Anderson Silva has been the UFC middleweight champion since October of 2006 and has successfully defended the title ten times, which is a UFC record.
Since defending the title last month against Chael Sonnen, the question has become who will he fight next?
Many fans have been calling for him to have a super fight against either light heavyweight champion Jon Jones or welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
At the UFC 148 Post Fight Press Conference, Silva was asked about the possibility of fighting Jones and he wave his hand saying no. Jones has also said he is not interested in a fight with Silva.
One of Anderson’s managers is Jorge Guimaraes and he has done several interviews over the last week about what is next for the champion.
In an interview with the Brazilian website Tatame, he said that the only fight that made sense would be St-Pierre. During his interview with the website, he called potential matchup against Chris Weidman, Tim Boetsch and Alan Belcher “a big joke.”
With St-Pierre scheduled to fight at UFC 154 in November against Carlos Condit, Silva would need to wait until 2013 for the possibility of fighting St-Pierre. The UFC is interested in the potential fight, but UFC Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta told the LA Times that St-Pierre needs to defeat Condit first.
Cesar Gracie has said that Nick Diaz would like to fight Silva, but he is currently suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission until earlier February of 2013. If Silva were to defend the title before a potential fight with St-Pierre, the likely candidate is Weidman. He wants the fight and has made it known on Twitter that he is ready to take on the champion.
Guimaraes spoke with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting yesterday and said they have turned down the fight with Weidman. Guimaraes is asked about the Weidman situation at the 1:30 mark of the video below.
It’s easy to understand where Guimaraes is coming from and why they believe a fight with St-Pierre makes the most sense. However, the UFC makes the decision on who Silva’s next opponent will be. UFC President Dana White was asked on Twitter if Silva could turn down the fight with Weidman.
@bosox4279@chrisweidmanufc@ufc nope!!— Dana White (@danawhite) August 2, 2012
Weidman appears to be the number one contender in the middleweight division and who the UFC wants to face Silva. If he wants to wait for a potential fight with St-Pierre, he would likely not fight until the Spring of 2013. For the UFC, it’s not in there best interest to have Silva on the sidelines for that long, especially if he is healthy.
So the question that all parties need to decide is if Silva should wait for a potential bout with St-Pierre or should he fight Weidman now? If I was the person making the decision, have him fight Weidman now and potentially St-Pierre in 2013.