UFC President Dana White is in the midst of promoting this weekend’s UFC 174 event, but at the pre-fight scrum on Thursday afternoon, he told the media in attendance there might be another fight he’s interested in promoting at some point in the future: Nick Diaz vs. Anderson Silva.
Both fighters have independently expressed interesting in competing against the other. Diaz has essentially stated Silva is a big enough name and fight to lure him out of retirement, while Silva’s mananger Ed Soares has stated publicly the Diaz fight is one that interests Silva.
As far as White is concerned, well, he’s all in “if that’s what’ll take to get Nick to fight again,” he told the media. “I know [Silva’s team] wants it, so we’ll see what happens.”
Silva is still rehabilitating the leg he broke in the rematch with UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman in December of 2013, but has aggressively rehabbed and is looking for a late 2014 or early 2015 return. White said either of those timelines work for him if they work for the other parties involved.
“No,” White said when asked if he’s spoken with Diaz and Silva. “Anderson isn’t coming back until December, anyway.
“End of this year or the beginning of next year. It could be either,” he noted.
There’s also the issue of which weight class would serve as the basis for the contest. Silva has gone as high as light heavyweight and early in his career as low as 167 pounds, but Diaz has competed at middleweight. White believes any bout between the two would have to take place on grounds closer to Silva’s weight terms.
“I think it’d be tough for Anderson to make 170 [pounds],” White contended. “A few years ago he was saying he could do it, but I don’t know about now. You’re not getting any younger.”
Still, those are issues to iron out when the time comes. White noted he’ll talk to both parties when the time is right. Until then, however, he’s expressing nothing but enthusiasm for the idea. If the parties want it, he stated, he’s in no position to stamp out their idea.
“Anderson wants to fight Nick. Nick wants to fight Anderson,” he said. “Why would I say no?”