What Happens if Anderson "Spider" Silva Beats James Irvin?

As you may or may not know, Anderson "Spider" Silva will be moving up to light heavyweight to take on James Irvin on the free "UFC Fight Night - 14" card, which takes place on July 19th.

The stated plan for Silva is to have him fight James Irvin on July 19th, and then he will drop back down to defend his middleweight title a few months later, possibly at UFC 88 or UFC 89.

This fight against Irvin is a test fight for Silva at light heavyweight. If Silva beats Irvin (and it's widely expected that he will, and easily), then you have to presume that the UFC will be looking to move Silva up to light heavyweight permanently after he defends his middleweight title one more time.

Presuming that Silva defeats Irvin on July 19th and then defends his middleweight title at either UFC 88 or UFC 89, then what? What will be next for the "Spider"?

First off, it would seem foolish to keep Silva at middleweight. He has completely destroyed everyone in his path in middleweight, and has not been significantly challenged once. Dana White has said that he only will allow his champions to jump up a weight class if they have "cleaned out" their divisions. Well, Silva has definitely done that at middleweight. He has destroyed Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin (twice) and Nathan Marquardt during his reign in the UFC. These are great fighters who have been thoroughly outclassed by Silva. With the exception of a rematch against Yushin Okami, I don't anyone in the middleweight class that could give Silva any trouble.

Second, as mentioned before, moving Silva up to light heavyweight makes sense for a multitude of other reasons. First off, you will bring on a number of new and exciting challenges to a fighter who clearly wants to fight the best opponents available. Also, moving Silva up to light heavyweight brings about a number of new "dream" match possibilities that could potentially make the UFC a bundle of money. How about a PPV headlined by Liddell vs Silva? Or Silva vs "Rampage" for the light heavyweight title? Or Anderson Silva vs Wanderlei Silva, in a match of two of the most respected fighters in Mixed Martial Arts? The UFC aren't stupid - Silva is a durable and extremely popular fighter who craves the biggest matches. Three or four cards that feature Silva at light heavyweight could generate the UFC a significant amount of additional revenues every year.

So assuming Silva beats Irvin and then defends his middleweight title one last time, then what?

For starters, I would expect the UFC to move Silva up to 205 full-time and have him drop the middleweight title.

I think that they want Silva to have one more match at light heavyweight before a "money" match against Chuck Liddell. I could see the UFC putting him against someone like Machida or Thiago Silva before pitting him against the "big" light heavyweights (such as Jackson, Liddell or Wanderlei).

I can't see the UFC having Silva switching back and forth between middleweight and light heavyweight. I think that the plan is to have him defend the middleweight title one last time, and then move up to light heavyweight for good. It's certainly an interesting discussion.

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