"Rumble" In Silva's Jungle: Should UFC's Anthony Johnson Move To Middleweight?

Yesterday, a report surfaced that while Anthony "Rumble" Johnson said nothing of it, one member of his camp had said that a move to middleweight was in consideration.

Normally, I'd be interested to see it happen with a fighter just to see where the move in weight class takes him.

Cases in point: a few Ultimate Fighter alumni.

Diego Sanchez moved down to welterweight after beating Kenny Florian in the middleweight final, as did Amir Sadollah after winning his rematch against C.B. Dollaway. Josh Koscheck and Ken-Flo followed Sanchez soon after, as would Mike Swick.

Rashad Evans was the original TUF Heavyweight winner, but moved down to light heavyweight after beating Brad Imes.

Joe Stevenson would move down to lightweight after a few fights, while the original UK Ultimate Fighter, Michael Bisping (who by the way faces Dan Miller this Saturday at UFC 114) moved down to middleweight after a decision loss to Evans.

After a few rough outings at lightweight, Nat Diaz, the original lightweight Ultimate fighter moved up to welterweight for a bout against Rory Markham at UFC 111, although the bout would wind up as a catchweight bout.

Anderson Silva could move up to the 205 pound division if he beats Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort. That's a big "if" on all fronts, but it could.

The mention of Silva brings me to a man who could have been where Josh Koscheck is now had he been able to beat Koscheck.

The man is one name on the laundry list of welterweights that people bring up when talking about the "St-Pierre Jungle" that is the 170 pound division.

Aside from the Matt Hughes', the Matt Serras, the Chris Lytles, the Koschecks, the Thiago Alves' and Jon Fitch's, and the GSPs, you have one of the most impressive KO artists in the UFC at 170 pounds.

You may not be able to put him against Silva, but if Sonnen and Belfort go down, Silva may depart from the middlweight class semi-permanently, and then 185 will be a deep division once more.

For that division which has its share of dangerous strikers, he would fit in quite well.

Of course, another way one could argue that Johnson also might benefit at middleweight because of the weight cutting issue that has surrounded Johnson, as well as Thiago Alves.

Not to say that all of Rumble's fights were at a catchweight, because to my knowledge, only Rich Clementi and Yoshiyuki Yoshida have fought Johnson at a catchweight in the past.

But still, one could say that if Johnson walks around at a weight that is heavier than welterweight, and if he ends up weighing 176-178 pounds by the time of the weigh-ins, he could probably hold his own at middleweight.

Sometimes, when you walk around as "one of the heavier" in your own division, maybe a move up isn't so bad of a move, because then making weight isn't a problem.

The main reason why I think the move might do wonders for Johnson is the possibility of Johnson proving himself as being a solid pound-for-pound fighter by fighting guys at middleweight and possibly light heavyweight.

We can't say he is one now, because he's never ventured outside of welterweight, but we don't know that Anthony Johnson would be better off at middleweight nor do we know if he would have trouble at middleweight.

As far as a move to light heavyweight, I don't know that he could or couldn't, but I do believe he walks about 15 pounds shy of 205.

Maybe he could, but we don't know that he may or may not because, again, he's yet to venture out of the UFC middleweight division.

In each division, there are a plethora of fighters that one would think should be on the main card co-main eventing or main eventing because of their record, because they finished someone a certain way, or because they're just exciting to watch.

The reason they don't end up in that spot is generally either a lackluster performance or a devastating loss.

In the welterweight division, Anthony Johnson is one of those guys.

Yes, he did lose to Koscheck in a co-main event fight, but when he returns, he'll likely bounce right back.

After a few fights and a pending knee injury, he could find himself back on the main card, and more-so back in the slot of a fight that is second to the main event.

It's up to him to decide whether he wants to bring that possibility into fruition at 185 or at 170.

Another possibility is that of the potential fights Johnson could go for at middleweight, Rumble would be joining a who's who of guys who are all gunning to prove themselves as a very good reason why the middleweight division is anything but cleared out.

The only definite thing at this point is that Anthony Johnson is considering his first move when he fully recovers and returns to the Octagon. He hasn't made anything official as far as a move up or if he wants to stay on the track to GSP's belt.

He's still a fighter to stay awake on, in my honest opinion, and if you give him a shot to knock someone out, he can do it.

He's done it with a bit of a struggle in GSP's jungle, but the struggle might not be so painful if we see Rumble in Silva's 185 pound jungle.

Heaven knows, it might not be Silva's for much longer.