Silva seeks new horizons
Dan Wetzel

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports 8 hours, 10 minutes ago


PHILADELPHIA – Hours after the most electrifying domination in a career filled with them, deep in a back hallway of the Wachovia Center, Anderson Silva was waiting for Dana White. Silva is the UFC’s middleweight (185-pound) champion but Saturday he boldly moved up 20 pounds and in a jaw-dropping exhibition, brutalized Forrest Griffin, who just nine months ago was the light heavyweight (205) title holder.

Silva knocked Griffin down twice, offered a hand to help him up once and then promptly floored him again for good at 3:23 of the first round of UFC 101. Most remarkably, he did it with a punch he threw while backpedaling.

It was a complete annihilation. Griffin failed to land a single punch and when he came to his senses, he sprung up and ran from the octagon, trying to push through a doctor’s examination.

“He might be in Georgia by now, he ran out and I haven’t seen him since,” White, the UFC president, joked.

That Silva could move up a weight class and not just win, but destroy with power, was a game-changing and perhaps UFC-altering moment. That’s what Silva and his manager, Ed Soares, wanted to discuss with White.

With his arm wrapped around White’s shoulder, Soares leaned in and delivered a proposition. “Spider” Silva would move permanently to light heavyweight, even if it meant the unorthodox move of giving up his middleweight belt.

“I can do that,” White smiled, a bit stunned at the offer. “I like that. We can do that.”

Soares smiled and shook White’s hand. Silva had been accosted by a fan by then and couldn’t hear White, but it was presumably the news he was seeking. The man has such outrageous confidence in his abilities he’s willing to potentially toss away a championship he’s owned for almost three years to take a challenge outside his comfort zone.

“I’d let him,” White said later, sitting in his quiet dressing room. “We’d put [the middleweight title] up for grabs.”

The hour was late and everyone’s excitement was still high. Perhaps plans and goals change by morning, so White didn’t know what to say officially. This was still just hurried talk. He knew this much though, as a promoter there are more blockbuster fights for Silva at 205 than 185, where he’s beaten everyone of note.

Silva’s next title defense was supposed to be against Dan Henderson, who Silva savagely choked out in March 2008.

“Who knows,” White said, wheels already spinning. “We’ll see what happens. In the talks I’ve had with Anderson, he wants to take on the best in the world. He’s the most talented fighter in the world, the best pound for pound fighter and it’s a joke to say anyone else is. And he wants to continue to prove [it].”

White thought for a moment.

“He would jump in that mix [at the top of the light heavyweight division],” White said. “You’ve got Rashad [Evans], you’ve got Rampage [Jackson], [Lyoto] Machida is the champion. And Tito [Ortiz] is in the mix now.”

If Silva did vacate the middleweight title to move up full time, the ironic thing is that he claims it wouldn’t be to pursue the light heavyweight belt. At least as long as it was held by Machida, a fellow Brazilian and training partner.

“Lyoto is my friend, he is my brother and there is no way that fight will ever happen,” Silva said.

White, coveting a clash between two men who are both unbeaten in UFC competition, brushes that talk aside.

“I’ll make it happen,” White said winking his eye. “It’s not even about money. It’s about proving you’re the best, it’s about securing your place in history. It’s about putting on a super fight that fans want to see.

“I’m all about making big fights that fans want to see.”

Saturday was one of those fights. Silva was motivated by criticism that his last two fights – both victories mind you ¬– were dull, so he gladly moved up to take on a dangerous Griffin, who was known for his attack dog style.

It was intriguing, at least until Silva started toying with Griffin. He knocked Griffin down at will, dared him to connect with a punch, challenged him to be as tough as his reputation and then finally just finished him.

Coming in there was a “Rocky” element to the fight, Griffin the heavy underdog with the Philly crowd firmly behind him and booing Silva. By the end, Griffin was gone and Silva was being cheered. It was the recognition of brilliance overcoming any easy Hollywood storylines.

“He wants to be involved in the biggest fights we can put together,” Soares said.

The fact Silva took this fight is a testament to that. The Brazilian is 25-4 overall and has won all 10 of his fights in the UFC. At age 34, he could’ve sat at middleweight and potentially won 10 more, making nice money with relatively little risk in a division he’s been untouchable in.

That isn’t him though. Not even close.

So not long after stunning the sport with a legendary performance, there he and his manager were, trying to force a back-hall huddle with the UFC kingmaker. Move Silva to light heavyweight for good, they suggested to White.

With nothing left to prove at middleweight, Anderson Silva now wants to lay waste to a whole new division of the UFC. He doesn’t need a belt to prove a thing.

Gotta feel bad for Rich Franklin .. and the rest of the LHWs They've got 2 top p4p guys in the UFC taking over the LHW division. One of the most stacked division in the UFC suddenly becomes a lil weaker with the arrival of Anderson Silva. Though they have some strong wrestlers at 205.

Silva vs Shogun coming soon.

^^^
i'm not even a shogun fan but i'll be pulling for him to beat machida, to see that fight.

i hope silva stays at 185, honestly i'm not too interested seeing hendo-silva 2, or silva - maia/mardquart winner.

not sure what franklin'll do after his fight with belfort.. but i think this is a good movie. if last night showed anything you need a lot of speed to not be overwhelmed by silva, and i think belfort's the only one with enough speed to be competitive with silva at 185, but i can't see him beating silva.

shogun was on the p4p charts before injuries and his problems coming back, i think he'll be a player in the division too..

Damn, that sucks.

After seeing him in action again last night, that idea of that fight seemed like a natural next move.

i think that might be a blessing in disguise. silva chased down a wide open griffin last night, but against a guy who counters almost as well as himself he'd be a lot less aggressive. i think silva vs. machida might turn into something like a mythical matchup between willie pep and sweet pea whitaker

True, Machida will be a tougher task. But I saw Forrest beat Rampage and Shogun. He was no punk.
I just cant see anyone, outside of Machida, doing any better against Silva. Kinda seems like he would do that to anybody / everybody. The man has some serious skills; making profesionals look like str8 amatures. Have any of his UFC fights even been remotely competitive?

They should make that fight! Pay these guys what they deserve, make em an offer they cant refuse.
Or, really, doesn't dana white control everything anyway? Dont these guys sign contracts that basically allow white to control the matchups? Cant he just make them fight?

They are training partners and good friends, White can't just force them to fight and if he were to push too hard he might risk Anderson retiring because he has talked about retiring in the past.

Machida vs Silva would be a boring fight IMO, you would have 2 guy's who are friends who probably really dont want to fight each other circling one another the whole fight.

i think there's several at 205 who would do better, not that i'd pick them to beat silva but i think they'd make it a competitive fight. griffin was the perfect guy for silva, not every fast, leaves himself wide open, and reacts to getting hurt by getting more wild. the only fight that's been very competitive was the dan henderson fight, hendo took him down and landed some decent shots on silva and won the first round. then silva went back to the corner and told them that's not going to happen again, hurt hendo one the feet (which is tough to do, he's got one of the best chins ever) and choked him out.

did anybody else catch the espn live post fight show? can't remember if it was bonner or couture that said that silva has been to the wild card gym and done the same thing to boxers that he did to griffin tonight in sparring. he obviously wasn't talking about the elite boxers.. but i wonder if ender's seen this happen

Fuck that. He fights Henderson again first.

I hope so

Good. So long as Wand stays at 185 I'm down with AS taking on whomever at 205....I don't know who he can fight though right now. Ortiz maybe but he would get his ass beat.

Franklin might as well move back down to 185. UFC pretty much treats his run at 205 as a joke anyway. They just plug him in where ever they need him. Besides, he had a better chance of regaining the title at 185 than he had of getting through enough guys in order to make it to a title shot anyway.

If he went back down to 185, a rematch with Hendo would make much more sense and actually mean something. So would a rematch with Wanderlei Silva. As long as he doesn't lose to Vitor he'd be in immediate title contention.