Anderson Silva

GSP: “I Would Fight Anderson Silva”

If you’re like me, the thought of a potential showdown between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre would usually conjure up the feeling of a dream fight that would be one of the biggest in the history of mixed martial arts but would ultimately not take place for one reason or another. However this one feels a little different.

We’ve already seen that Silva isn’t afraid to go after the big-time fight. After all, we’re only a week removed from UFC President Dana White reportedly preventing a much-anticipated and likely history-making boxing match between Silva and former pound-for-pound phenom Roy Jones Jr.

A different kind of fight that White has been keen to though is between Silva and St. Pierre. Provided St. Pierre avenges his last loss to Matt Serra next weekend, the two kings of their respective divisions are quickly running out of legit contenders to test their skills against.

But even more key to a fight actually being put together is both fighters wanting to do it. I think we can already assume that Silva will be game. Is St. Pierre? According to his comments from today’s UFC 83 pre-fight conference call, there’s no doubt.

From MMA Weekly:

“I’ve been thinking about it. It’s going to depend on the scenario. I have a lot of training partners at 185 and my weight class is 170. I would never get into the way of one of my training partners,” he stated. “I would never fight somebody I train with. But if one day, I have the opportunity, the way is clear, and I did everything I had to do in my division, of course I will (fight Silva).”

A fight between the two probably wouldn’t happen until next year. Silva has Okami next and then who knows. St. Pierre would have Fitch and Alves to a lesser extent. In order for the fight to have that “superfight” feel, both would have to win their next couple of fights. If both perform to their potential, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Report: White Nixes Silva-Jones Showdown

The potential roadblock that Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White presented in possibly preventing a much-anticipated boxing match between current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former pound-for-pound phenom Roy Jones Jr has apparently been put to use.

According to the latest print edition of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer, White will not allow such a match to happen while Silva is under contract with the UFC.

The news comes just weeks after Jones’ management team confirmed that they would be interested in a bout, also believing that a fight between the two would help mend the current rocky relationship between boxing and mixed martial arts.

The idea of the bout originated during the post-fight press conference for UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, where Silva submitted former PRIDE middleweight champion Dan Henderson to unify the titles and remain undefeated inside the confines of the UFC. Silva expressed interest in the venture when he was asked by a reporter.

Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, has reportedly been in contact with Jones but it now seems that the UFC’s infamous exclusive contracts and White’s constant refusal to co-promote with other organizations or entities will prevent the dream fight from taking place.

Touch of gloves to MMA Junkie for the find via Bloody Elbow.

Jones Accepts Silva’s Challenge

Immediately after his win over Dan Henderson earlier this month, Anderson Silva mentioned that he is interested in entering the professional boxing ranks, namely to take on former pound-for-pound phenom Roy Jones Jr.

The idea has since been repeated, both by Silva himself and his manager, Ed Soares. That idea may soon become a reality as Jones Jr. himself has reportedly expressed interest in fighting Silva at some point in the near future according to MMA Weekly.

“I just spoke with Roy Jones’ management and they are very interested in it,” Soares told Ken Pishna. “They think it would break all kinds of pay-per-view records. It all kind of started as a dream of Anderson’s, but if the UFC would back it, it is something that we really would like to pursue.”

Soares also went on to say that Jones believes a potential fight against his client will help mend the relationship between boxing and mixed martial arts.

“They think it will actually bring together the boxing and MMA communities,” said Soares. “Anderson looks up to Roy Jones, and he would love to test his skills against him. At the same time, we are very loyal to the UFC and would love to represent the UFC in a boxing match with Jones.”

While the a potential roadblock courtesy of the UFC looms ahead, one would automatically assume that Dana White and the UFC’s infamous exclusive contracts would prevent Silva from stepping anywhere near a ring.

However Jones Jr. is historically stubborn himself, usually only fighting on his terms and when he feels like it these days. Trust me, I know from experience.

Then again, everybody has a price. White’s past association with boxing is strong enough to at least make him consider things. If White and Don King (who I believe has the promotional rights to Jones but I could be mistaken) could strike a deal where both sides could come out of the proceedings better than ever, we could be witnessing history in the making shortly.

It would be an historic event. One of the best ever in one sport going up against a potential all-time great in another. Boxing vs MMA. It’d be huge.

For more on the potential fight between Silva and Jones, check out a piece I wrote yesterday regarding it.

Trading Places

Throughout history there’s been a good amount of athletes who have tried their hand at multiple sports. While we likely won’t have another Bo Jackson for a long time, there are still those select few that go out of their way in order to show prowess in a sport that is not their own. Tony Gonzalez and Terrell Owens are a good, recent example of this.

Mixed martial artists aren’t an exception to the rule. It’s pretty prevalent that fighters train and compete in various forms of the martial arts. However when it comes to the big dogs these days, MMA and Boxing, it’s been a one-sided affair for the most part.

Floyd Mayweather has expressed interest in converting to the world’s fastest growing sport. Tommy Morrison made up his own set of rules. Eric “Butterbean” Esch has found moderate success but will never become anything more than just a sideshow attraction in the sport. Yosuke Nishijima will be none of the above.

The same goes for boxing’s criticism of MMA. We all know about the comments of Mayweather, Morrison, Marvin Hagler, and Jim Lampley but for the most part, MMA’s harsh words concerning boxing have been few and far between, save Dana White and his promoting expertise knocking the sport’s wrongdoings of recent years.

So what about mixed martial artists going into boxing? I’m not talking about fighters like Nick Diaz, Melvin Guillard, and Vitor Belfort, guys that only have a handful of professional fights under their belt.

To this day only Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis have made a splash in both ends of the spectrum. MMA for the most part doesn’t have an answer to boxing’s constant claims that no one from their sport can achieve success in the other.

Until now.

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UFC 82: Pride of a Champion Post-Fight

Anderson Silva discusses his win over Dan Henderson this past weekend at the UFC 82 post-fight press conference courtesy of ESPN. Heath Herring and Jon Fitch follow after the jump.

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Anderson Silva: Not the New Mike Tyson

Now that Anderson Silva is seemingly on top of the mixed martial arts world, constant comparisons to past greats are going to come flying at him.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports made a pretty bold comparison even before Silva’s victory over Dan Henderson this past weekend, deeming him “the new Mike Tyson.”

Wetzel’s article is an extremely good read and I recommend that you check it out, even though it’s a pre-event piece. He does make a point. Like Tyson, Silva visibly is striking fear into the heart of his opponents. Similar to a championship-holding Chuck Liddell and a top competition-facing Fedor Emelianenko, not many fighters want to face Silva.

Again, like Tyson, Silva isn’t just defeating his opponents, he’s destroying them in the process. Only Travis Lutter and now Henderson have managed to mount any kind of offense against the lanky Muay Thai specialist. However both ended up meeting the same fate, being submitted by the multi-dimensional champion.

Wetzel does provide a good argument, however Silva is not the new Tyson. Why? Two reasons…

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UFC 82 Thoughts and Notes

Some brief thoughts and notes from last night’s UFC 82: Pride of a Champion…

Full audio of the post-fight press conference here courtesy of Steve Cofield. Sam Caplan gives his take here, here, and here. Michael Rome here. Brian Knapp here.

Official news and numbers

Let’s get straight down to the facts. The official attendance inside the Nationwide Arena was 16,431. The live gate is expected to be somewhere around $2.2 million.

Fight of the Night honors went to Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson, who each received $60,000. Silva also earned $60,000 for submission of the night. Chris Leben won the same amount for his stoppage of Alessio Sakara.

Josh Koscheck and Yushin Okami both suffered separate hand injuries in their fights. Both Koscheck and Andrei Arlovski completed the last fights on their respective contracts with the UFC and are now officially free agents.

Silva looks unstoppable

I said before last night that if Anderson Silva dispatched of Dan Henderson easily, then I’d go ahead and claim that he is unstoppable. He is. He’s completely cleaned out the entire middleweight division. I was long a proponent that guys using the Team Quest style of fighting were bad matchups for Silva but obviously that isn’t the case. Silva shows us an entire new dimension of his game every time out.

While a rematch against Okami (who is now pretty much the top contender unless the UFC plans on bringing someone else in or creating a new plan) is intriguing, it’s pretty much set in stone that Silva would pick him apart on the feet. I don’t necessarily agree with Dana White’s constant statement that Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport completely, but I will say that he’s getting dangerously close to achieving that honor.

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Silva Submits Henderson; Becomes Undisputed

Anderson Silva passed his toughest test yet as champion with flying colors, submitting former Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson and successfully defending his UFC middleweight title for the third straight time, becoming the second undisputed champ in mixed martial arts history while doing it.

Even in defeat, Henderson perhaps gave the best performance against the champion to date. After an exchange on the feet to start the fight, Henderson was able to take Silva down and control him on the mat until the end of the round.

Although Silva did a good job of keeping a tight guard and preventing Henderson from doing any significant damage, the Team Quest co-founder used a number of hammer fists and the constant disruption of Silva’s breathing pattern to take the lead on the judge’s scorecards.

Silva heeded advice to crank up the pressure at the start of the second round, waving Henderson towards him and then stunning him with a mix of kicks, knees, and punches. A dazed Henderson swung wildly while trying to keep himself from falling over and then came up short in a takedown attempt.

Silva (21-4) capitalized by pouncing on his opponent. After softening him up with punches from inside his guard, Henderson (22-7) gave up his back and was forced to tap out via a rear naked choke moments later.

“My hat goes off to Anderson Silva,” Henderson said during a post-fight interview. “He was definitely the better fighter tonight. I controlled him well and beat him up a little bit in that first round and he came back ready to get after me in the second. He dazed me a little bit on the ground and then he got me in the choke.”

“I think I should have been more aggressive,” continued Henderson. “I didn’t fully execute my gameplan.”

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UFC 82: Pride of a Champion Weigh-In Results

The official weigh-in results for tonight’s UFC 82: Pride of a Champion are below. All fighters successfully made weight.

UFC 82 features a main event, middleweight title unification bout between current UFC title holder Anderson Silva and PRIDE champion Dan Henderson.

The show will also include a heavyweight affair between Cheick Kongo and Heath Herring as well as the return of former champion Evan Tanner as he takes on Japanese sensation Yushin Okami.

Main Card:

Dan Henderson (184.5 lbs) vs Anderson Silva (185 lbs)
Heath Herring (248 lbs) vs Cheick Kongo (233.5 lbs)
Yushin Okami (184.5 lbs) vs Evan Tanner (185 lbs)
Chris Wilson (169.5 lbs) vs Jon Fitch (170 lbs)
Alessio Sakara (185 lbs) vs Chris Leben (185 lbs)

Preliminary Fights:

Jake O’Brien (231.5 lbs) vs Andrei Arlovski (241 lbs)
Luigi Fioravanti (170.5 lbs) vs Luke Cummo (170 lbs)
Dustin Hazelett (170 lbs) vs Josh Koscheck (169.5 lbs)
David Bielkheden (170 lbs) vs Diego Sanchez (169.5 lbs)
John Halverson (155 lbs) vs Jorge Gurgel (154.5 lbs)

Video of the weigh-ins are after the jump, courtesy of ESPN:

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Previewing UFC 82: Pride of a Champion

Here’s a little preview breaking down tomorrow night’s UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, fight-by-fight, including detailed predictions along the way.

UFC 82 features a main event, middleweight title unification bout between current UFC title holder Anderson Silva and PRIDE champion Dan Henderson.

The show, which will take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, will also include a heavyweight affair between Cheick Kongo and Heath Herring as well as the return of former champion Evan Tanner as he takes on Japanese sensation Yushin Okami.

A total of ten fights round out the card.

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