Anderson Silva will not fight for the rest of this year
With many fighters at Middleweight clamoring to call out long-reigning division champion Anderson Silva, the Brazilian legend is hearing none of it. News comes today the Silva will stay on the shelf for the entire remainder of 2012, choosing to forego another chance to extend his UFC-record title defense streak. Dana White confirmed this earlier today, saying the following to MMAJunkie.com:
“Anderson said he wants to take some time off until after the end of this year, and then we’ll start talking to him. Anderson is going to fight after the end of the year.”
Recent news has seen fighters look for a fight with the champ like never before. Tim Boetsch called him out to say he could submit him, after a very lackluster win over Hector Lombard. Alan Belcher looked for a title fight after he beat always-dangerous Rousimar Palhares. Michael Bisping awaits his long-sought after chance at the belt. Of course, the rumors of superfights with GSP and Jon Jones abound, with nothing concrete ever materializing.
Perhaps the most deserving man may be Chris Weidman, who has made his title plans no secret after destroying Mark Munoz last month. In any case, the list is long, but Silva is in no hurry to step into the cage with any of these men. White commented with high praise on Weidman:
“He’s in a great spot. The kid looked fantastic. He demolished – demolished – the No. 3 guy (in the division) in spectacular fashion. He has the right to call out whoever he wants.”
The conversation about who can defeat Silva has already grown stale and redundant. However, now we will have more and more time to speculate on it. In a year where we have seen the most dominant champions Silva and GSP fight only once collectively, should Silva look to further his legacy more?
