Anderson "Spider" Silva vs James Irvin to Headline July 19th UFC Card

Dana White is trying the best that he can to bury the brand-new Affliction MMA brand by staging a free UFC show on the same night as Affliction's "Banned" PPV.

White announced today that Anderson Silva will be moving up to light heavyweight to take on James Irvin in the main event of the card. Silva will not be dropping his middleweight title - it is widely expected that Silva will fight again at UFC 88, the card that is being headlined by Liddell - Evans. This match at UFC 88 (if it happens) could very well be his last fight at middleweight ever.

Many think that this fight between Silva and James Irvin is very random and serves no purpose. In actuality, the entire point of this fight is to see how Silva does at 205 pounds. If he beats irvin, as most expect that he will, then this would likely lead to a "superfight" between Chuck Liddell and Silva down the road. A fight between the two would obviously generate a tremendous amount of money for the company, but they want to see how Silva fares at light heavyweight first.

Four other fights have been announced for the event so far. They are:

Brandon Vera vs Reese Andy
Frank Edgar vs Hermes Franca
Cain Velasquez vs Jake O'Brien
Anthony Johnson vs Kevin Burns

This event will be taking place at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The event will be shown at 9 pm EST for free on Spike TV.

For Silva, this represents an opportunity to move into the much more lucrative light heavyweight division. Silva has proven to be a dominating force at middleweight, and doesn't have much left to prove there. A move to light heavyweight would bring about the possibility of many "dream" matches involving Silva: Silva vs Liddell, Silva vs "Rampage", and Silva vs Wanderlei Silva. All three of these fights would be lapped up by fans and generate the UFC a tremendous amount of money.

If Liddell defeats Evans at UFC 88 and Silva beats Irvin at UFC Fight Night 14, then I would expect a Liddell - Silva match before the end of the year. For fight fans, this would be a dream come true.

Affliction obviously can't be too happy about this event being shown on the same night as their "Banned" PPV. Sure they have a stacked card, but how many casual MMA fans will be shelling out their hard-earned dollars when there is a free UFC event on TV? White will stop at nothing to crush his competition.

Play Poker - Receive a $600 Bonus