Full Contact Fighter Database

Home

>

News

>

Article

Media

Wednesday, Aug 08, 2012

Full Contact Fighter’s “The Daily Takedown:” UFC’s Anderson Silva Might Move Down, Jake Shields Moves Up

UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva

By Joshua Molina

Dave Meltzer, pro wrestling’s foremost journalist and MMA expert, reported that Anderson Silva may move down to Welterweight to fight George St. Pierre, in what would be a battle of the sport’s two most prolific athletes in recent years. It would be a safe move for Silva, who’s looking to protect the “pound-for-pound” best in the world moniker bestowed upon him by MMA media. Much safer than moving up to fight Jon “Bones” Jones, which would be a more exciting, but more difficult fight for Silva.

Historically, great fighters move up in weight when they are looking for stronger competition. The great boxers of our time, Roy Jones Jr., Evander Holyfield, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar de la Hoya, Roberto Duran, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr., all moved up in weight to claim titles, not down.

Former Strikeforce Middleweight champion Jake Shields looks to return to middleweight against Ed Herman at UFC 150. Shields has looked skinny and tired in his first four UFC fights at welterweight, where he went 2-2. The move back to middleweight could be a smart decision – if he can handle the power of the bigger guys.

Shields, of course, famously survived Dan Henderson’s “H-Bomb” in Henderson’s Strikeforce debut. Henderson crushed Shields with a classic right hand early in the fight. It looked liked Shields was out before he hit the floor, prompting Showtime analyst Frank Shamrock to joke that Henderson knocked him out, but that “Shields woke up when he hit the floor.”

Cain Velasquez told the New York Post that Josh Koscheck’s recent controversial comments regarding the American Kickboxing Academy and its trainer Javier Mendez were “stupid.”

Koscheck left San Jose, California’s AKA after a fallout with Mendez. Koscheck said he hoped AKA “burns to the ground.”

“He’s just saying that,” Velasquez told The Post. “It’s a stupid comment he made.”

Velasquez said he didn’t like the comments, but that he’s not going to get in the middle.

“I’m friends with him and I’m gonna stay friends with him,” Velasquez said of Koscheck. “Whatever happens between them, it doesn’t change our relationship.”

 

It’s a bit of a bad time for Koscheck, one of the original stars of “The Ultimate Fighter.” In addition to the distraction of his AKA fight, he recently had to drop out of his UFC 151 fight with Jake Ellenberger. Koscheck was forced out because of bulging discs in his back.

 

Velasquez has his own drama to worry about. After UFC boss Dana White said Velasquez would get the next title shot against UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos. Velasquez told MMAJunkie that “[Dos Santos] would rather fight [Overeem], but what’s fair is fair,” he said. “We just have to plead our case.”
Former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem, however, is angling for the title shot. He was supposed to get the shot in May, but was ousted after a positive drug test. Overeem is calling out Dos Santos publicly. Now Overeem is getting personal. He told MMAmania.com that Dos Santos is afraid of him.

“I think he’s afraid to fight me. He was happy that the last fight on May 26 didn’t happen against us. I approached him at the UFC Fighter Summit in Vegas and said, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s prove something to the world and let’s fight.’ Then he suddenly acted like he didn’t understand English and how he wants to fight Cain first. The fact of the matter is, I’m the number-one heavyweight in the world and if he wants to be the number-one heavyweight, he has to come through me.”

The UFC on Fox ratings end up about flat from the prior show. The show drew 2.44 million. The May show reached a high of 2.42 million viewers.

Contact reporter Joshua Molina at jmolina@fcfighter.com. Or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JoshuaMolinaMMA

 

posted by FCF Staff @ 2:48 pm
Have a comment about this story? Please share with us by filling out the fields below.

Comments are closed.