Anderson Silva: I'd take title shot in front of 'Jacare' Souza, but would vacate belt rather than fight him

Former middleweight champ Anderson Silva believes X-Gym teammate Ronaldo Souza should be fighting champ Michael Bisping for the belt already.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t cut in line if the opportunity was presented to him. But as we learned Friday, he won’t have that chance even if it wants it for his next fight. Silva, a longtime pound-for-pound king before he lost his 185-pound title in 2013, next will fight Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in Brooklyn in February.

Talking to Brazilian TV show Combate News on Thursday, the day before the booking was announced, Silva (33-8 MMA, 16-4 UFC) said if Souza  (23-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC) ends up getting by-passed again, he’d gladly take a rematch with Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC).

But, unwilling to fight “Jacare” under any circumstances, he says he’d vacate the belt to avoid standing in his friend’s way.

“I’m rooting for (Souza) to get the opportunity to fight for the belt,” Silva said. “If it doesn’t happen and I get that opportunity, of course I want to fight. Regardless of belt, but of course it’d be better to fight for the belt and beat Bisping.

“But I probably wouldn’t keep the belt. I’d give it away. I wouldn’t fight, because it would get in the way of ‘Jacare”s journey. So if I fought for the title and won, I certainly wouldn’t keep it, I’d vacate it for sure.”

That’s moot, for now. Asked about what he would do if he were to get back the UFC Fight Night 84 loss from Bisping at some point down the road, Silva talked about “doing one or two fights” and then changing weight divisions – which doesn’t necessarily mean moving up to light heavyweight.

While the ex-champ has proven in three different occasions that he can hang out with 205-pounders – beating James Irvin, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar before dropping his first loss in the division on a short-notice UFC 200 scrap with champ Daniel Cormier – he is actually not ruling out a move down to welterweight.

He’s even done a test weight run already.

“The lowest I made was 77.9 kilos (171.7 pounds),” Silva said. “So I think it would be a possibility, but let’s wait.”

Considering the sports-only factor, Silva sees Souza – who’s now scheduled to face Tim Boetsch at UFC 208 – as deserving of a title shot. Ranked No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, Souza comes off a big win over No. 10 Vitor Belfort following a split decision setback to No. 2 Yoel Romero.

Silva, an honorable mention in the same rankings, is now on a five-fight winless skid. But, taking a trajectory that had the ex-champ defending the 185-pound belt 10 times into account, Silva thinks a rematch after the close first encounter with Bisping would not only be reasonable – but also a wise business call.

“I’d really like to fight (Bisping),” Silva said. “Regardless – and I’m not talking about ‘Jacare,’ we’re not talking about the sport itself right now, we’re talking about merit for time (served) – I think I deserve to fight Bisping for the belt. Or regardless of belt, but I think I deserve to fight for the belt for all I’ve done for the sport.

“But I don’t think that’s something that will change my life if it doesn’t happen. ‘Jacare’ is right there in line, he’s fighting and pursuing this, but the UFC is a business. And, for the business, I believe that the fight that would sell a lot would be the rematch against Bisping for the belt. But, judging by the rule of the sport, I think ‘Jacare’ is the guy who should fight for the belt.”

Silva, who revealed he’s still got “five or six” fights on his UFC contract, perhaps played a bit of possum with  Combate News by saying he didn’t have a fight booked and was looking at a return in June or July, preferably in Brazil, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the start of his career. Less than 24 hours later, his fight with Brunson was announced. So, so much for waiting for the summer.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.