White: Anderson Silva ‘in a good place’ for UFC 168 rematch with Chris Weidman

LAS VEGAS – As Dana White has said countless times before, “Anything can happen.”

And that’s what the UFC president thinks about tonight’s highly anticipated middleweight title rematch between new champ Chris Weidman (10-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and former division kingpin Anderson Silva (33-5 MMA, 16-1 UFC).

But White on Thursday said that judging by Silva’s disposition during the pre-fight news conference, that the former champ is not here to mess around.

“You can tell by his demeanor in this press conference – he’s interacting with you guys, he’s not giving you one-word answers,” White told MMAjunkie. “He seems like he’s in a good place. I’m so excited for this fight.”

After Silva fought Weidman in July at UFC 162, the manner in which he had his 16-fight UFC winning streak and long title reign snapped had critics wondering if had been taking the fight seriously.

As has been oft-discussed and well-documented since then, Silva dropped his hands, seeming to toy with Weidman. Some called it “clowning.” Others backed Silva, saying “The Spider” simply was doing what he had always done – and this time, for the first time, it just didn’t work out. Weidman caught him, dropped him and finished him.

White believes we may be about to see a newly motivated Silva on Saturday in the rematch.

“I just think, obviously, the way he acted (Thursday) at the press conference, the shape he’s in – you can see he’s in great shape. And that staredown, that says it all,” White said. “I think he went in there (in July), he’s the greatest ever, and he got beat that night and lost his belt – and he wants it back now. There’s a lot of things that go along with that belt, and he wants it back.”

White said Vitor Belfort is next in line to fight the Weidman-Silva winner – provided Satruday’s result leaves no doubt about who won.

But as has been seen recently in many title fights, questionable results from the judges often lead to rematches – which is why the UFC boss isn’t quite willing to say a trilogy fight between Weidman and Silva is out of the question.

“Anything is possible,” he said. “I would never say no. But if they go in and it’s a decisive win like the last fight was, Vitor’s next. But I don’t know. I can’t even think like that (if it’s close). Anything can happen.”

Saturday’s rematch between Weidman and Silva takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the same venue that hosted their first fight. The main card airs on pay-per-view (10 p.m. ET) following prelims on FOX Sports 1 (8 p.m. ET) and MMAjunkie (7 p.m. ET).

For more on UFC 168, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.