ESPN "Anderson Won't Fight Jon Jones".

[BoxingGenius27]

How did Franklin clean out the middleweight division when he only had 4 fights in the UFC at middleweight before he won and lost the title?

And yeah, he probably could've fought better contenders at 205, but the guy is 37 now and since his contract is up, he'll probably sign one more deal, which will be for huge money and then retire as middleweight champ.

And as a champion, doesn't Silva have to fight the top ranked contenders or be stripped of his title? Isn't that what the UFC does? He fights who he's told to fight, he's just cleared out the middleweight division is all.

And I wouldn't mind if he retired either, he really has nothing left to prove as a middleweight, but it sounds like he's going to sign one more contract before he retires, but I guess we'll have to see.

The UFC/MMA is a new sport. We have had champions like Brock Lesnar who was a champion with like 4 fights; how many fights do you think it takes to clean out a division in the UFC as champion?

Jon Jones has had like 4 title defenses and did he not clean out the division? I think Hendo is like the only one left. Dude, it doesn't take many title defenses to clean out the division. Before PRIDE merged with the UFC, Chuck cleaned out the division with the same number of title defenses. It doesn't take much. Rich Franklin was 7-0 in the UFC having defended the title 3 times. Anderson Silva was imported from PRIDE at the time because there was no one left to fight Rich.

Like I said, Rich already cleaned out the division. Regarding Silva "HAVING" to fight for the MW title, he's the undisputed champ. We get it! Why continue to defend a belt no one can win? He's the man already. Until he retires, no one at 185 will beat him.

Either he faces new challenges at 205 or give up the belt.

Oh yeah, there have been many guys that have tried to hold titles in consecutive weight classes (i.e BJ Penn and Dan Henderson). Let's not act like Silva can't do both because he can. He's that talented. He's just content with being content

[Anthony342]

Exactly. This is what the situation is right now.

the point of the fight is that Silva wants to get rid of the last fight on his current contract with UFC. And since he's taking this fight on short notice he doesn't want to waste time cutting weight so thats why he's fighting at 205.

After this contract is up, Silva is due for a HUGE payday especially considering his next fight is gonna be against GSP which will easily be the biggest ppv buy in UFC history.

I thought I read this somewhere. So, what's left for Silva? He's the best to ever set foot in the Octagon, he's cleaned out the middleweight division. So, I take it, he's going to sign some kind of 2 or 3 fight deal and then retire?

[Anthony342]

Exactly. This is what the situation is right now.

So what happens now? Does Silva continue to defend the middleweight title or fight GSP at welterweight or fight a few fights at light heavy and then call it a career? What should he do and what will he do? I'm thinking he probably wants to defend the title 2 or 3 more times and then retire.

[game20ver]

[QUOTE=Bacatit;12598758]This is what happens when you barely pay attention to the sport or pick and choose what to hear.
Anderson has been trying to make super fights for years now and Dana ain't havin it because it means sacrificing one of his money makers. Silva hasn't fought @ 205 in a long while because Dana gave him an ultimatum.

As far as Jones goes, Jones came into the game saying his idol was Anderson Silva and the guy went as far as saying watching Silva is what made him determined to be an mma fighter.
If I was Silva I wouldn't fight the guy either, he's the kid that came up because of Silva's presence in the sport.

And Oscar De La Hoya idolized Chavez coming up, Let's get it on!

[BKM-2010]

So what happens now? Does Silva continue to defend the middleweight title or fight GSP at welterweight or fight a few fights at light heavy and then call it a career? What should he do and what will he do? I'm thinking he probably wants to defend the title 2 or 3 more times and then retire.

Well at the post fight press Anderson said again that he wants to fight for 5 more years. I thought he was joking some time ago but he keeps saying this, but I don't think anybody believes that. He also said that he does not fight for money and made that very clear, but again, I kind of have some doubts over his comments because imagine the pay days for a GSP or Jones fight. I'm not saying he's liar at all, but his answers to your type of questions seem a little far fetched to me.

[Anthony342]

So he either fights until he's 42, like he said or retires before then. And, so you're saying it's hard to tell what Silva will do now?

[BKM-2010]

Yes, I remember in the late 2000s he was talking about retirement already, but I think it was after the forrest fight where he signed another 5-6 fight contract. There's just no telling what he decides to do next.