Could Anderson Silva make one last run at the UFC middleweight title? With a win over Israel Adesanya, he just might do so.
Former longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has said Dana White promised him a title shot at 185-pounds if he were to defeat Israel Adesanya at UFC 234 in February of next year.
Silva (34-8, 1NC) hasn’t fought since defeating Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in February 2017. That win was his first in over four years, and five UFC appearances. ‘The Spider’ was supposed to fight Kelvin Gastelum in November of last year, but a failed drug test meant he was handed a one-year ban from USADA and forced out of the fight.
Talking to ESPN, Silva discussed why he accepted the fight with the rising contender Adesanya, and also touched on potential fights with Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre.
“This is a great challenge for me,” Silva said. “My entire life, since I started martial arts, I have taken the best challenge. Israel is a young guy and the future of the sport. Everybody is talking about Israel. I think this is the best fight in the sport.
“Dana came to Los Angeles to talk to me. I said to him, ‘Why am I going to take this fight?’ And Dana said, ‘You know, you win this fight, you go to the title belt.’ I said, ‘OK, now you are talking good business for me.’”
Last month before McGregor faced Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, the Irishman was already discussed who he would like to fight next in the octagon, and Silva’s name was above the likes of St-Pierre’s. Silva has still stated he is interested in a fight with McGregor.
“At first, I talked to Dana about a fight with McGregor, because McGregor challenged me. Maybe that will be my second fight after this layoff. We’ll see.”
A fight between Silva and St-Pierre has been something that fans have wanted to see for a long time, especially when both men were kings of their division, fighting at their very best in the UFC. It still seems unlikely to happen, as Silva feels St-Pierre doesn’t want to fight him.
“That’s an interesting fight, but Georges has never come to accept the challenge. Georges just runs, runs, runs, It’s crazy.” Silva said. “I do not think Georges wants the fight — but that’s OK. I respect Georges. He is a great fighter. Maybe he just has a different view — to take easy fights. That’s not me. I like to take the big challenges in my life.”
UFC 234 is set for February 9th (February 10th in Australia) with a middleweight title main event between Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum.