UFC: Anderson Silva-Anthony Pettis at middleweight?

The UFC world is anything but dull at the moment, and now we have another fascinating potential matchup to discuss that has come out of left field. Former lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis (23-10), took to Instagram yesterday to call out former middleweight champion and pound for pound great, Anderson Silva (34-10-1).

The Prospective Matchup

I have to tell you, this is not the fight that I thought would be next for the 45-year-old Anderson Silva. Silva has gone through some rough times in his career after losing his title to Chris Weidman back at UFC 162. Silva suffered a devastating injury in their second fight, and since then, he’s gone 1-4-1 in six fights. It is very clear that Silva is not the same guy, but he still has the passion to keep fighting. Silva has gone out recently and talked about fighting a former lightweight champion, but that was Conor McGregor. Silva said that he would cut down in order to meet McGregor at a weight that was more in the middle. Then out of no where, Pettis says that he wants to be the man to fight “The Spider” next.

“Showtime” is coming off of a very close decision win over Cowboy Cerrone back at UFC 249. The win snapped a two-fight losing streak for Pettis. The former lightweight champion was on his way to superstardom back in 2013. He even found himself as a cover athlete for Wheaties. Since then, he’s gone 5-8 in the UFC. Now, he’s fought some of the best guys in the world, but it’s been very clear that Pettis is no longer considered one of the absolute best fighters in the UFC. He did turn a lot of heads with his knockout win over Stephen Thompson, but he followed that win with back to back losses.

Would the UFC make this fight happen?

When you think about it, there is nothing about this fight that makes sense. Pettis is coming off of a win at 170 pounds, but his natural weight class is 155. He would be fighting 30 pounds above his natural class. Silva is a much bigger man who has fought during his career at 205 pounds. When you look at the two men, they don’t look like they belong in the octagon together. Size wise, it would resemble when BJ Penn fought Lyoto Machida years ago. I can’t exactly see the UFC jumping to make this fight, but crazier things have happened.

If this fight does come together, I really don’t see how Pettis would win unless he stops Silva. While Silva is clearly not the same guy he used to be, he’s just one fight removed from putting up an extremely competitive fight with current middlweight champion, Israel Adesanya. If Pettis and Silva fought, I think Silva would have the massive advantage. Silva does incredible work from the clinch, and we’ve seen Pettis get tired whenever a fight included a lot of clinch work. I think Silva would be the sizable betting favorite in this fight if it was to materialize. Would it be fun? Sure, it would be a lot of fun to watch. Do I think it will realistically happen? At the moment, I can’t see it, but given the current landscape of the UFC, you never know.