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2008-07-04 03:19:43
Dana White: I'll Let Anderson Silva Hold Two Belts at Once
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Many people have been speculating as to whether or not Anderson "Spider" Silva would choose to stay in the middleweight division or permanently move up to Light Heavyweight. Well according to UFC president Dana White, the answer is: neither.
According to an article on MMA Weekly, Dana White has given his blessing to Anderson "Spider" Silva fighting in both divisions. Not only that, but White has also said that he has no problem with Silva holding both the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight titles - at the same time.
This just shows the awesome amount of respect that White has for Silva, the fighter. According to White, Silva sat down in White's office and said that he wasn't fighting enough. The two hatched the idea of Silva "testing the waters" in light heavyweight, while still defending his middleweight title. The result of that meeting? A light heavyweight match-up on July 19th between Silva and James Irvin.
Many people originally thought (myself included) that a successful fight against Irvin on the 19th would result in Silva dropping the middleweight title and permanently moving to light heavyweight. According to White, this isn't the case.
The plan is for Silva to fight Irvin on July 19th, and barring injury, drop back down to Middleweight to defend his middleweight title on September 6th at UFC 88. This fight would be against Yushin Okami, which is a match-up that many hardcore MMA fans have been pining for.
According to White, Silva wants to fight TWO more times in 2008 after the UFC 88 match-up. This would make for an unbelievable four fights in just six months, which is pretty crazy. All of this depends on Silva not being seriously injured in any of his match-ups, obviously.
Assuming that he successfully defends against Okami, the plan would then be for Silva to jump back into light heavyweight, presumably against an opponent who is slightly higher up in the rankings. Then, he would drop back down to defend against the winner of the Almeida / Cote fight at UFC 86.
Assuming that he wins his next 2-3 light heavyweight fights, Silva would then presumably get a shot at the current light heavyweight champion, likely sometime in early 2009.
This would set up the possibility of Silva holding both the light heavyweight and middleweight titles AT THE SAME TIME.
If he successfully pulled that off - wow. Silva takes the first step towards holding two titles at once on July 19th, when he takes on James Irvin in a light heavyweight battle.
Source: MMA Weekly
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