Mixed Martial Arts Forum banner

"Anderson vs Forrest needs to happen ASAP" - Official UFC Website

2K views 24 replies 19 participants last post by  Mufofamm 
#1 ·
www.ufc.com

UFC Fight Night Musings
By Michael DiSanto


SILVA’S LEGEND AND LEGACY CONTINUE TO GROW

Amazing. Superhuman. Unbeatable.

After watching Anderson Silva decimate a very tough James Irvin in a mere 61 seconds, the superlatives

just don’t do him justice anymore. The UFC Middleweight Champion’s debut at light heavyweight was so dominant that he may have cleared the way for more speculation about possible fights against the much bigger warriors in the 205 lb world than for those in his native division.

Think about potential matchups between the “Spider” and Chuck Liddell, “Rampage” Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, and “Shogun” Rua. Any of those would leave fans salivating with anticipation the minute they were announced. But none of those fights make sense for Silva as his next bout based on a risk-reward analysis. He could very well lose to any of those guys, and that would erase his mystique as the best fighter on the planet, pound for pound. And, while a win over a top five light heavyweight is certainly nothing to sneeze at, it would not impact his legacy 10 or 20 years from now.

In my opinion, the only fight that makes sense for Silva at this juncture in his career is challenging reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin.

Think about it. Anything can happen once the cage door closes. There are no guarantees that Silva won’t suffer an upset in his next middleweight title defense. So, if he wants to attempt to become the first UFC champion to rule two divisions simultaneously, now is the time to roll the dice.

The timing is perfect for Griffin, too. He took the 205-lb title from Rampage two weeks ago, so he will be looking for an opponent for his first title defense in 3-4 months. That is the perfect amount of time to begin building a ground swell of hype around a potential history-setting bout.

Moreover, Griffin presents the best opportunity, based on matchups, of any of the aforementioned light heavyweights for Silva to win his second championship. That is by no means a slight at Griffin, who is an unbelievably talented champion. He might be the bigger, stronger man. But he isn’t more skilled on the feet or on the ground than Silva. And, most importantly, he lacks both dominant wrestling skills, something that may give Silva trouble, if coupled with great submission defense, and true one-punch knockout power, which can bring any fight to an end in the blink of an eye.

After putting the Sandman to sleep, Team Silva needs to begin lobbying UFC president Dana White for an opportunity to fight Griffin next. It is a good fight for Silva based on the matchup, and it is the best possible bout to secure both his legend and legacy as the greatest fighter on the planet, pound for pound.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I've got mixed feelings on champions moving up and get title shots without working their way through the division.

If this fight was to happen though, I think Silva would finish Forrest if it was kept standing. If however it went to the ground I think Forrest would be in with a chance due to his ground game and size.
 
#4 ·
In this case i would love to see silva take on forrest. Personally I dont think it would make it out of the first round. ON the ground I think silva has the advantage due to his flexibility. Size doesnt look like much of a factor to me. For example in the irvin fight silva looked quite abit bigger than irvin did imo.
 
#3 ·
Forrest is disadvantaged everywhere but size, and i don't think that really matters against Silva all that much.

Forrest does set a torrid pace for 5 rounds though, and more than anyone is capable of gutting it out. I'd love to see it, but i'll be better on Silva (obviously).
 
#15 ·
agreed. Silva has said in interviews that the lhw belt is Lyoto's so i cannot see him campaigning to get a shot ahead of his friend and training partner.

The last thing I want to happen is a Pride like situation where champions are involved in repeated non title fights. The only reason this one happened was an emergency counter programming move by UFC against Affliction.
 
#8 ·
**** that. LHW is the last division to give out immediate title shot. Only reason the lighter weight classes are proposed to mix it up champ vs champ is cuz the champions are so much better then the rest of the field. Not the case in LHW at all. That div has more then enuff ppl to challenge forrest. The author tries to justify him getting an immediate title shot cuz if he faces others he could lose, WTF? If he is so great then he shouldnt have to worry about those guys whatsoever. Just cuz it benefits anderson more doesnt mean it should happen
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bazza89
#9 ·
I hate this idea. I can't stand when fighters move up in weight or down especially champions. I'd much rather see Anderson stay at MW and maybe occassionaly fight someone like Chuck or Shogun at LHW. All it does is tie up the belts and if Silva were to fight for the LHW belt and win which one would he keep? There's no way he can defend both belts because there would only be like 1 championship fight for each belt a year. It's just a stupid move to let him challenge for the LHW belt. Hopefully he sticks to what he said about it being Lyoto's division to win.
 
#16 ·
I do think he should let machida get a shot first but silva said he wants to fight six times a year. That could be 3 title defences a year for each belt.

Doubt this would happen tho.
 
#10 ·
This article is worded misleadingly. I read it essentially as "Anderson Silva really is only guaranteed to beat the champion of the LHW division now, therefore he should get his title shot so he can hold two belts at once, versus working his way up the ladder where he may suffer an upset."
 
#11 ·
The article forgot to mention one more thing in Forests favor: Randy Couture. I guarantee you Randy would put together a stellar gameplan for Forest if this fight were to happen. IMO Randy's gameplan was a major factor in Forest winning the belt from Rampage. He would make sure Forest was more than prepared.
 
#18 ·
I love how everyone saying how Forrest will get killed. Sound so much like the comments when it was Rampage vs Forrest.

I have one problem. Forrest could make this a stellar match. But he will use a stratagy simular to his stratagy against Rampage. And of course when that happwns we will get MORE threads about:

"Why is Lyoto being booed, when Forrest comences with the same stratagy?!?!"
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top