Who Will Fight Anderson Silva Before The Big Retirement Party?

I wanted to do my first article on Anderson Silva after watching the destruction of Forrest Griffin. So who is the guy to squash the Spider? Well with only three fights left and a Manager that insists that Anderson is retiring at the age of 35, the UFC better pump out some great fights soon. Lets look at some possible fights.

 

Dan Henderson

We all know that Dan Henderson is the next person in line to stand toe to toe with Anderson Silva. Is this a great matchup? In my opinion it’s a great fight. People say all the time that Hendo shouldn't be getting another shot because he has already lost to Anderson. Well he may have lost but when it comes down to it, he is the only fighter in the UFC to win a round against Anderson so far. There first fight it looked like Hendo gassed in the second round. He was using his wrestling great in the first round and was able to stay on top of him. I think if Hendo came out and fought smart and took Silva down we would see an upset. The problem with Hendo is he feels he must use his Big Right Hand to take someone out. I think Hendo has deserved a second shot at the title and I hope they do this fight soon.

 

Georges St.Pierre

This is the fight everyone wants to see. A super fight between GSP and Anderson Silva. The problem with this fight is it would take time. I can see them making this for February or somewhere around that time. If Anderson fights Hendo at 185 and shortly after fights GSP that means that Silva wouldn't have to move his weight around that much. We would have to wait for GSP to get his weight up. I'm hoping they would do a catch weight of around 190 for this fight. However I do not see this fight going well for GSP. Don't get me wrong. I love GSP, he is Canadian and an amazing fighter. Just I think the size and skill of Silva will be to much for him. Even if GSP did take him down.

 

Wanderlei Silva

This is a fight that I would not want to see. I love Wanderlei alot but I think he is not at the level that Anderson is at. Wanderlei isn't the fighter he was in pride. This is a fight that people want to see because of the bad blood that is between these two fighters. In my opinion I would not want to see one of Anderson's remaining fights be wasted on this. No disrespect to Wanderlei, but this fight would be useless.

 

Rashad Evans or Rampage Jackson

I strongly think the loser of this fight should be fighting Anderson Silva. Why the loser? Because the winner should get another title shot against either Lyoto or Shogun. The loser should have to face someone high up like Anderson to get them back in title contention. Both Rashad and Rampage could hype this fight very well. They both would stand with Anderson which I think would turn out better than Griffin's fight. I can just imagine Rampage trash talking Anderson Silva and me on the floor laughing at what he says.

 

Lyoto Machida

This is a dream fight that sadly I just do not see happening. Dana White may think he is the god of MMA but this is a fight that I can't see him being able to make. They both have so much respect for each other and have no interest in fighting each other. They even train together. Dana makes it sound like its so simple to fight a friend but its not that easy. Not just fighting a friend, but fighting a friend for a title. Imagine being the guy your friend lost to and they were stripped of there title because of you. This is a fight I would love to see but I doubt it will ever happen.

 

There is so much more fighters I can mention that are possibilities for Anderson but I don't think they can draw the numbers the way the above fighters can. I can easily mention Damien Maia and Nate Marquardt but they just do not have the PPV power the way the others do. If UFC puts Maia or Marquardt in main event it better be for the vacant middleweight title. I expect we will see Silva vacate the title after the Hendo fight if he wins.