As it turns out, former pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva could get his hands on the middleweight champion sooner than many of us anticipated.
The former middleweight champion is only one victory away from standing across the Octagon from the 185-pound titleholder, UFC President Dana White said in an interview conducted on Fox Sports 1’s UFC Tonight (via MMAJunkie.com).
“(Nick) Diaz and Anderson Silva are fighting, and obviously if Anderson Silva wins that fight, and whether Vitor (Belfort) or (Chris) Weidman win, then you have Anderson Silva versus either one of those guys,” White said.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily “guarantee” Silva a shot at the belt (just ask Rory MacDonald and the laundry list of fighters who lost their promised title shots), particularly because the middleweight division is currently holstering several title contenders who currently author winning streaks that put Silva’s two-fight losing streak to shame.
But also keep in mind that this isn’t as similar to MacDonald’s case as we all think it may be. Like Conor McGregor is to Jose Aldo, Johny Hendricks is to Robbie Lawler and Daniel Cormier was to Jon Jones, Silva is the hottest ticket in town for the middleweight champion.
Because as plausible as it may be to see Silva return to his former glory and wreak havoc upon the upper echelon of UFC middleweights, White and Co. need to recognize that their former champion is returning to the cage as a 39-year-old legend. He could come in and do what most of us expect him to do against a game, but undersized, Diaz. But what then?
They need to cash in on Silva while he’s hot—like now.
“It’s a very interesting fight,” White said. “After the injury that Anderson Silva had, where is he going to be mentally? I think physically he’s a guy that does the right things, works hard. He’s been working since the injury happened. He’s definitely going to be in shape.”
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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