Is Anderson Silva Wanting to ‘Test Himself’ Against Conor McGregor an Attempt to Cash In Before Retiring?
- from MMA Weekly on Apr 03, 2016
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Is Anderson Silva Wanting to ‘Test Himself’ Against Conor McGregor an Attempt to Cash In Before Retiring?
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has his next fight scheduled. “The Spider” is set to take on Uriah Hall on May 14 at UFC 198 in Brazil.
Despite having a dangerous opponent in front of him, Silva has talked about rematches with Nick Diaz, whom he defeated, and Michael Bisping, whom he lost to in his last outing. Strangely, Silva stated during a recent UFC 198 press conference that he’d like to “challenge himself’ against featherweight champion Conor McGregor.
When the 40-year-old called out a fighter that holds a belt in a division 40-pounds lighter than the weight class Silva made his mark in, he was questioned whether such a call out was an attempt to grab as much cash as he can in the twilight of his career.
“No. It’s his fighting style,” said Silva during a recent media scrum.
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“I’ve never fought thinking of money,” Silva responded to the same question during the UFC 198 press conference earlier this week.
“I want to test myself against him,” the Brazilian maintained.
“I think he’s a great athlete. He’s got great skill,” he said. “I’d like to test myself against him.”
Silva hasn’t fought below 185-pounds in a decade, but suddenly wants to challenge himself against fighters in lower weight divisions.
“I’ve never fought in the weight classes below, only when I was much younger,” he said. “For me to test myself, it would be an interesting fight (against McGregor).”
McGregor is scheduled to rematch Nate Diazj at UFC 200 on July 9 in an attempt to avenge his only UFC loss.
