After Anderson Silva‘s past two fights, Dana White had had enough. He knows Silva is capable of greatness, and while he’s proven that time and time again, his matches against Patrick Cote and Thales Leites were, quite frankly, boring. Silva pretty much dominates that weight class, and with no real challenges left, it was time for him to either move up to the next weight class, or down to the previous one. We’ve all been waiting to find out which it would be — make no mistake about it, Dana White wasn’t going to just let Silva ride.
And now we finally have the announcement we’ve been waiting for: Silva will move up to 205 lbs. to fight Forrest Griffin in UFC 101 in Philadelphia on Aug. 8th.
I will admit to being a little surprised, though. Forrest Griffin is a fan favorite — of mine as well — but I wouldn’t necessarily have matched him up with Anderson Silva. Forrest wins, no doubt about it, but not consistently. True, he took out Shogun Hua and Rampage Jackson, both really tough guys, but he lost to the undefeated Rashad Evans, who took his Light Heavyweight Championship title from him. Forrest is a brawler for sure, and he’s tough as you need him to be, but I feel like Rashad might have been more of a challenge for Silva. But given that Rashad’s fighting another favorite of mine, Lyoto Machida in UFC 98, and not knowing what the outcome of that fight will be, White probably made the better decision.
Forrest is always up for a fight, and Silva has said that he admires him, so it’s on! Watch for UFC 101 on Aug. 8th!
