Reports from Brazil have tonight claimed that MMA legend Anderson Silva has become the latest fighter to register their interest in a fight with UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor.
Combate.br published a phone interview with the former UFC middleweight champ, and unlike others who have called out McGregor, Silva was nothing but respectful and claimed he wanted the fight purely to test his skills against the Irishman.
The first thought upon hearing the news is that any agreement would have to be at a catch-weight, as with Silva's advancing years it would be difficult for him and McGregor to find a weight-class that would suit both men, but should the fight actually go down it would make for one hell of a spectacle.
It's a challenge that I would like to accomplish. I never never asked to fight with anyone, but it is a challenge that would like to have, to test my martial arts skills against McGregor. I would also like to see a rematch with Nick Diaz and Michael Bisping.
I think McGregor is a great fighter standing, in the last fight he did not fight very well and Nate Diaz is a very difficult challenge, they (the Diaz brothers) have a lot of gas when standing. The loss to Diaz does not diminish his career, but they are opponents that I would like to test my skills: McGregor, Nick Diaz, and again against Michael Bisping, because the fight ended in a way that was not nice.
The figures that fight, or the event card that the fight would be on rather, would break every record previously set by the UFC, as the idea of Anderson Silva and Conor McGregor both dropping their hands and taunting the other fighter is something that every MMA fan would tune in to see.
While Silva is clearly not the fighter he once was, the size advantage (emphasised by the fact that Anderson fought at light-heavyweight in his career) would perhaps level the playing field, but it would require Conor being crazy enough to accept the fight regardless... So maybe it will happen.
For now, Anderson Silva must take a ticket and wait in line, as there are far more plausible opponents already very upset that they haven't been given a crack at McGregor already.
