Anderson Silva is on the wishlists of many UFC middleweight contenders these days, but he happens to have some plans of his own. According to an Instagram post made on Monday morning, the Spider is looking for do-overs on two controversial fights rather than fresh competition.
Specifically, Silva wants rematches with former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz and current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. Here’s the post:
There is solid justification for both of those fights.
Silva faced Bisping just over a year ago at UFC Fight Night 84 in London, England, in a highly competitive fight. While Bisping would ultimately walk away the victor by unanimous decision, many believed Silva should have taken the win, either via the scorecards or by knockout due to a brutal flying knee in the final seconds of the third round. Unfortunately, a rematch never came to fruition as a pair of last-minute shake-ups to summer cards saw Bisping challenge Luke Rockhold for the UFC middleweight title and Silva face light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.
Before facing Bisping, however, Silva took a “superfight” with Nick Diaz at UFC 183. While the contest itself was entertaining, the aftermath was catastrophic as both men failed drug tests (Silva for steroids, Diaz for marijuana metabolites). This led to lengthy suspensions for both men and saw the result overturned to a no contest.
Rematches with both Bisping and Diaz make sense from business and competitive perspectives, but plenty of other fighters each want a piece of the possible GOAT. Shortly after the post on Instagram, Silva was called out by top middleweight contender Yoel Romero, and on Saturday, he was called out by UFC Fight Night 106’s Kelvin Gastelum.
What comes next for Silva is anyone’s guess, but an answer could come this spring, with the UFC planning a trip to Rio in June.
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