Anderson Silva to compete at heavyweight?

Anderson Silva is open to fighting at heavyweight at some point in the future, according to his manager Ed Soares, who reveals the possible move on tonight’s episode of MMA Live. Soares says that Silva is motivated by the prospect of being involved in the best fights he can be.

"He wants to be in the biggest fights possible, where it's GSP, whether it'd be at light heavyweight, or whether it'd even be at heavyweight. It doesn't make a difference. He wants to be involved in the biggest fights possible."

"If that GSP fight is something that fans want to watch, that's going to be a big pay-per-view, it's going to be a fight - we'll take it.”

Silva’s next opponent will be Vitor Belfort at UFC 112 and his middleweight title will be on the line. If he can beat Belfort, the only other realistic challenge at middleweight might be a rematch with Nate Marquardt, who has been on a tear of late.

Aside from that, Silva has basically cleaned out the middleweight division and has looked almost bored when fighting opponents like Thales Leites. Former challenger Patrick Cote is back in action and angling for a fight with Silva again, but that is not likely to be a big pay per view seller, hence Silva beginning to eye a move up in weight.

http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=3817

He says he is going to retire after 3 fights, but then says he want to move up to 205 and clear out the divison (bar Machida), then says he wants to go to HW and fight Mir etc....


I dont think he even knows what he is going to do anymore, is he still going to boxing to fight roy jones jr ?


We need to see him against GSP and Shogun before he retires.

I think I remember reading somewhere that he'd changed his retirement plans. He'd need to if he wants to compete at heavyweight, he'd probably have to vacate his middleweight title as well.

I think he could be a good 235 fighter but how is he going to do against Lesner, Mir and Carwin? He already has Dos Santos and Nog fighting there as training partners so who is he facing? Velasquez?

There are better fights at MW and LHW, I want to see him fight Nate, GSP, Wandy at MW and Shogun, Rampage, Evans and I wish Machida as well but those are the fights id like to see.

Someone seems to believe their own hype! Lesnar could take him down with 1 hand and keep him there by lieing on him and GnP him out with 1 hand.... I dont think he could hang with the top Heavys.

I think Belfort will beat him

I think GSP will beat him if they fight

I think Any or Mir/Carwin/Lesnar will beat him and he wont fight JDS or Nog

Anderson needs to concentrate on Belfort before all this crazy talk! he will be after Muhammed Ali next!

IMO there's no1 at MW to beat him other than Hendo who is gone to SF. I think he'll put GSP to sleep if they fight. and if he survives the first round against Vitor, he'll beat him.

At LHW, Machida and Mousasi are the only two i see beating him, he's not going to fight either of them. He beats everyone else in that division IMO.

At HW I think he could beat Mir, Struve, Gonzaga and JDS because of his speed and incredible ability to not get hit but any of the big wrestlers, Cain, Brock, Carwin would beat him badly IMO. Fedor would beat him but they won't fight.

If he were to fight Fedor I reckon it would probably follow a similar pattern to the Arlovski fight, except Fedor takes him down and gets the sub.

maybe if Fedor wanted to keep it on the feet.
Fedor would gorrilla Silva the second he decided he wants to grapple.

Can't see him beating the Lesnar's of the division, as great as his stand up and BJJ is, size will always be important.

I think Silva would KO Mousasi, I like him alot but he still has a lot to do before he gets to the level of Silva. I do think GSP will beat him if he fights smart, if he avoids the striking of Silva, I don't think Silva can stop his takedowns.

Mir vs Silva would be intresting but considering Mir is fast approaching 300 ibs, Size would be an issue. Mir has been Koed by smaller men before but thats when he was nowhere at the top of his game, he is much better now.

Silva vs Fedor would be a really exciting fight, Silva has the technique to cause Fedor problems standing up but if Fedor got a takedown I think he would GnP him or submit him with ease. Standing up though, Silva would have to follow the Arvloski gameplan minus the flying knee and he could cause problems, especially if he lands an elbow on Fedor's fragile skin.

Shogun vs Silva would be an amazing match as well, I do think Shogun can beat him. I wouldn't make him favourite but he can pull off the win. His wrestling is better, there BJJ is even as far as I know (Silva might have a slight edge) and standing up they are very close.

I'd say Shogun is better on the ground to be honest. Shogun has an under-rated groundgame.

I don't think GSP will be able to get within range of Silva to take him down without eating some massive shots. GSP won't have a reach advantage like he had over Alves and Silva's strikes come from crazy angles. I think Silva vs GSP would be like Chuck vs Randleman. If Randleman had been able to get in close he'd have taken Chuck down but because of the reach and KO power, The Monster had to take an extra step or two back so when he shot in he wasn't hitting Liddell with the power of the shoot. Which meant Liddell could avoid the takedown. I think that's how Silva vs GSP would go. If GSP stands close enough to get hit, then he's going to sleep early, if he backs up and can't get the takedown it turns into a striking match and there's only going to be one winner.

I think Mousasi has the tools to beat Silva. Mousasi has a really really strong chin. He's got excellent Judo and a good ground game. And he's got great boxing. I could see him causing Silva problems like Hendo did but i don't think he would gas like Hendo. And also, he has far quicker hands than Hendo and he's got big KO power. Not Hendo power but he throws 3 punches in the time Hendo throws one haymaker. He probably needs to sharpen up his skills more, but i think the basis is there. I would love to see Mousasi vs Machida. Two of my favourite fighters, i'd back Lyoto but think Mousasi has such a great allround skill set that he could challenge him. I would prefer to see it after Machida has finished with the UFC though.

It is but I feel like Silva has shown more and probably trains with better BJJ practioners. Shogun was submitted by Forrest Griffin at the end of the day and Silva has a submission over Lutter. Shogun might be the better all round grappler though.

The Randleman vs Liddell comparison is nice but missing one thing. Randleman never had the striking GSP has, who's striking is some of the best ever adapted to MMA. Im not saying GSP has the standup of Silva, not at all but he has enough to defend on the feet. He mix his striking and then create space to shoot and take Silva down. GSP isn't dumb enough to get in a plain out brawl with Silva like Griffin did. On the feet he can throw kicks and punches to get inside Silva and get him down. He has takendown much better wrestlers and big guys as well, he takes down Evans and Nate all the time in training.

Mousasi has the tools to be something special but I don't think he could handle Silva right now. If it turns to a striking contest Mousasi will eat a lot of knee and fist, Silva probably has the best headmovement in MMA right now. He is near impossible to hit. I think the best chance Mousasi has is on the ground. He should use his judo to throw and sweep him around but he could get caught standing or on the ground. He has been subbed twice in his career.

GSP's stand-up is good, but not great. If he stands with Silva he goes to sleep. He might have had better stand-up than Randleman(frankly, i have better stand-up than Randleman!), but Randleman had better wrestling and much more power. Silva is also a lot better than Liddell on his feet so i think the gap is about the same between Silva and GSP as it was between Chuck and Randleman.

I know GSP takes Evans and Nate down but he struggles with Evans because of his quickness. And remember, it's easier to take someone down when they are not trying to knee you in the mouth.

Ye as I said, he isn't going to outsrike Silva or anything, not sure anyone can. What he can do is avoid them and use it to get the takedown.

Randleman has better overall wrestling, his control is far better but I think GSP has better takedowns. Silva is a better striker than Liddell but Liddell has much, much better takedown defence and is actually a pretty good wrestler himself.

Silva has shown no takedown defence ever. How many wrestlers has he actually fought?

Griffin-Made for Silva, Silva probably beats him 99.9 times out of 100.

Leites-Didn't attempt a single takedown, just dropped to his back. Not a good wrestler anyway.

Coté- Not a wrestler. IMO he won the second round of that fight because Silva did nothing but dance.

Irvin-Average fighter

Hendo-Only good wrestler he has faced recently. He easily won the first round and took Silva down with ease but gassed because he didn't deal with the weight cut properly.

Franklin and Nate aren't wrestlers either.

So it will be a new kind of opponent for Silva, a fighter with the best takedowns in MMA, a very good all round wrestler and an excellent athelte.

GSP is a great wrestler but he's not Randleman. In any aspect. Randleman is on a different level completely to GSP. Even in terms of takedowns.

I don't know his takedowns have never been really impressive, he has lost to most good wrestlers he has faced, even Mike Whitehead! Im not saying he isn't a better wrestler than GSP but in terms of takedowns he isn't great, when you look at the Randleplex against Fedor its more about brute strength and power than actual technique.

He's nearly 40 now, and he's had a stupid amount of surgery.

I wouldn't say Randleman was a better techical guy than GSP??

On the A.s disscussion, he has better match ups at LHW, for people to be saying he would beat Mir is laughable!!! He would be fighting middle of the park guys at HW no one that interesting. LHW would be awesome!! Machida (if his old man gets involved HAHA!!) Shogun, T.Silva and so on... I would also like to see him fight Randy, i think he would make for an uncomfortable fight for Anderson???

What you think?

Randleman was better in every aspect of wrestling than GSP is.

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:I think Silva would KO Mousasi, I like him alot but he still has a lot to do before he gets to the level of Silva. I do think GSP will beat him if he fights smart, if he avoids the striking of Silva, I don't think Silva can stop his takedowns.

IMO Mousasi wins this fight how ever he wants in fact I would be bold enough to say Mousasi TKO's Silva with in the 1st Round his ground game especially his G&P is scary how good it is.

I agree on GSP winning though I think his all round game would get him a pretty dominant decision.

Must disagree there, if any one of them will be beating the other in any way he wants its Anderson.

I'm a big Mousasi fan myself, and i want to see him take the best of 205, who happen to be all in the UFC, but think Anderson edges this one. His striking is just too good.

But Mousasi and Machida and Shogun are the only ones that could possibly beat him at 205. But i would not have alot of money on either of them against Anderson.


The only fighter out there that i would have Anderson as the underdog against is Fedor. (I'm not including the big HW's, just at a specific catchweight of 225 lbs or something)


Even GSP at 185, Anderson for me would be strong favourite against.......

Don't overate Mousasi so early, noway could he outsrike Silva. He has never faced a striker even in the same library as Silva. His biggest wins are Jacare and Babalu, good but Jacare was very one dimensional back then and Babalu has been KOed a few times. IMO Sokudju was beating him till he gassed and got Koed.

Machida, GSP and Fedor would beat Silva IMO, he would have a good chance to beat all three but I wouldn't put him favourite.

Machida and Fedor would IMO beat Silva. And i'd pick Mousasi as well. Think i'd back Silva against everyone else. I really think he'd give GSP a beating if they fought.

There's not too many of the larger UFC top heavies I would fancy Silva against to be honest. Big nog, Mir, Lesnar, Carwin etc would all be favourites in my book.

He'd never fight either Nog but i think i'd have to back him against both of them to be honest.