Everyone knows that Anderson Silva is on a completely different level than practically anyone in the middleweight division, where he currently holds the world title. He's also gone on record many times as saying there's no way he'd ever fight Lyoto Machida, his training partner, for the light heavyweight championship. But he may have his sights on another division altogether.
Sports Illustrated has reported that the time may be right for Silva to move to the heavyweight division.
Prior to Silva's flooring Forrest Griffin earlier this month in Philadelphia, SI.com confirmed that Silva's representatives had spoken with Zuffa about the heralded UFC middleweight champion moving up to heavyweight for the first time in his career.
Not only that, they already had an opponent in mind: Frank Mir
Disinterested by middleweight contenders Nathan Marquardt, Demian Maia and Dan Henderson, and unwilling to fight close friend Lyoto Machida at light heavyweight -- where Silva could conceivably knock off challengers and make a disaster out of the UFC's marquee division -- "The Spider" needs new, challenging scenarios to stay motivated. A move to heavyweight would certainly achieve that, and according to Silva's manager Ed Soares, the UFC was receptive to the idea.
It would indeed be impressive for a former world champion at 167 pounds to climb all the way to heavyweight, where blockbusters against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, or, dare we say it, Brock Lesnar, a fight Silva would accept if the money is right, could materialize.
It's been a while since BJ Penn stated he wanted to win the title in every weight class, but if Machida ever drops the light heavyweight title, Silva may just make a run at that same goal. BJ's dream fell short going up against Georges St. Pierre, a man just as spectactularly talented in his weight division as Silva.
The terrifying thing is that Silva is miles better than anyone in the middleweight and perhaps light heavyweight division to the point where anyone who steps in the cage with him looks like a rank amateur. And these are fights where Silva is disinterested or bored, fighting with his hands down and moving out of the way of strikes with ease. The idea of a motivated Silva at heavyweight is, frankly, terrifying.