(“No scared, homie. Trust me — no scared.” / Photo via MMAFighting)
On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Anderson Silva‘s manager Ed Soares stated that the former UFC middleweight king is looking to return to competition in early 2015, and Nick Diaz is one of the opponents that Soares has in mind for his next opponent.
“Nick Diaz has said he’s wanted to fight him before,” Soares explained. “You could argue that Nick Diaz and Anderson probably have some of the best boxing in MMA, so we’ll see what happens.”
Due to an existing CagePotato Ban, we decided not to pass along Soares’s statement initially. But the idea is starting to gain some traction. During yesterday’s installment of UFC Tonight, Ariel Helwani reported that Diaz would be willing to come out of retirement to fight Silva, “if the money was right”:
According to Helwani, Diaz said that a bout against Silva is a fight he’s wanted for a long time, and that he considered such a matchup as potentially one of the biggest fights in MMA history.
You can’t argue with that. Two enigmatic superstars fighting in a gangsterweight attraction would actually give MMA fans something to get excited about. And of course, that’s why it’ll never happen — because the MMA Gods hate us and want us to be miserable.
Still, it’s interesting to see Diaz’s ridiculous “I’ll only come back for a title shot” stance begin to thaw a bit. Apparently, he’ll also come back for a non-title fight if it’s against a beloved superstar and an assload of money’s on the line. That’s progress.
Anderson Silva, of course, has been out of action since his UFC 168 meeting with Chris Weidman, which ended in the most high-profile leg-break in MMA history. After having a titanium rod put in his leg, Silva is already healthy enough to engage in light-sparring and brief training montages.
So, Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz — we all want to see this, right?