“I think there are a lot of good fights at middleweight for [Anderson Silva] – me being one of them. Anderson is the pound for pound best in the world – an unbelievable fighter. He improves with every fight, shows a different game every time and is a class act. It’d be great for him to leave on a high and think you do have to set out a point when you are going to call it quits…. But that said, I want to get a pop at the guy before he retires….. I don’t want to beat somebody by default to get the belt — I want to beat the best guy out there….. He’s calling it quits too soon. There are a lot of good middleweights out there that he hasn’t fought yet.”
– Count “The Count” among most who have a vested interested in mixed martial arts who do not want to see UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva to retire anytime soon. “The Spider” has mentioned numerous times that his plan is to finish his six-fight contract with the UFC and retire by the age of 35, which would be sometime in 2009. Bisping is heating up the 185-pound division with three consecutive wins, including a unanimous decision win over Chris Leben at UFC 89 last weekend. He will next serve as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) and will likely fight the opposing coach (unnamed at this time) for a right to challenge the current champion. And unless Patrick Cote scores the upset of 2008 at UFC 90 this Saturday then that person will more than likely be the feared Brazilian striker.
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I don’t think Bisping could run away from Silva for 5 rounds… I actually hope this fight happens just to see him get KO’d but I don’t think he deserves it.
Not that it means anything but leben in 1 min vs Leben in 3 rounds, running away………
Just because he pointed Leben doesnt even get him close to Silva. How about fight Franklin or Okami then you can talk.
Well, Franklin is at 205 now, he has no desire to fight Silva again. Bisping should definitely fight Okami first though, and Marquardt, and Henderson, and Cote for that matter…
Let Bisping fight Okami. Okami has only been defeated by Franklin and should be fighting Silva right now. If Bisping beats Okami then he could ask for a title shot because IMO Okami is the true number 1 contender right now, not Cote. Okami would be an awesome test because of his size, Bisping wouldn’t have a size advantage coming from 205 against Okami, arguably one of the largest MW’s around. I’d call that fight a unanimous decision for Okami if it were to happen.
Okami shouldn’t have to fight anyone except for Silva. Yea, he’s not marketable but he’s been busting his ass for nothing so far. If they don’t give him that shot after Lister, he should bail go to japan or affliction.
I forgot he was fighting Lister. I’d rather him fight Bisping instead of Lister but he should be able to put Lister away and move onto A Silva next. Hopefully he gets the win and goes against Silva because they will market the fight as the number one P4P fighter in the world going head to head against the last guy to beat him. I know Okami didn’t actually beat Silva but if there was anyone left at MW who could beat Silva, it’d be Okami. (Cung isn’t being counted until he is in the UFC).
I agree Cogito, Okami is the number 1 contendar, not Cote. It sucks for him and I hate seeing this kind of thing happen, he is like the MW Machida.
I disagree however, with mentioning Cung Lee as a possible prospect to take out the spider. I would rather bet money on Okami to beat him then Cung Lee, who is very untested. Untested is NOT what you wanna send agaisnt the spider.
Your right Cung Lee is untested, thats why he could potentially beat Silva. I don’t really know enough about Cung to say he wouldn’t stand a chance against Silva. Cung would have to fight his way up to Silva if he joined the UFC so it would have to happen soon if that fight were to ever take place, which it probably won’t.
Lee couldn’t even beat Bisping. I think Silva should mov up to 205 and clean out that division before he retires and fight all the awesome fighters up there. They could make someone else an interim 185 champo while Silva is gutting the 205ers. If any champ comes along at 185, Silva could drop back down, beat that person up, then go back up to the 205ers.
Bisping is nowhere near Machida’s level. He ain’t the MW Machida. He’s just another baby that they’re building up.
agreed, but probably wont happen they need to build up a PPV for Anderson
Bisping’s not saying that he wants to fight Silva right now, he wants to be included as one of the last 6 fights that Silva has.
Bisping vs. Franklin or Okami would be great. I’d also like to see Rich and Okami square off again.
Anderson must now fight Cung Le. The door for this fight is now well and truly open.
I agree on Cung Le but how is the door open?
Well Strikeforce do a lot of co-promoting with Elite XC and with Elite XC folding it looks like any good talent will get snapped up by the UFC. That leaves the likes of Cung Le with a dilemma, who does he fight. Fair enough they do some co-promotion events with Cage Rage but the whole Elite XC/Strikeforce/Cage Rage talent sharing thing is coming apart at the seams.
Admittedly I don’t know how many more fights Cung Le is contracted to with Strikeforce but Dana White himself has said he’d like to see him fight the UFC guys.
Strikeforce or Affliction are probably next to fold. Dana and co. are going to have a monopoly on the market. The UFC is becoming like the NFL in that regard.
Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t really know.
A fight with Cung Le is out of the question. He won’t be a test for The Spider. Waste of energy right here. He would get tooled. Anderson should be fighting big dogs for his last 6 fights. Big dogs from the 205 division. Let’s see if the destruction of Irvin was a fluke…
It would be an exciting fight until Anderson put him away which could at any moment such is the man’s ability.
I don’t understand why the Cung Le fight is so interesting to people. Aside from flashy kicks, he hasn’t shown anything. As much as i hate saying this- if shamrock wasn’t dicking around that should have been an easy blowout win.
i agree namenot- cung le has some real raw…”raw” skills. aside from that. he beat low level talent ala kimbo to get glamrock. even then he was havign a real hard time with glamrock. 4th round tko over shamrock..this person really is considered to have what it take to fight silva? a man who after 4 fights and win over glamrock who now thinks he is larger than life and is wanting to pursue movies….womp womp! lets get real A. silva would eat cung le alive. its like saying a guy like brock can beat fedor.
I would love to see this fight but I am not sure if I would want to waste Bisping as one of the last 5 fights Andy has..
If Bisping gets some great wins in his next couple fights, I could see myself getting pumped for this fight(down the road)..
Bisping/Marquardt would be a good start, and then take on Hendo..If he can win those two he could be on my list..
My list for the fights i would like to see Andersons in for his last 5 fights..
5- Cung Le
4- Thiago
3- Rampage
2- Shogun
1- Fedor
No GSP and no other middle weights except Cung..
i know Anderson and Fedor are the top 2 best fighters on the planet, but would Anderson really be able to do anything to Fedor? He would be at a huge size disadvantage. I think Fedor would be able to beat him rather easily.
not a hugh size advantage… fedor is only 225-230 and Silva walks around at 210? 215? I do think fedor would beat him 9 times out of 10 though. if not more.
more like 99 times out of 100
Bisping is smoking on that english Syrup..Joe Sliva please give Bisping Nate Marquardt.. so nate can wooop his ass.. the same guy who got drugged up by Silva.. please give him Rich Franklin/or Henderson.. to humnble Bisping tad bit..give Bisping Rosimar Palhares.. Leites..Maia.. after Bisping beats some of the better 185′rs.. then he can try to call out Silva..this is Bisping.. being Bisping.. a good MMA fighter.. with better lip action.
On a postive note.. Bisping at least has some good medical coverage with the UFC.. to help reconstruct his body..if were to ever..ever..ever fight the Legend.. Anderson…
Gotta agree 100% Phil-san. Those would be some interesting/devastating matchups. I swear, that Leben fight had so godd@mn mad. Still can’t believe Leben’s idiotic gameplan. And while I respect Bisping’s effective gameplan, it was ridiculous in a sense that he ran away, did a jab. And if Leben tried to close in, he didn’t just back away, he SCRAMBLED THE H#LL OUT OF THERE! I wonder what his strategy for Silva would be?
I’m a Bisping fan. However, I’m not delusional. Anderson would destroy him. That being said, if it were me (Bisping) I would want to fight Anderson too. I think every fighter SHOULD be in it to fight the best figther(s) in the world.
Phil, you probably know better than most on this site. Don’t you want to fight the top dog in your weight class? You might not be ready, but you still want the opportunity.
Question is, do you think Bisping will be ready to take on the likes of A Silva in less than a year? IMO no he will not, Bisping has tremendous potential but he is nothing to be overly excited about in the MW division, at least for now
Very true Jeff.. all in all IMO. I just feel outside his UFC89 post fight comments.. that he is not as humble as he should be.. I guess I started hating on him big time ..after his Hammil post fight comments.. but what you say is.. true.. whatever you do.. you want to do it against the best.
I just don’t want Bisping to sound off as if.. Silva is avoiding him or something.. as if Silva owes Bisping a shot..and is looking to bail.. that is my beef.. when interpet the his statements.. Bisping just dropped to 185.. had three fights.. 2 technically a warm up fight for the former top LHW of the UFC..per Dana.. and the Leben.. fight.. I don’t see how he can do wel today against Nate, Henderson, Okami.. the ufc needs to have him fight guys that are a threat. If he is steam rolling the competition then yeah.. Let it happen.. I jsut hope Bisping doesn’t really feel he is the top guy at 185 today.. cuz he really isn’t.
Cogito Ergo Sum: I must agree, I don’t believe Bisping will be ready in a year or less.
Phil: If Bisping some how believes that a point win over Leben means he is at the top of the food chain at 185, I will be sorely dissapointed in him. There is a fine line between confidence, cockiness, and being a ridiculous ass. Bisping falls into the cockiness category. My hope is that he stays out of the latter.
I think Maia should be Bisping’s next fight. Let him form a game plan other than defend take down, counter, move away, repeat. Marquardt is the same fighter Bisping’s been fighting fince tuf (better but the same) with the exception of Charles “oh my gut” Mcarthy.
No surprise in Bisping’s comment here; everyone on a roll wants a shot at Silva. Bisping has already stated that he is not ready for a title shot and I think he knows that The Spider is way out of his league at the moment. However, 2 more wins against increasingly tougher opponents would give The Count a lot more experience and a lot more credibility. If this happens, and Silva is still around, an argument for the fight could be made.
What other great fighters are there for Silva at 185? Is Bisping on crack? No one at 185 could beat Franklin and he got killed by silva and I don’t think anyone at 185 can beat Hendo and he got beat by silva.
185 is weak.
I hope this happens though so i can watch Silva KO’d bisping.
185 isn’t weak. There are quite a few talented fighters. hendo, marquardt, Maia, Leites, etc. All of these guys are good fighters. it will be an extremely competeitive division once silva retires
And don’t forget about my boy Gouveia, he just dropped down to 185 and is 1-0 at the new weight class. Also, the A-hole who just beat him, but got hurt recently, Goran Relijc dropped down to 185 as well. Kampmann was doing well until he ran into Marquardt. 185 has some very talanted fighters.
I have no desire to see Bisbing as one of Anderson’s last fights. All the most intriging match ups are at 205.
Wandi
Shogun
Rampage
Chuck
Forrest
Mike dude, I don’t think MW is weak at all. Silva is just on a different level! Without Silva in the mix there are 3 or 4 guys at 185lbs that could challenge for the belt. It’s no different then LW where there are a ton of talented fighters, but I can’t think of any that have a reasonable chance of beating BJ, at least not for the next year or so.
You guys are acting all butthurt. He didn’t even say he would beat him, he just said he wanted to fight him. He gives Silva a ton of complements too. You guys act like this is pro-wrestling and he is the villian. Grow up.
I agree Bill; just a few days ago the Count said he knew he wasn’t ready for a title shot. No controversy here. Those that are dumping on Bisping are the same that dumped on him prior to the Leben fight and will continue to do so regardless of who he beats.
“But that said, I want to get a pop at the guy before he retires….. I don’t want to beat somebody by default to get the belt — I want to beat the best guy out there..”
From what I get from this statement is…he rather not beat somebody for a vacant title.. he rather beat the best guy out there = Anderson.
Bisping is good.. at 185 real good.. but Silva will make Bisping look ameuturish.
Silva makes the entire UFC 185 division look weak.
That’s true; same for BJ at LW and GSP at WW, but the difference is even more extreme for Silva. BJ and GSP are on a different level and simply outclassed their last opponents, but Silva dominates anyone, anywhere, at anytime. He owns the MW world!
And buying up real estate in the LHW world as well!
So true.
Leben collapsed back stage after the Bisping fight. It was amazing how much damage leben took in that fight and still kept coming forward. I have big respect for Leben after witnesing that. Bisping didnt stop Leben but he made Lebens face look worse after a fight then ever before. That was a technical masterpeice by Bisping.
Guys, he said he wanted to fight him before he retires, not next week. My guess is that you’ll see Bisping against Hendo/Franklin/Marquardt before you see him against Silva, provided he wins in the lead up fights.
Relax Bisping, stop trying to make yourself excited that he’s retiring. Wishful thinking on your part friend.
Anderson Silva is here now and he is kicking ass. You can take him on sure, but you’ll be staring at the ceiling lights when you come to.
It doesn’t even matter, it can be in England like almost all of your fights. Home court advantage means nothing for a guy like Silva.
this clown needs to fight nate the great and also hollywood…u cant fight the best till you fight the rest that have tried
Tripleainto and Danny, why can’t you give the man his due? At what point has he ever said he’s ready to face Silva? What he said is that he’d like to fight him before he (Silva) retires. Ask any pro in the MW division and they’d say the same thing. Trip, do you actually think home court advantage had anything to do with that fight against Leben? The guys face looked worse then it did after Silva! I’m no Bisping nut hugger and I agree that he needs to fight better competition to become more credible, but boys he just beat one of the toughest MW on the planet, so how about a little respect for the man……
comon, lets be realistic here. Bisping could barely land solid punches on leben, and it went to a decision. Cote beat up leben pretty bad and i dont question his chance to fight silva. But Bisping has to fight some top notch guys before he fights silva. I just dont think hes on the same caliber as silva. I guess we’ll see
Bisping’s right Silva is calling it quits to soon. I personally think Silva could hold the LHW and MW belt. Some really mouth watering match ups at 205 for the spider!!! e.g Wanderlei,Chuck,Shogun…..
Anderson would eat him alive.
the best P4P is FEDOR………BOTTOM LINE
if bisping beats nate or henderson, and depending on how, id like to see him fight anderson sometime in 09. its not like anderson has anyone else to fight at mw.
again, i thnk anderson should step up to lhw and fight. machida will understand.
Funny how people are saying Bisping ran and didn’t land a punch on Leben? his fave was like he had been attacked with a baseball bat! Leben collapsed back stage.
Good. I can’t wait to see Bisping get knocked the fuck out. Everyone talks about how great Anderson Silva is. I admit it. He’s fucking awesome. But, I’d like to see him get knocked the fuck out too. I just don’t think Bisping can do it.