Anderson Silva Ready to Fight Former UFC Lightweight Champion

Anderson Silva is itching to get back inside the Octagon. Many would argue that Silva is over the hill. However, the former Middleweight champ still garners a lot of respect among fighters. Former UFC Lightweight champ, Anthony Pettis, has challenged Silva to a fight. The latter accepted as well.

The 43-year old is coming off consecutive losses against current 185-pound champ Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier. However, his name has been in the news lately due to Conor McGregor. The Irish megastar released his GOAT list on Twitter. McGregor honored Silva with the top spot on the list. He placed himself on the No. 2 spot. However, he was confident of becoming No. 1 by the end of his career.

Conor McGregor had also called out Anderson Silva a few weeks back

Following this, Silva expressed his desire to fight Conor. The latter accepted as well. Since there is a big difference in the weight classes of Silva and McGregor, the former Middleweight champ agreed to fight Conor at 176 pounds. However, it seems that the plans have been marred by Conor’s sudden retirement. The former double champ told Ariel Helwani that he wouldn’t get the respect that he deserved even if he fought and defeated “The Spider”.

Dana White was also not very intrigued by the potential pairing of the two. He said that he wasn’t looking forward to making that fight anytime soon. However, with McGregor possibly out of the picture, Pettis may be the perfect fighter to set up a fight with Silva.

Pettis has repeatedly said that he wants to get back in the title picture at Lightweight. However, the division is stacked right now with several contenders still in their prime. Pettis, on the other hand, is in the latter half of his career. At this point in his career, he is possibly looking more some intriguing and fun fights.

Moreover, Pettis doesn’t mind standing and trading with anyone in the business. If Silva’s fight with Adesanya is proof of anything, it is that he can still stand his ground in the striking department. However, a matter of concern is the weight class. Pettis can’t afford to fight Silva at Middleweight. “Showtime” claims that he doesn’t have to cut a lot of weight fighting at 170-pounds.

Hence, 176 is much more realistic and even number for the two to fight.

Do you think a fight between Anthony Pettis and Anderson Silva can take place in the future?