Anderson Silva: Vitor Belfort Is The Most Complete Middleweight
Anderson “The Spider” Silva is widely considered to be the greatest mixed martial artist of all-time and without a doubt the greatest middleweight of all time. Silva ruled the middleweight division for 7 years, defending his title a record setting 10 times.
Silva’s reign of dominance came to an end in 2013 when he suffered a knockout loss to current champion Chris Weidman. This bout was followed by their rematch in which Silva suffered another loss when “The Spider” brutally broke his left leg.
Now getting ready to make his much anticipated return, Silva spoke on the current status of the middleweight belt. Weidman is set to defend his belt against Vitor Belfort in February. Silva spoke up about “The Phenom” at his recent UFC 183 press conference, mentioning that he believes Belfort will be a big test for Weidman:
“In my opinion, Vitor is the most complete fighter at 185 pounds. The most explosive, with the best boxing, good jiu-jitsu and wrestling. Weidman is young, (part of) the new generation, and is coming strong. It’s a fight everybody wants to see. I will root for Vitor to win, obviously.
When I had the title, I always said that the title was ours. Being in Brazil, it’s all right. When you have two Brazilians fighting for the title, it’s because we’re good at what we do. I will root for Vitor.”
Making his return on January 31’s UFC 183 against fellow returnee Nick Diaz, many expect the winner to get a title shot despite possibly not deserving one. “The Spider” has gave many contradicting answers regarding fighting for the title again. He made it clear at the press conference that he wants the belt, but will not surpass his teammates who may be closer to a shot at gold:
“No, I haven’t changed my mind. In my team, we have ‘Jacare’ (Souza). At Black House, we have Lyoto (Machida) and Khalil (Rountree), who’s coming now and has all the weapons to fight for the title (one day). I’ve been through this before and I have to respect (them). Jacare has been doing a great job and he has my full support to fight for the title. He’s working to make this happen.”
Silva also stated that he wouldn’t face Souza for the belt, but he would fight Weidman for a third time:
“I wouldn’t fight Jacare, who is a friend, a brother, and I know how much he works and wants this. He earned it,” he said. “If I have to fight Weidman one day, I will do it. A fight is a fight, but I won’t call anybody out.”
Silva may be one of the only ones giving Belfort a chance against the current middleweight king. However, if Belfort does somehow beat Weidman and Silva beats Diaz, the stars could align for a Silva vs. Belfort rematch for the title in Brazil, which could be more interesting than Silva vs. Weidman again.
All of the sudden, the middleweight division is about to get even more interesting. Will Silva be fighting for the title in 2015?
