‘Spider’ camp denies ever offering to have Anderson Silva relinquish his title and move to light heavyweight
http://mmamania.com/2009/08/11/spider-c ... avyweight/Anderson Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, has informed ESPN.com that an August 9 report from Yahoo Sports about Anderson Silva relinquishing his 185-pound title for a permanent move to light heavyweight, is untrue.
The report quoted Soares as offering Silva to UFC President Dana White as a permanent fixture in the light heavyweight division during the UFC 101 post-fight press conference.
Soares however, is adamant that “The Spider” is still just a part-time employee in the 205-pound class.
From Soares:
“That is totally false; I never said that to Dana. The only time I recall Dana saying what was said in the Yahoo! story — ‘I like that. We can make that happen, I like that’ — was when Anderson’s assistant came up to Dana and said something to him. But I don’t even know what he said to Dana. Like we’ve said before, Anderson wants to be in the biggest fights possible, whether it’s at 205 or 185 [pounds],” Soares said. “He owns the belt at 185 and he is going to keep defending that belt.”
Silva made quick work of former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 back on August 8. The TUF 1 champ was stunned early and often, eventually wilting under the might of the middleweight champ.
In fact it was such a one-sided beatdown, speculation ran rampant following the fight about where Silva might go from here. White mentioned a possible superfight with current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida — an idea not well received by “The Spider.”
As of now, Silva will likely defend his belt in a rematch against Dan Henderson later this year or early 2010. “Hollywood” squashed Michael Bisping at UFC 100 to get another crack at the unstoppable Brazilian.
From there it’s anyone’s guess, but we do know that Anderson Silva has no immediate plans to permanently fight at 205-pounds.
Somewhere in Cincinnati, Rich Franklin is wiping his brow.
