis, but it has happened numerous times and has made for great drama for the fans. However, in MMA you are literally in a war with that opponent, and if you cannot bring yourself to fight at one hundred percent, it is simply not worth it. So I understand the hesitation and I can respect friends and training partners not wanting to fight, but how far will this go? As I pointed out earlier, this friendship has already stopped the career progression of one of the sports greatest fighters in Anderson Silva.
Really there are two issues here; first is the question of this becoming a trend in MMA, and potentially impacting other great future match ups. I simply do not have the answer for this problem and we can only hope that it does not become a larger, more prevalent issue in MMA. The second issue is this specific fight. If this fight were to be made, maybe if the UFC throws an obnoxious amount of money at each of them, what impact would their friendship and intimate knowledge of each others game have on the fight? Would they both really be able to fight the same way as they would against any other opponent? Even if they vowed to do so, they are human and I doubt they would be able to truly fight as they normally do against other opponents.
As a "Dream Fight" I simply cannot ignore the fact that Silva and Machida are training partners and know each other very well, and I will analyze the fight that way. That being said, this fight would actually have the potential to become a boring fight; Machida is a counter striker and Silva is a far more entertaining opponent when he is facing an aggressive fighter. On top of that, no matter what they would say leading up to the fight, there would be a certain degree of aggressiveness and killer instinct missing from this fight because of their friendship.
The fight would most likely remain on the feet with Silva delivering his precision strikes and Machida counter striking somewhat effectively at times. Despite the elusiveness of Machida, I think Silva would be able to win rounds by being the aggressor and landing enough clean blows before Machida can counter too effectively. Unfortunately, I see this fight playing out like this for five rounds, with them dancing around each other and periodically engaging, before separating again. Because of their relationship, this fight would simply not live up to its hype and potential.
Dream Fight Prediction: If this fight were to take place, I think Anderson Silva would eke out an uninspiring decision victory and become the Light Heavyweight Champion. When analyzing this fight I was just unable to get past their friendship and simply could not picture the fight getting intense enough for a knockout or major fireworks for either fighter. However, Silva is a deadly enough striker, and he is smart enough to follow a similar game plan as Shogun Rua did in his fight with Machida to take the decision victory. I guess in order for us to see Anderson Silva really challenge for the Light Heavyweight title, we will need Machida to lose the belt or for these two fighters to have a falling out, otherwise this potential “Dream Fight” would not live up to its potential.
To read more DREAM FIGHT articles, including a breakdown of Lesnar vs. Velasquez, GSP vs. Silva and more: [CLICK HERE]
[Anderson Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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