sport

What’s next for Anderson ‘the spider’ Silva?

Those of you who watched the undoing of Stephan Bonnar at UFC 153 will know how ridiculous Anderson Silva’s skills are.

Those of you who watched the undoing of Stephan Bonnar at UFC 153 will know how ridiculous Anderson Silva’s skills are. After stepping into a fight at the last minute to save a card plagued by injuries, Silva was hugely under the 205Lb weight limit he stepped up too and fighting not only a guy who had never been stopped, but someone with nothing to lose in Stephan ‘the American psycho’ Bonnar.

For those of you who have not seen Anderson SIlva, he is like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Steven Segal rolled into one and stuck in a cage. I would encourage even the layman of the fight world to type his name into Youtube and marvel at the endless reel of talent on display.

Anderson V Bonnar

The fight started off with Bonnar pushing the pace and looking to take Anderson down, with much of the early action having Silva pushed up against the cage. Unfortunately for Bonnar, this is an area in which the Brazilian felt extremely comfortable and with his back literally against the wall, he continued to goad Bonnar forward in his version of his idol’s (Muhammed Ali) roper-dope trick. The cock-sure Silva with his hands by his side’s evaded punch after punch as he appeared to play with his victim before he finally retaliated with a leg sweep, followed up as Bonnar got back to his feet with a vicious knee to the body to secure a TKO in 4minutes and 40 seconds of the first round.

Labelled as the greatest fighter in the world and having confessed to “Doing things that people believe are impossible”, who can challenge a man who appears to be in a class of his own?

Anderson went on record straight after the fight to say that he will not fight at 205Lb and that he only stepped in to “save the card” and to pay back the UFC for what they have provided him with. So that leaves us with the 185Lb division, in which the top contenders look to be Chris Weidman or Britain’s very own, Michael ‘the count’ Bisping. Bisping has often been the first to critic his performance and has really stepped up his game, with a unanimous decision win over the heavy handed Brian Stann at UFC 152, he immediately went on record to say that he feels he deserves his shot at the title “I will get my title shot, I will be world champion… Whether it is the next fight or five fights time..I am going nowhere, this is my destiny’

Weidman must first overcome top 5 contender Tim Boetsch on Decemeber 29th, with UFC president Dana White believing that the American is the fans favourite for a shot at the title, Weidman says, “I know I can beat Anderson”. The obvious fight here would be for Bisping and Weidman to face off, with the winner taking on the champ.

Super-fights

While Bisping and Weidman dispute who should be first for their shot at ‘the spider’, they may miss their chance, as Anderson said in the UFC 153 post-fight press conference, “Weidman is young,with a lot to do in the division”. Meanwhile, with two fights left on Anderson Silva’s contract in the UFC, fans are calling for super-fight matchups with George St-Pierre and Jon ‘bones’ Jones, something which Anderson eluded to in the conference, confirming that he believes one of his fights will be against GSP.

Despite the crowd baying for the Anderson Jones fight and UFC boss Dana White guaranteeing ‘I will make Anderson Silva say yes, yes, yes’ to the fight with ‘bones’ Jones, the relentless questioning on the matchup were met with a shake of the head, with Anderson going on to say that he is “an oldie…I am nearly retired…I have never fought for the money.’ Anderson also believes that other members of his camp fighting at Jon Jones 205Lb division would be better suited to fight the prodigy.