Anderson Silva Next Fight: 'The Spider' Eyeing Title Shot After His Showdown With Michael Bisping
In a couple of weeks, Anderson ‘Spide’ Silva will be back in action when he faces Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC Fight Night 84, which will be held in London.
The event is set for Feb. 27, more than a year after his last controversial fight against Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in January of last year.
Silva saw his win over Nick Diaz overturned (no contest) for failed drug tests. Aside from that, he was suspended for one year (lapsed Jan. 31, 2016) for the incident.
With a new lease on life, Silva will try to start fresh even at 40 years of age.
Rather than slow down, Silva seems to be fired up to fight anew. In fact, he looks ahead to future fights that include a possible shot at Luke Rockhold’s title, though he may have to get in line.
Speaking to Combate, the ‘Spider’ plans to fight three more times this year, which means he could end up fighting four times in 2016 alone. The last time that Silva fought four times was in 2006.
At that time, Silva faced Yushin Okami, Tony Fryklund, Chris Leben and Rich Franklin, as mentioned via the Bloody Elbow.
While he lost that one against Okami (due to DQ for an illegal kick), he went on to win the three other matches, the most significant of which was the one with Franklin where he won the UFC middleweight title via KO.
All that starts with Bisping, who may be a tough opponent to overcome.
"It will be a tough fight. I will give 101% and I will win for sure. Bisping is a good fighter. He doesn't excel at anything, but is dangerous nonetheless, especially on the feet. He has good takedowns and good timing. We are watching tape on him. It's an interesting fight,” adds Silva in the same interview with Combate and translated by the Bloody Elbow.
For his part, Bisping expects their upcoming duel to be a kickboxing match. However, to gain some leverage, he knows that he has to do some takedowns rather than engage Silva with strikes.
“He looks easy to take down and he takes damage on the floor, but it’s getting to grips with him because he’s so fast. You wanna crowd a kicker, that’s pretty basic, but it doesn’t allow the space needed by him to generate kicks,” says Bisping via Boxing News Online.
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