Mailbag: Who's Next For Anderson Silva?
Are there any great fights left for Anderson Silva? Who is he going to fight next?
Alex W. from Greenwich, CT
Dr. Octagon, J.D. responds:
The middleweight division has been thin for years. Remember when Thales Leites and Patrick Cote got title shots? Demian Maia got knocked out by Nate Marquardt, won one fight against Dan Miller, then got a title shot. The middleweight division only became exciting again because of Chael Sonnen.
Honestly, no one was really giving Chael a chance against Anderson Silva. He had a bunch of submission losses, and even his wins weren’t that impressive. But then Chael almost defeated Anderson, before succumbing to a triangle, and suddenly people were talking about the middleweight division again. Now he’s lost to Anderson a second time and the middleweight division looks barren once more.[[MORE]]
People are trying to stir up controversy due to Anderson’s shorts-grabbing, vaseline smearing antics. Yes, his actions were slightly illegal, but they had no impact on the outcome of the fight. Also, complaining about shorts-grabbing against a guy using testosterone replacement therapy seems a bit short-sighted. There are also thoseare still complaining that the knee Anderson used to hurt Chael was close to being illegal (although totally legal). These people are insane and should be ignored. Chael lost fair and square, and if Manny Pacquiao can’t win an appeal, Chael Sonnen doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell.
While I don’t think that any of the guys left in the middleweight division has a great shot at beating Anderson Silva, you never know what will happen in MMA. Hector Lombard is an enormous wildcard, having not faced decent competition in years.
But as of this moment, there are no truly competitive fights left for Anderson Silva. Who is most deserving of a shot now? Probably Mark Munoz. Who is the best guy he’s beaten? I don’t even know. He has never fought anyone that great. Munoz beat Leben and won a unanimous decision over Demian Maia, who cut down to welterweight because he couldn’t hang in the middleweight division.
Munoz is going to be fighting Chris Weidman, in what may be a title eliminator. Weidman, like Munoz, also owns a decision victory over Demian Maia. Both these guys are great wrestlers, which is the best thing you can be against Anderson Silva, since you’re probably not going to beat him standing up. But other than their wrestling ability, there isn’t that much to recommend either matched up against Silva.
Then there’s the almost impossibly muscular Lombard. Lombard has created a lot of buzz by beating fighters so anonymous, they don’t even have Wikipedia pages. While Lombard has an impressive win streak against lackluster opponents, he’s never even beaten someone of Demian Maia’s caliber. He lost to Gegard Mousasi, but it was back in 2006, so who knows what that counts for. He also has a draw to Kyle Noke in 2007. If you will remember Kyle Noke was a The Ultimate Fighter participant in 2010, but lost to Kris McCray, I believe.
Lombard is going to be facing Tim Boetsch at UFC 149. Boetsch is coming off a huge comeback win over Yushin Okami after getting his ass kicked for two rounds. I’d prefer to see the winner of that fight against Anderson Silva. If Lombard wins in spectacular fashion, he might get the shot. His win streak (and the amount of finishes he has), makes him way more marketable than Silva against either Weidman or Munoz. Boetsch probably won’t get a title shot even if he wins. His last win against Okami wasn’t pretty, and he hasn’t been at middleweight for very long.
Another option is Rashad Evans, who has called Silva out and apparently thinks he deserves another title shot after being used as a punching bag by Jon Jones. I can’t remember the last time I saw a guy get a title shot after a loss. Even Urijah Faber has to mix in normal fights between his failed title fights. I don’t see that one happening any time soon, but like Weidman and Munoz, Evans has strong wrestling and would be absolutely enormous at middleweight, so he might be able to put up a good fight. Then again, he might get punched in the face while trying to land sloppy haymakers for three rounds, before giving up like he did against Jones.
People are also talking about a superfight between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. That isn’t going to happen, son. Anderson isn’t a large middleweight and Jones is an enormous light heavyweight. If Jones is going anywhere, it’s going to be up a weight class. Anderson also isn’t the type to fight whoever they put in front of him. He’s already rich and has a legacy to protect. They had to beg him to fight Sonnen again.
The final, unlikely option is Rich “Ace” Franklin, who is always a huge Pay Per View draw and is owed a favor or two from UFC boss Dana White after filling in to help salvage main cards against Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva. The downside is that he’s already had two shots at Anderson, and was decisively murdered. It wouldn’t be much of a favor to put him back in the cage with the Spider, even if Ace is begging for the fight.
So the short answer is that most likely the next shot at Silva will go to the Munoz vs. Weidman winner. But if that fight turns into a five-round slow dance against the cage, and Lombard blows out Boetsch, Lombard will get the shot. If any of the fighters gets injured a week before the fight, Rich Franklin will be the one to fill in.
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