Report: Silva considering moving to welterweight

Here's one way to solve the 185-pound problem the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is having -- have the champion vacate the title and move down to become a 170-pound problem.

That's apparently a move Middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva is considering now that the list of contenders in the weight class he's owned for six years now is less than appetizing. During a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed a conversation he had with higher ups at the UFC who told him he could reveal a few possibilities that could play themselves out in the future, likely sometime next year.

This is all subject to change, of course, but apparently, "The Spider" is kicking around the notion of vacating the middleweight title and moving down to welterweight to challenge division champion Georges St. Pierre for a superfight we know the promotion is already hoping to put together[..]uming "Rush" is able to defeat Carlos Condit when they tussle at UFC 154 in November.

That would free up the middleweight strap to a whole host of contenders who would no longer be under the long shadow cast by Silva, the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.

Interestingly enough, that could also be the reason Lyoto Machida came into his UFC on Fox 4 bout against Ryan Bader weighing just 201-pounds. He was a lean, mean[..]-kicking machine and his knockout victory was so impressive, he earned a light heavyweight title shot with it.

But he may have his eyes set on the belt Silva currently has around his waist.


Indeed, UFC President Dana White revealed Ed Soares, who manages both Silva and Machida, told the bossman he needed to have a conversation with him over the weekend during the "Shogun vs. Vera" event. That talk never happened so the details aren't available but it's entirely possible, this could be what he wanted to discuss.

Now that Machida has earned a shot at the 205-pound title, plans have either changed or been put on hold.[..]uming "The Dragon" loses to Jon Jones in a rematch, or Dan Henderson if he wins the belt at UFC 151 in Las Vegas, that would finally free him up to switch weight classes.

There's no telling whether or not any of that will happen, but it's something to consider.

Plus, as mentioned previously, this is[..]uming St. Pierre defeats Condit later this year to retain his title to maintain the appeal of a superfight between the two top pound-for-pound fighters on Earth.

It should be noted that it's entirely possible any number of scenarios play out that put a stop to all this talk but with the current climate at middleweight and Silva's unwillingness to move up to light heavyweight, it seems downright logical that he move down for a match-up that would unquestionably be the biggest of all time.

Here's to hoping it happens.

Scared of bones

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if he wanted a superfight why not go after the lhw champ, instead he wants the smaller guy coming off a brutal injury.


:shook:

Son you are retarded if you think GSP is the same size as Silva that's one of the dumbest things I've ever read about this situation.

Revisionist history has GSP dodging the fight which is never the case. Im not saying Spider didnt want the fight he may have but he didnt push that hard for it. If he did why is he only considering moving too WW now? If he wanted it so bad why didnt he do it before the major injury? Im sure he wouldve fought GSP but in a catch weight or MW.

How is that holding spider to a double standard?

Scared of bones

Silva would be huge at 170.

Matt Serra vs Silva [pic]

Revisionist history has GSP dodging the fight which is never the case. Im not saying Spider didnt want the fight he may have but he didnt push that hard for it. If he did why is he only considering moving too WW now? If he wanted it so bad why didnt he do it before the major injury? Im sure he wouldve fought GSP but in a catch weight or MW.

yes. bones is a kid of course hed say that, he said the same !! about shad. if silvaa wanted to fight bones theyd fight. thats not a opinion its a fact.

he was not offically offered a catchweight if u have a link showing otherwise please provide it. legit link btw.

he talked to dana about moving to mw but felt it was too big of a commitement at that point and this was prior to the shields fight.

gsp has never fought at mw, anderson has fought at lhw, thats why anderson vs jones makes more sense. anderson has already fought and won at 205.

This is GOAT !!? how about no? he can easily move up to his natural wight class to fight punching bags like Forrest Griffin, now he knows Jones is patrolling that weight class he wants to move down another weight class and people are praising him?

All he is about now is money its pathetic

Jones don't want to fight Silva either tho...[pic]

It does not mean more at this point. Jones means more since he's undefeated and on the greatest run in UFC history yes even better than spiders.

Silva beating a smaller gsp coming off of a brutal injury does nothing for Silvas legacy he'd go in as a heavy favorite at this point. If gsp comes back and wins some dominate fights than yes one or two years later it'd mean a lot but at this point it does not.

if he can cut that weight without struggling those niccas are in trouble
why bully the smaller cats tho move up and fight you know who ...

Well according to this board GSP doesnt wanna fight him either so work that one out. Im sure GSP isnt as much about money and he will want his title back 1st and foremost either way im sure he wants Diaz after all that was said aswell

i should give the facts a rest??????

really man?

of course if gsp comes back and looks great it would mean something but thats what i just said genius.

but ur saying right now a gsp fight means more which im sorry it doesnt.

and yes bones is hot !! right now but hes on the greatest run in ufc history its not like hes only won one or two fights.

dude has beaten bigger names on this run than silva has on his [pic]