Anderson Silva Won't Fight Shogun Even If Shogun Beats Machida

Although Lyoto Machida is heavily favored to beat Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 104, it hasn't stopped people from speculating about a possible title fight between Shogun and Anderson Silva. Sorry to burst the bubble of all these amateur prognosticators, but even if Shogun beats Machida (and he probably won't), Silva still probably won't fight Shogun.

People know that Silva has frequently and repeatedly rejected the idea that he would ever fight his friend and training partner, Lyoto Machida. On the other hand, if people think that Silva would fight Shogun for the title, they fail to understand the depth of Anderson's loyalty to Machida.

The possible fight between Machida and Silva has only come under the spotlight in recent months since Lyoto became the UFC light-heavyweight champion. Silva had been talking about Lyoto years before he was on the UFC title radar.

When Silva fought his first fight at 205 lbs we started learning about his loyalty to Lyoto. It became clear Silva could successfully fight at 205 lbs and questions circled about a possible title shot in that division.

Rather than talking about his place in the division, Silva frequently and consistently said that he was not interested in fighting for the light heavyweight title. He believed Lyoto Machida would eventually become the champion, and he did not want to get in his way.

This was before Machida had even fought Tito Ortiz.

Think about that for a second. Anderson Silva's loyalty to Machida not only prevents him from fighting Machida, but also has already prevented him from doing other fights that would get between Machida and the UFC title.

Should Machida lose to Shogun, he will want his title back. Due to this Silva will probably not fight Shogun. If he won, he would then be in Machida's way.

On a side note, the same idea is also part of Georges St. Pierre's hesitance in going up in weight to 185 lbs. If he went up to 185 right now to challenge for the title, he would immediately be in the way of his teammate, Nate Marquardt, and possibly Patrick Cote.

There are, however, two possible ways in which the Silva/Shogun fight could take place. Shogun could beat Machida into retirement,. Alternatively Silva could take the fight as his last fight before his own retirement.

Neither option seems particularly.

Furthermore, as already stated, all this speculation presupposes a victory for Shogun over Machida at UFC 104. That's perhaps the biggest gap in this whole equation.