Dana White absolutely must find a way to get Anderson Silva on board for a rematch with Chris Weidman.
Weidman destroyed the man, the myth and the legend of Silva with a left-right combo that sent the Brazilian former champ to the mat in stunning fashion at UFC 162 to claim the UFC Middleweight Championship.
After the fight, Silva made statements that, for all intents and purposes, appeared to potentially signal an end to his epic career in the UFC.
As reported by MMAWeekly, Silva said:
Chris is the champion now. I finish my work. I no more fight for the belt. I fight for the belt for a long time. I’m tired…I want to take some time off and maybe three to four months, think about what I want to do. Really, right now, I can’t think about (a rematch).
I just want to take some time off, go home, and think about everything and be alone. There’s a lot of pressure in defending this title. I defended it for a long time, so I need some time to myself.
It’s hard to blame Silva for taking the loss so hard.
He lost the fight in the most embarrassing way possible, as he taunted Weidman before getting knocked the (you know what) out.
The loss put an end to Silva’s unbelievable 17-win streak—during which he earned the UFC Middleweight Championship and defended it 11 times. And, at the age of 38, it would be easy to understand if Silva didn’t want to get back into the ring any more after such an impressive run.
That said, these reasons are exactly why it would be so incredible to watch him attempt to reclaim his belt against Weidman.
Nobody had ever gotten to Silva like Weidman did. His previous four MMA losses came by way of submission, disqualification or by way of decision.
White knows what kind of hype a rematch between Silva and Weidman would generate. He told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times that it would be the “biggest in UFC history”:
You have to know White will be relentless in his attempt to stoke Silva’s competitive fire in an effort to convince one of his most bankable stars to get back onto the mat at least one more time.
He was so fired up about the prospect of getting these two fighters back into the ring together that, at one point, he told Pugmire that he was considering adding the fight to the schedule at UFC 168:
After careful consideration, however, White decided he’d be better off keeping the Ronda Rousey versus Meisha Tate bout on schedule for UFC 168, as noted by Pugmire, but he’s not going to give up on his quest to get Silva back in the Octagon:
And should Silva agree to the fight, the pay-per-view numbers would inevitably be off the chart. Everyone will want to see if Silva abandons his “what, me care?” attitude and opts instead to put his full focus on the man who put him down.
It would be just as exciting as if Floyd Mayweather finally lost a match and then came back to avenge his shame.
I know I’d pay good money to watch the fight. What about you?
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