MMA Weekly News: Silva and Machida – a friendship above and beyond their MMA careers?
Mixed Martial Arts fans must have heard this a thousand times: Anderson Silva refuses to, and will not consider any possibility of fighting his training partner and friend Lyoto Machida.
And it goes deeper than that.
Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida is highly favored to win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in this week’s UFC 104. However, there is still a possibility that Shogun could beat Machida. If that happens, would Silva come in seething with revenge on a Silva vs. Shogun tiff? We think not… if we follow the depth of friendship and loyalty between Silva and Machida.
You see, if Machida loses over Shogun, he would lose his Light Heavyweight belt. It would be like Silva stealthily snatching that belt from his friend Machida by winning over the Shogun. If this happens, Machida could only regain the title by getting inside the octagon against his friend Silva. Silva fighting Shogun after a Machida defeat would make a mess of the friendship.
Silva has been talking about Machida since day one – even before Silva rose to popularity. He is not interested in getting into the light heavyweight fray as he would get in the way of his friend. If Machida loses to Shogun, he would want to take the title back and Silva wouldn’t want to get in the way.
Silva does not only refuse to fight his friend, he would also refuse any match that would lead him to eventually facing his old buddy inside the octagon.
But how long can he (and Machida) stand his ground?
Dana White, the guy who knows how to make serious bucks with his promotional instincts, is already setting his sights to a Silva Machida match – despite the two warriors’ pronouncements. Can’t blame the guy, a Silva vs. Machida bout is going to be one of those superfights that would surely fill venue seats at two asses per chair. White is looking at 2010 when this Silva vs. Machida ticket could happen.
In an interview with ESPN, megabucks boss White said, “Anderson Silva is two fights away from cleaning out his entire division, and he’s had two fights at 205 pounds where he’s looked absolutely phenomenal – he’s actually looked better at 205 than he did at 185.” MMA fans couldn’t help but be thrilled by this friendship-busting tiff when White said, “I think we’re probably a couple of fights away from a mega-fight like that.”
The question is: How would Dana White convince the two?
Well, Silva and Machida would eventually have to face each other if they both would keep on winning. It’s either that, or they’d just fight lame fights with non-winners, or they (or one of them) would just retire for the sake of friendship. That last option sounds lamer than fighting lame fighters, don’t you think?
