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Anderson Silva Wants To Fight Former UFC Champion Next

Anderson Silva Wants To Fight Former UFC Champion Next

The Brazilian is itching to get back inside the Octagon...

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Anderson Silva is keen to fight former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis inside the Octagon.

Pettis, who bested Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone with a decision victory at UFC 249 in May, called the future UFC Hall of Famer out for a fight and wants it to happen at middleweight.

Silva, who held the middleweight title for 2,457 days - the longest streak in UFC history - commented on Showtime's post to accept his challenge.

Image: Instagram
Image: Instagram

'The Spider', now 45, has not fought in 2020 after suffering back-to-back loses to Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier months apart at UFC 234 and UFC 237.

Image: PA
Image: PA

He had been lobbying for a 176lb superfight with Conor McGregor, who said the bout "excites him" but claimed he would get no credit even if he beat Silva.

He told ESPN: "I'm trying to get excited. I'm trying my best. And when the Anderson one came along, I was like, yeah, s**t, that's a mad fight.

"And then everyone said he's old and over the hill. I was, like, What? Fighting a former light heavyweight and the middleweight GOAT, and the actual GOAT in my eyes, that's not a rewardable fight?

"And you know, you're actually right. It wouldn't be rewarded. I would go in there and put him away, Ariel, and then what would happen? They'd say he's old and he's over the hill and he's past his prime and all."

Silva has said he has begun the process of cutting weight and getting down from 84kg but UFC president Dana White has no interest in making the fight happen.

"It's not a fight that I'm interested in right now," White said when asked about McGregor vs. Silva.

"Listen, everybody's in quarantine, right? They can't go to the gym. They can't go to restaurants. So they sit on these stupid things all day. Conor and I have not talked about fighting.

"If you're Conor, sitting at home, everybody is calling you out, in every weight division.

"Who's next? I'm waiting for [heavyweight] Daniel Cormier to call him out, you know? Conor, his personality, he's going to respond to that."

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: UFC News, MMA News, UFC, MMA