Props: WrestingObserver.com
Quoteworthy:
“He [Dana White] promised an announcement that will blow people’s minds on Thursday. Don’t necessarily read anything into this as being the announcement, but I do know that they have talked with Anderson Silva about being on the card and fighting at light heavy and he wasn’t opposed to it, but there was nothing agreed to as of last week.”
It’s hard to believe that the “mind-blowing” announcement” that UFC President Dana White recently teased that would be “an indicator of where this business is going over the next five years” would be a blockbuster showdown between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and former 205-pound kingpin Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 in September. Nonetheless, the thought of Liddell and Silva going toe-to-toe is downright crazy. “The Spider” has essentially cleared out the 185-pound division sans Yushin Okami. That’s a fight that needs to happen. But, in the meantime, we can dream, can’t we? As for UFC 88, it wouldn’t shock me to see the scrapped UFC 85 main event between Liddell and Rashad Evans to finally take place (Shogun Rua is reportedly out until December).
97 Comments »
Liddell would kill him in the first round ….
you’re crazy, not only would silva win, you’d see him at his best! I like that there are guys willing to go up and down to give us fans the matchups we really want to see. I think silva/vandy would be good too
I also agree Silva would get KO’d if he fought Chuck.
Gotta go with Silva on this one!
If silva was ever to get KTFO it would be against the Iceman. Bad fight for silva
I hope Silva doesnt go up to LHW. Whats the point? the middleweight division will get worse!
Anderson, stay at 185 lbs, and go down in history as the most dominant UFC champion of all time!
Thank you john. I’ve been saying this cr#p for months now concerning Silva, GSP and now Penn. So many fans on this site want the champions bouncing from weight class to weight class like a bunch of jumping beans. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. A champion moving to a different weight class might get us one good fight, but what does it cost. It weakens the division they leave, the Ufc would then need another champ for that division (who no one would respect b/c they didn’t earn it). It’s OK to be dominant, and it’s OK to to dominate for a long time.
Chefdaddy, I see your point, and yours as well John, but I would love to see this happen. They have to make good title fights. BJ moving up makes sense because he’ll destroy anyone at 155, including Huerta or Florian. GSP has to fight Fitch and now prolly Alves, and Swick, so he’ll probably stay put. But Silva has NOONE left to fight at 185. Okami this, Marquardt that, but Anderson will maul them. Period. He might have a tough time with that new guy Palhares, but he needs a few more fights to get in contention. However, Anderson moving up opens up a lot of exciting matches. Silva vs. Wanderlei Silva, Silva vs. Shogun, Silva vs. Liddell, Silva vs. another (Thiago) Silva. Silva vs. Machida. You tell me this doesnt sound good? And if Anderson does destroy these guys, it will go along way to cement him as the greatest P4P fighter in the world. I dont think he is at this point. If he could defend a single leg TD, I might. I hope like hell that he moves up. Maybe this blockbuster announcement is that Silva and BJ are both moving up to 205 and 170 respectively. God I hope so.
While Liddell has more power, I’m not so sure Silvia would be an easy target. I’d pick Liddell to win, but I’d expect a decision. The Spider won’t be anybody’s easy pickings…
Now way I love Chuck but Chuck would not stand a chance in this one. Chuck has some of the best standup in MMA but Anderson Silva’s is just on a whole other level. I mean Rich is a very big 185er and Silva picked him apart. I’m not saying Rich’s standup is as good as Chuck but I just don’t see anyone being able to outstrike Silva.
Silva’s only two challenges at 205 are Rampage and Machida. Even then I’d bet on Silva. Anyone else will def end up on his highlight reels.
This would make a great fight, but I think Silll Silva could and would be chuck in a long decision fight. Chuck is not the same fighter after loosing to Rampage. I thing I would rather see Wandi vs. Silva only becuase Wandi would not dance around the oct like Chuck has been doing lately. Wandi will come after Silva and I know his got the chin to do it! That would be a fight!
Chuck can knock him out but he’s getting old and a little slow now but he still can punch. Silva’s quicker and able to dodge and counter punch through Liddel’s punches just like he did to Leben. Silva has never get knock out by so this proves he’s difficult to land some punches on. I think Silva will win this one but I don’t mind Liddel win either both are great fighters.
I would have to say that would be a fight that would be worth the price of the ppv alone.
damnnnn
that would be great finaly he’ll get some competition
cuz middleweight is too easy for him, its not even fun for him anymore, the guy wants some challange
garante he will dominate 95% of lightheavyweight too
I Agree! this guy will ko Lidell
I dont think so. MW doesnt even half a fourth of the talent LHW does.
?? So because MW doesn’t have the talent LHW does Silva isn’t good. I’ll agree MW is pretty week but Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin, and Nate Marquardt are no push overs, in fact Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin could easily be top 5-10 LHWs if they moved up, and Silva beat them all easily.
Liddell has only been knocked out 1 time in hios career, and Silva does NOT hit as hard as Rampage. I think it may be a good fight, but no chance in hell Anderson knocks Liddell out.If anyone gets dropped, it would be Anderson.
Actually it’s at least twice. Just ask Rampage.
His corner through in the towel in the first rampage fight. he was too gassed and taking punishment, but he wasnt out.
it’s semi-official, i have good contacts and this contract was booking since hendo-silva fight.
Silva could take Lidell. He just destroyed Henderson who put up a good fight against Rampage. I would love to some Silva’s skills tested at 205.
But although it would be sweet, I will be dissapointed if this turns out to be the huge surprise.
I agree! But I don’t think this is it though. This has nothing to do with where the sport is going in the next five years.
I still think the big annoucnement is a TV deal but what if Silva Vs. Liddell was the main event for the first show on a major network, make it even sweeter wouldn’t it. Im gonna start praying.
That will be great. He will get some real competition as a LHW. If he dominates it too, then he is the beast to be crowned the best UFC fighter ever IMO. Also it will make the MW division much more interesting, with guys like Franklin, Hendo, Bisping, Marquardt, Almeida and others running for the open title. Great news if it’s true
The only bad thing about Silva going to 205 and giving up his title is that whoever became the new 185 champ couldn’t be taken serioulsy because they didn’t earn the title by beating the best…the competition left. Kind of like a fake champ.
I know it will never happen, but wouldn’t be sweet to have a Middleweight GP to crown the next champion. I’m a huge fan of GP’S. Sorry if my english isn’t the best, but I try, and I think it’s easier to understand than Gorandy’s though
LMFAO! Your English is FAR better.
Haha…GORANDY is famous on this site, for all the wrong reasons.
Gorandy just got a beatdown.
Your out of your mind, Liddell would connect and it would be lights out. Nice try though….
It’s not who you want to win, but who would win….
he has proven himself and now its time to test himself against the big boys… silva vs liddell, rampage, machida, would be nice at madison square gardens, other potential matchups.. soko vs boetsch, rashad vs irvin, hamill vs bonner coming up round ufc 88.
liddell is my favorite fighter… as much i love seeing him fight, anderson silva is gonna be a dangerous fight for him. and i see liddell as the underdog in this fight, but to casual fans, he is the favorite… silva is a better overall fighter, but liddell is known for his take down defenses and sprawl. however, i dont think anderson mind keeping the fight on the feet. i am 110% for liddell not because im ignorant or new to mma, but hes my fav fighter and i will always bet on him no matter what, yes even against fedor. i am all about stickin to my fighter, whether he wins or loses. chuck is one of the most well respected fighter in mma because he keeps it real, and an entertainin fighter. i hope he beats anderson silva.. but its gonna be a rough one for charles
well said man
Chuck will be far bigger and longer. Silva wont be able to clinch and use his knees, so i think Chuck knocks him out.
Could it be that he’s gonna sign Mayweather?? In Mayweather’s statement he said that he will have million-dollar paydays around the corner.
Mayweather is a coward, Antonio Margarito offered him 8 million for a fight. At that time it would have been Mayweathers biggest payday and he turned it down to fight Carlos Baldomir for pennys. Miguel Cotto is still waiting for a fight. Mayweather has no business anywhere near the UFC.
I would love to see Mayweather get taken down and pounded; but I doubt he will ever fight in MMA.
Mayweather would have a puncher’s chance. FOR ONE PUNCH ONLY. But I think he would get KTFO, or, preferably, submitted.
Mayweathers hands couldnt take it. They damage easily in boxing gloves, in MMA gloves they would get destroyed. As would Mayweather.
MAYWEHTER VS FABER: sounds good and they fight at the same weight 145-147. faber would destroy him in an mma match, maybe even toy w/ him. maywethers ego is prettty big so you never know.
Anderson Silva at LHW would be crazy. I’m not sure he could hang with the big dogs though.
he already did when he fought hendo, who was coming from LHW and was a title contender.
Yea everybody says that about Hendo. Hendo no matter what, is a MW at LHW he just becomes a top fighter not an elite one.
Would watch the fight but I would rather watch Anderson vs GSP.
I read that Anderson Silva walks around at 215pds, but I’d rather see the most athletic man in the UFC, GSP take on A. Silva. GSP walks around at 200pds.
He has seen Bisping coming and he is running!
I hope you’re joking.
Ignore this fool linx, he’s always spewing this sewage on every thread.
A.Silva vs. Liddell would be HUGE but would the UFC want to risk Chuck losing??
I was thinking the same thing. Not just risk him losing, but to a mw. I think Chuck would win, but I wouldn’t put my house on it. haha
i dont know but i dont think silva will get the same results at lhw than mw because the one punch power situation and he is not the bigger at mw and can get sloppy as well i havent seen nobody tested silva chin and at lhw even the small guy can put to sleep for good.
i want to known why lyoto machida havent fought thiago silva yet or is any deal between them and the UFC or they are very good friends?
they are from different camps and I don’t think they are friends. This is joe silva in the making, he’s the one to blame (and to tell the truth I don’t want to see them going at it, I rather see machida vs wandy, thiago vs evans and shogun vs liddell). If anderson is really going up to LHW, he should already be a title contender (just for being a champ! come on ppl!).
I don’t understand some of you guys. You want Machida to fight big names because he’s 13-0. And you say Thiago Silva should fight evans why? Thiago is the more exciting fighter here 13-0 with 10KOs. The only reason I agree with your fight picks is so Machida and Evans could get destroyed.
Having lost a couple of fights they expected him to win, I would guess that UFC would be happy to use Chuck to create new stars. Think about it, Anderson Silva is one of the best pound for pound fighters but his draw is nothing compared to Chuck Liddell.
They fight (on ESPN?), and Silva wins, he becomes the huge star to Joe Public he probably should be. Chuck wins and he’s ripe for a title shot against Rampage. Good business for the UFC.
Silva needs to learn to speak English if he wants to become a name like Chuck Liddell. I’m not prejudiced, Im just stating a fact.
I want to see A Silva V W Silva next. Both could fight at either weight and it would be an amazing fight.
Silva vs Liddell main event in Atlanta on ESPN!!
I seriously don’t see how Liddell-A.Silva would change this sport for the next 5 years. Of course it would be a crazy fight and everyone and their grandmothers would watch it, but its not like they’d shift the universe with each blow.
When Dana made the announcement I was immediately thinking of either a network television deal, a new live-streaming website, where fans around the world can watch it for $$$ at the same time PPV buyers can see it or a massive change in the ruleset.
Anything other than those three things … can’t see how it would have a serious impact of this sport.
Ummm people who think Silva would get killed in the first round – he trains with Lyoto Machida!
He will know how to fight a very good LHW.
cmon guys chuck is the most overc-rated fighter rite now…the only way he gets a title shot again is bcause of him and dana are a couple
He’s not overrated. He lost 2 fights, and then beat Wandy. he’s still an elite fighter.
I just can’t understand why everyone is talking about Silva moving weight. Why??
He hasn’t dominated as much and Liddell, Hughes etc. Nobody discussed a weight change for them until they got beat.
Silva will eventually come up against a skill that will be his achilles heel.
I love Silva but he needs to stay put for a little while.
Thank you if you liked my english
I’m a huge fan of Liddell and Silva. It would be a great fight. IMO, Liddell is the best fighter to ever set foot in the octagon, and no matter how many times he loses, UFC will keep on giving him only the best competition, and he will deliver. He’s coming after Rampage (I don’t know if he will win) and a win over the best pound for pound fighter in the world would put him right in there against him
I think half of you all are on drugs or just straight up Chuck Liddell nuthuggers when you say that he would eat Anderson alive in the first round.
Anderson is not going to be a Babalu, Tito, Jeremy Horn ect. He will not rush in there and instigate a stand up battle with Liddell. He would keep his distance use his leg kicks the instigate the clinch to fight Liddell.
It would be a very good fight, but considering ANderson Silva is one of the best people when it comes to game plans, he would come in there very prepared, and he would not look to stand and bang straight face to face against Liddell.
This would be a very good fight, and a very interesting one, and right now I dunno who I would choose if it would happen. But I’m just saying for all of you that think Anderson won’t stand a chance, just shows how dumb of a MMA fan you truly are.
good analogy MR.NC-17. i dont think either fighter could just “walk” right through the other. i slightly favor chuck for his experience at lhw, but think its pretty much a pick-em fight. it suprises me alot how many fights bloggers on this site think will be 1 rnd destructions by their favorite fighter. all the fighters in the ufc are good (almost). theres no easy fights for anyone. i mean wandi did walk right through jardine, but according to his managers and teamates, jardine was not supposed to use legkicks at all. that was the gameplan and the 1rst thing jardine did was trow the legkick and wandi got inside and cleaned his clock. it happens sometimes fighters get caught. i think wandi was going to win anyway, but not that quick. now everyone is saying he will ko everbody in the 1rst rnd (chuck,rampage machida etc.). i love wandi, but people get to carried away after 1 fight. that is just one example.
b.w. your right, saying people get carried away. If Chuck and Silva were to fight, I’d give the slight edge to Chuck just because I dont think Silva has got hit by someone like Chuck. Jardine said that even the ones he was blocking would rattle him. But ofcourse Silva would be no pushover and has a good chance of winning.
hey nc-17 , i said that i stick to my fighter no matter what wins or loses, n i wath liddell looooong before anderson silva even appear to the mma world. like i said im not new to mma or ignorant. but just a hard core dedicated fan to my fighters
Look we have to get up to date here. First off CHUCK IS THE FUCK OUT, and Rampage is IN. Rampage is the man unless Forrest gets lucky (doubt it). Second, A. Silva is REALLY THE MAN. Fuck chuck unless he wins something significant. until then just remember matt hughs. if AS should fight anyone it should be Rampage or in japanese Rampagee. oh yea GSP is also a hard working mofo and IT, and then of course there’s BJ, Uriah, and Miguel Torres, the last two didnt look too good in their last bouts tho. out
this is a tough one. while i have alot of respect for both fighters i usually end up rooting against both of them.( i dont know why,maybee it is because they are both so damn good). i dont think silva is a big mw, so moving up to lhw would be a disadvantage to him imo. i know he destroyed hendo but hendo looked small mw to me (wierd). a. silva would be the agressor in this fight w/ chuck looking to counter. if chuck can stay out of silvas muay tai clinch i see him catching anderson and koing him. i would rather see silva vs silva (wandi) myself too, but chuck beat wandi so i cant see how he deserves it more unless it was at mw. and a fight with a.silva would be as big as a title shot so i do mean the word “deserves”. thats just being realistic.
First off when has AS ever been the aggressor to start off a fight I think both their styles are counter fighters but the one thing anderson has is GREAT muay Tai. Chuck is a kick boxer. Anderson is fluid with his fighting style while chuck throws while backing away. I see silva not trying to use his clinch game unless its easily available to him such as was in the hendo fight. I see AS using his Muay Tai to stick and move and then he is fast enough and stong enough to light chuck up.
someone has to be the aggressor right?
silva stay at 185! if he fought chuck he would win by decision
If they fought, it would only be for 3 rounds. I give it 49%-49%-2%. 49% Chuck would KO Silva, 49% Silva would KO Chuck, and 2% it would go to a split decision for a 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 winner of Silva. These two guys have the most accurate punches for the “off” button.
I don’t think that Dana would rent a hall to sit down all of his employee’s to tell them The Spider is fighting the Iceman. If they did fight, Silva would win.
If chuck were to fight anderson it would go to decision or tko for chuck. THe fact is that anderson’s strength is his tai clinch and reach. Those would be useless against chuck who avoids the clinch and has better reach, power and chin. Then again no one has really tested anderson’s chin….
like i have said about other fighters nobody is taking into effect the odvious, remember when a fighter moves up they get stronger so if he manhandled franklin like he did there is the possibility he could do it to chuck,not saying he would .Chuck is coming off a bad leg injury leg kicks could become a issue .I say that silva has a very good chance with chuck ,but all chuck needs is one punch .Thats the thing with chuck he has a chance with everybody just off the fact his hands are so hard.No way it makes it to decision,both are to deadly of strikers for that look for a mean ko either way.
185 to 205 is too much i think
Maybe the announcement is that they’re getting rid of the middleweight division!!! Hahaha…Seriously, if he goes up in weight, I agree with the others that it would be awesome to see him fight Wanderlei…
Although SILVA has dominated in the MW div. & there doesn’t seem to be anyone who could right now, I believe he should continue to fight a couple more guys just to make his run long like did HUGHES at WW. PENN should do the same before going to WW.
Now, should LIDDELL vs. SILVA happen (I’m a fan of both), I believe it would be equally tough for both of them b/c they’re both very accurate strikers. IMO, pre-RAMPAGE, JARDINE & WANDY, LIDDELL has not really faced a “stand-up” fighter – they were mainly “ground game” fighters e.g. COUTURE, ORTIZ, BABALU.
Of course, the same thing can be said with SILVA. LEBEN seemed to be the only “brawler-type” striker he fought in the UFC. FRANKLIN does have some striking skills but not at the same level as SILVA.
I’m gonna go with SILVA on this one because of his striking & Muay Thai clinch, but as we’ve seen in the past, anybody can get caught!!! Peace
HEIGHT!!! REACH!! This would be a tough fight for Silva. Knees from the clinch are outta the question. When was the last time you saw someone clinch with Liddell? The very first Couture fight? Years ago! I think Chuck wins this fight, although I don’t care either way. I’m not a huge fan of either. I do look forward to it (if it happens) because it could be an EPIC war, one of the greatest battles of all time.
Anyone who thinks Liddell will surely beat Silva should enter into Crack Addict Rehab. Dana doesn’t like fighter to move up and down in weight classes. I doubt that’s the announcement. How could that be “where UFC is going over the next 5 years”? It’s probably an HBO deal, Network Deal or Big International Deal. Urijah need to come up and gith BJ and get a little lumped up for once.
-Faber-Penn-GSP-Silva-Belfort-?-
There are some smart fight fans, but why has no one picked up on what makes Silva so great. His head movement is by far the best in MMA. Heck it’s some of the best in all of fighting, including any boxer at the moment. You can’t hit him if he is moving like he does.
Next his footwork is great. He always puts himself where he needs to be on offense and defense. Look at all his fights, he always has great angles to attack and defend from. That comes from great footwork.
Then the obvious, his punching accuracy is crazy. Go back and look at the fights. In the first Franklin fight he was in the 90% accuracy range. He was up there for the Hendo fight to.
He beats Liddell, Wandi would be a good fight, so would Rampage. The fight I would love to see is Silva vs. GSP. Both of those guys are on a level all to themselves at this point. If size wasn’t a factor, I think they could both beat anyone in the UFC. Seeing them square off would be just awesome to watch.
Anderson is a big middleweight, and a much better striker than chuck. I don’t see Chuck giving him many problems
Silva would wreck chuck, chuck is way to sloppy of a fighter to try anderson. Chuck would drop his hands to waist level like he is known so much for and get kicked in the head. Silva took out Henderson whom has some heavy hands, heavy enough to knock out wandy, even chuck couldnt knock out wandy so I say Anderson would win. Actually I think Anderson would walk through the Light heavy division also, the guy is a slim 185 and very fast so I can only imagine him at 205, dont think he would loose the speed at all but only gain some un-needed strength.
EazyEismydad lol you think anderson silva could beat rampage?? hahaha funny cuz rampage would kill him quickly and so would chuck and vandy would hurt anderson as well.i think it will be tought for anderson in the light heavy weight divison
lol
two words— Cung Le. though a liddell/silva fight would be better