Anderson Silva is 40 years old and has had to take a full year off on two separate occasions since the end of 2013. Silva, despite being of the greatest fighters in the history of the UFC, has lost his last three fights and his career seems like it should be winding down, but he still has high aspirations for who he wants to fight in the future.
Silva is preparing for his next fight against Uriah Hall at UFC 198, but he is also looking ahead to potential future fights. The former middleweight champion has his eyes on a couple of guys he would like to fight after his bout at UFC 198 including Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre.
A St-Pierre vs. Silva fight has been discussed as a possibility for many years but unfortunately the UFC has never made it happen. St-Pierre and Silva, when they were at the top of their games, were always considered the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, so naturally many people wanted to see them fight. Silva still wants it to happen and thinks it is a possibility.
"It could happen," said Silva. "It would be an honor to be able to fight him. It could happen."
Of course the big issue with getting this fight to happen is the fact the St-Pierre hasn't fought since 2013. St-Pierre is not officially retired from the UFC but he stopped fighting because he was unhappy with the drug testing protocol. Rumors of St-Pierre making his return to the octagon have been running rampant lately but nothing is official despite the fact that UFC president Dana White and St-Pierre have both admitted they are in talks.
If a fight between Silva and St-Pierre were to happen it would be much later than everyone would have hoped and probably wouldn't live up to the hype it once had but it would still be a major draw for the UFC. Another potential major draw for the UFC would be a fight between Silva and Conor McGregor, although that does seem less realistic.
Silva says he would be interested in fighting McGregor to challenge himself and that he would even be willing to move down a couple of weight classes to get the fight to happen. McGregor has never been one to turn down a fight because of weight, as can be seen by his two fights with Nate Diaz, but White has said that after the Notorious has his rematch with Diaz he will move back down to featherweight to defend his title.
