Tuesday, October 16, 2012

What's next for the UFC and Anderson Silva?


This past weekend was UFC 153 who’s main event was Anderson Silva moving up to the 205 pound division to face Stephan Bonnar.  Bonnar had never been knocked out before and Silva quickly changed that in the first round.  Silva made quick work of Bonnar while at the same time toying with him for most of the fight.  This is the third time that Silva has fought at 205 and none of those fights have ever made it to the second round.  He has also dominated his own division of 185 pounds for years.  The only logical thing to do next, in my opinion and most other UFC fans’ opinion, is to set up a superfight between Jon Jones and Silva.

This fight has been talked about within the last year and a half ever since Jones started to dominate his weight division.  Both of these fighters are 1-2 in the pound for pound rankings of current fighters.  Not only would this fight be amazing for the fans to see it would also be great for the UFC.  The financial potential for this fight would be through the roof.

The highest gate revenue ever at a UFC event happened within the last couple months at UFC 148.  This event included Silva and had a revenue of almost 7 million.  The fight between Silva and Jones could easily surpass this no matter where the event is held.  The event could exceed the highest grossing Pay Per View total as well.  The current record is held by UFC 100 which featured 2 title fights and a matchup of Ultimate Fighter coaches.  The Silva-Jones fight could beat this just on its own so adding one other great fight could destroy the old record.  Finally sponsorship sales would be at record levels because of the potential record amounts of people viewing the event.  

Everyone who is a fan of the UFC hopes that this fight may one day happen but I doubt that it ever will.  After last weekend Silva said that he is done fighting at 205 forever.  If this fight were to happen it would not be until after Jones fights Chael Sonnen in April of 2013.  We are realistically looking at this fight at the earliest of July 2013, which is if the fight even happens at all.  As a fan I will continue to dream that this matchup happens one day in the future but I will not get my hopes up to high.     

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