Dana White rushed Silva to move up in weight for a fight in response to Affliction's debut PPV card (a ridiculous $39.99). Smart business, but at the same time, Silva does not look like a guy who can carry much more weight, IMO. James "Sandman" Irvin is no push over. Sure, he was KO'ed by Mike Kyle a few years back, but he bounced back with awesome KO's of Terry Martin and Houston Alexander. The guy is strong, and has a big punch. Silva has the style and substance to knockout a guy like Irvin (he definitely has enough BJJ to submit him on the ground), but with the weight and strength factor, I'm a little worried about this. What say you?
205 is dangerous, because it's so deep. Silva could rest on his laurels at 185 and wait for smaller guys like GSP to come to him. It's a huge risk. However Dana and Silva clearly are ballsy. I think silva can carry more weight. He has a nice long in shape frame. He can spread out the weight and be ok.
James came down from heavy because he was having a tough time hanging with the big guys. He was a relatively small heavy but did seem a tad chinny to me even at 205. He can punch though and is a solid light heavy. Silva`s got his hands full.
Silva is to polished of a fighter. Not to say Irvin is a pushover because he isn't but he's not on Silva's level. Irvin was subbed easily by Bonner and Silva's Jiu-jitsu game is better than Bonner's. Standing anyone can knock anyone out, and Irvin has got some good ko's on his resume. But had any of those guys Irvin ko'd were on Silva's level then that would mean something. Knocking out guys like Terry Martin, Hector Ramirez, and Houston Alexander aren't exactly world class. Silva has fought and knocked out better guys that have fought at 205. Silva by KO, TKO, or SUB in round 1 or 2:good
The only thing I would worry about it Silva winning and getting a false sense of security in the fact that 205 would be a walk through for him.
I don't know how successful Silva will be at 205, but that is why I really like the move. Silva has no challenges left at 185 and 205 presents a load of challenges for him. Irvin is no pushover, and a great first fight for Silva. Sure Irvin is bigger and has power, but Anderson Silva seems absolutely unbeatable at 185. It is better for Silva's legacy to move up now, or else he faces the Roy Jones problem where he gets no credit for his amazingness because everyone claims that he simply fought in a weak division. At 205 he certainly will not have that problem. Plus, I like the idea of not knowing who is going to win before the fight.
Essentially, he already has a false sense of security in general. I doubt that the outcome of the Irvin fight will change that one way or the other.
I like the idea of Silva moving up in weight - simply because there aren't any more challenges for him in this UFC division. The UFC seems closer to matching up Penn and GSP rather than Silva and GSP - therefore Silva may as well move up due to lack of competition. Who in the world would sit through Silva/Franklin 3?
One of the things Silva has had going for him at Middleweight is the height advantage. He used his height very well and was very good a hitting the other guy while being out of range of the other guy. This may change now since he will be facing taller opponents at light heavy. it will be interesting to see how elusive he is at this weight and how he takes a good solid punch at this weight if he does get caught. It should be very interesting.
I love him moving up and hope he wins so he can stick around in the future. Hes basically cleaned out 185 for the most part and 205 has SOOOO many good matchups for him like Wanderlei,Vera,Liddell,Rampage,Shogun,Forrest,Jardine ETC. Im a huge Rich Franklin fan and I want him to be World Champion agian that will NEVER happen if Silva stays at 185.
He's gonna move up eventually. He might as well do it now, while there's still big fights to have. Wanderlei... Chuck... Hendo... these would be big fights, but there's no guarantee where they'll be a year from now. At 185, he's just treading the waters right now. Nobody's all too interested in watching him waylay some other MW who nobody gives a chance to.
I think he will do well and could even be champ at 205 what alot of people haven't seemed to notice is silva has fought at 170 before so even though he is tall he isn't actually that big a guy.