Middleweight legend Anderson Silva has called for a catchweight super fight with former dual weight UFC champion Conor McGregor. ‘The Spider’ has begun chasing the fight in response to the Irishman naming him as the greatest MMA fighter of all-time.
This past weekend McGregor riled fans and fighter alike by posting out his GOAT list to social media. The MMA superstar put Silva in first place, himself in second, retired two-weight champion Georges St-Pierre in third and reigning light-heavyweight king Jon Jones in the fourth spot. Speaking about Silva the ‘Notorious’ said his many finishes across two weight classes meant he was the best fighter of all time, McGregor wrote.
“The array of finishes, across 2 divisions, with champion status in 1, Anderson Silva is No.1 MMA GOAT. My array of finishes, across 3 divisions, with champion status in 2, I’m No.2. If not tied 1. However still active, No.1 is fully secured by career end. And easily.”
The 45-year-old has now responded to McGregor’s praise for the first time. Silva posted a photo of the pair to Instagram captioned with a message filled with respect but also a call out, it read.
“SUPER FIGHT 176.37LBS. I have an immense admiration for the great athlete Conor and I believe that a super fight would be something historic for the sport, neither of us need to prove anything to anyone; I believe UFC and sport fans would like to see this great martial (arts) show, testing my martial skills with him would be fantastic!!”
FIGHT 176.37LBS Tenho uma imensa admirac?a?o pelo grande atleta Conor e acredito que um super fight seria algo histo?rico para o esporte, nem um de no?s precisa provar mais nada a ningue?m; acredito que os fa?s do ufc e do esporte gostariam de ver este grande espeta?culo marcial, testar minhas habilidades marciais com ele seria fanta?stico!! I have immense admiration for the great athlete that Conor is and I believe that a super fight would go down in the history of the sport, neither of us need to prove anything to anyone; I believe that fans of the UFC and of this sport would like to watch this great martial arts spectacle, it would be fantastic to test my martial arts skills against him!!Silva hasn’t fought since losing to Jared Cannonier at UFC 237 last year. The surging contender scored a first-round TKO victory via leg kick against the former champion who made it two defeats in a row after falling short against Israel Adesanya in his previous fight.
McGregor is currently looking for a fight and is due to complete this summer. The 31-year-old beat Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone inside one minute at UFC 246 earlier this year. He has since been called out by pretty much everyone from featherweight to middleweight – now we can add Silva to that list.
Do you want to see Anderson Silva face off against Conor McGregor?