Anderson Silva’s Coach Hints At New Weight Class For Conor McGregor Fight
Prior to his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, Conor McGregor sparked speculation about a possible fight with Anderson Silva.
In an interview with his own website, The MacLife, McGregor noted that he’d be extremely interested in testing himself against a legendary striker such as “The Spider”:
”I would be interested in an Anderson Silva bout. I swear to God. Anderson is a legend in the game. What’s the difference between him and Georges? Same damn thing. I’m going to do fights that interest me or have meaning.”
Silva is widely regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. He dominated the UFC’s middleweight division for years before finally being bested by Chris Weidman. Now, with his MMA career winding down, it makes sense that Silva would chase money fights at this point.
Soon after McGregor’s comments made waves, Silva issued out a response. Silva said he’d be willing to fight McGregor and would consider it an “honor.” Silva’s coach, Rogerio Camoes, told Portal do Vale Tudo a bit more on the matter.
A New Weight?
Given the size discrepancy between the pair, one of the hardest aspects to nail down, in regards to a fight between McGregor and Silva, would be weight. Camoes said that Silva could get as low as 179 pounds for a fight with “The Notorious”:
“If you really force him, Anderson Silva can make 179, 180 pounds,” Camoes said. “I was in Los Angeles one month ago and we talked about his return. It was nice because he called me up the next day and said he had a fight lined up and was just waiting for an opponent.”
Camoes went back to Silva’s short-notice fill-in for Jon Jones at 2016’s UFC 200. Apparently, McGregor vs. Silva was on the table if ‘The Spider’ beat Daniel Cormier then:
“There was this McGregor thing, too. I was at UFC 200, when Anderson fought Daniel Cormier, I remember Jorge Guimares talking to me. I remember Jorge talking to Lorenzo Fertitta about matching up Anderson with Conor, if he defeated Cormier.
“McGregor was in his prime. I was by his side and he said that they thought it was a good fight, they were interested. That’s when it all began.”
