Anderson Silva: Avoiding Machida Out Of Honor Or To Preserve His Legacy?

When it comes to the UFC, fans want to see the most competitive, unpredictable fights. We love seeing two top ranked fighters going at it in the Octagon, and nothing is more exciting than not knowing how the fight will end even when it's the third round. But Anderson Silva, soon to be fighting to defend his title in UFC 112, leaves many fans disappointed by going back down to middleweight in what will probably end up being a predictable, boring match against Demian Maia.

However, this does not mean that Maia is anything but a great fighter; it simply means that fans want someone even more challenging for Silva. Despite Dana White promising the most competitive fights in MMA, at least one of the most sought after matches will probably never happen. One such match is Anderson Silva vs. Lyoto Machida.

Even though Mauricio "Shogun" Rua showed Machida's weaknesses and will probably work in UFC 113 to once again exploit them, Machida and Silva agreed in the past that neither of them would ever fight the other. Silva stated that, "I’ll never fight with Lyoto. This is out of the question. The guy is a brother. [It] would be like to fight with Rodrigo and Rogério [Nogueira]. There is no such possibility, nor any money in the world."

Yet Silva contradicted himself by saying in a recent interview that "I am always training to fight the best fighters in the world...I don’t pick my opponents." So is the problem Silva or Dana White? White has attempted to thwart doubts that Machida and Silva would ever meet in the Octagon by saying, "Trust me: this is the fight business...I don’t ever worry about guys saying they won’t fight. Everybody [who should fight] will wind up fighting in the end."

Even Machida wants to avoid fighting Silva as he stated that "Anderson is a great fighter and a great athlete. I think he would do well against anyone in any weight class. He is my friend and we train together when possible, and for that reason I would not fight Anderson." When considering that Machida feels the same way, one can see a trend when speaking with the current champions of the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

Perhaps Machida and Silva are more concerned with maintaining their legacies than giving fans what they want by putting their legacies at risk. Like Silva said in a recent interview, "I know that I want to be very relaxed when I retire, and I want to make sure I keep my belt and retire a champion." So is the championship the only thing preventing Silva from fighting Machida? The hindrance is certainly not the difference in weight classes. As Silva once said in an interview, "I don’t have a problem putting on or cutting weight."

So the issue must be one of two possibilities: one, Silva really does want to avoid fighting Machida due to honor, or two, he wants to avoid fighting Machida in order to maintain his legacy by taking on fighters that aren't as threatening. In Silva's defense, when asked about a prospective fight with Georges St. Pierre, Silva did say, "I’m always training to fight the best fighters in the world, and if the UFC wants me to fight Georges St-Pierre, then I will fight him. We will just have to wait and see if a fight with St-Pierre would take place in the future."

Perhaps honor is the real reason why Machida and Silva will not fight each other. Even if this is the case, though, all UFC fighters should consider their fans' wishes, and the fans want to see a fight between Machida and Silva happen before Silva retires. If not for MMA fans, Machida and Silva would be nobodies fighting underground. For Silva, it comes down to honor for his opponents versus respect for his fans. However, when the fans are paying the bills, respect should be what comes first.