Media Watch: Anderson Silva Not Happy With Potential Challengers
By Michael Hatamoto
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva destroyed Chael Sonnen at UFC 148, ending a well-chronicled rivalry over the past two years.
Now that Sonnen is out of the picture, the UFC is left trying to figure out who gets the next shot at a title shot. The likes of Alan Belcher, Michael Bisping, Tim Boetsch, Hector Lombard and Chris Weidman are all rumored to be close to a title shot, though nothing has been sorted out quite yet.
Silva praised Luke Rockhold, Strikeforce middleweight champion, but that obviously is a fight that cannot happen. If Rockhold is unavailable to fight Silva, who is the champion interested in fighting?
Here is what we recently learned from “UFC Tonight” on Fuel TV:
“One of Anderson Silva’s managers said that one of the issues with Hector Lombard is he thinks he needs at least three more impressive wins in the UFC. He said that 85 percent of UFC fans don’t even know who Hector Lombard is, who is of course making his Octagon debut on Saturday night.”
Lombard seems like a top-notch talent, but we’re going to have to see how he does against Boetsch just a few days away at UFC 149.
“As for Chris Weidman, he said, ‘Well, there’s another great unknown fighter.’ He doesn’t see those matcups as being money making pay-per-view events.”
Weidman is a rising star, and he may not be very well known quite yet, but he has a legitimate skillset that continues to develop. I don’t think he’s ready to fight Silva yet – but I wonder if anyone else in the middleweight division can adequately challenge the champion.
The UFC middleweight division has a lot of unknowns, and it will be interesting to see what UFC matchmaker Joe Silva has ready.
If Silva truly wanted to challenge himself he would move up OR DOWN in weight classes and take titles there to. If he is so good (and I think he is) then why not prove it, irrevocably?? If someone was good enough to hold AND retain two titles in the UFC, man, what idiot could argue against that?? Oh it’s the internet, okay, with the exception of internet trolls, who could argue with that??