Gegard Mousasi Would ‘Love’ To Fight Anderson Silva After UFC 204
The UFC’s middleweight division is currently quite crowded.
The title is set to be defended tomorrow night (October 8, 2016) in the main event of UFC 204, as Michael Bisping meets Dan Henderson. No. 2-ranked Chris Weidman will then face off with No. 4-ranked Yoel Romero at November 12’s UFC 205, while No. 1-ranked former champion Luke Rockhold will meet No. 3-ranked Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza on November 26, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.
One middleweight fight that may be flying under the radar, however, will also take place tomorrow night when No. 9-ranked Gegard Mousasi meets No. 5-ranked Vitor Belfort. While a win over Belfort would indeed move him up the rankings, Mousasi knows he’s still multiple fights away from a shot at gold given the ‘busy’ nature of the division:
“It’s going to get me higher (in the rankings) but it’s not going to do anything different for me,” Mousasi told the Fight Society podcast recently. “You have now “Jacare” (Souza) against (Luke) Rockhold, (Chris) Weidman against Yoel Romero so those are guys that can easily fight for the belt. Those guys are ahead of me.
“After beating Vitor, it’s just another guy I have to face. The title shot seems far away for me so I’m not thinking of it but it will come. After this victory, I will be a step closer to that.”
With that being said, Mousasi plans to get by Belfort before hopefully taking on another Brazilian legend in former longtime champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva:
“The only one that doesn’t have a fight is Anderson Silva. I would love to fight him. Those are fights, fighting legends, fighting big names. If you can get a win over those guys, it’s on your record and it’s going to stay that way. Those are the fights that make sense. Those are the fights people are going to remember you for if you beat Vitor or Anderson or Dan Henderson, guys like that.”
Silva last competed at July 9’s UFC 200 when he suffered a decision loss to 205-pound champion Daniel Cormier in a bout that he accepted on just two days notice. If Mousasi is indeed successful tomorrow night, a bout between him and Silva would not only make sense, but it’d likely be quite exciting.
Would you be interested in seeing these two face off in the near future?
