An historic super-fight on the horizon?

BY MARCEL MARIAK

As MMA fans, we’re always searching for news concerning our favourite fighters or stunning potential matchups. In the past few weeks, two notable UFC fighters, Conor McGregor and Anderson Silva, have taken the world by storm and given MMA fans a historic super-fight to look forward to.

Anderson Silva calls out Conor McGregor
On May 23rd, Conor McGregor took to social media with his usual brash tone and did what he does best: stirred the pot. He made news by posting his own list of the pound-for-pound greatest fighters of all time. In first place, he put the legendary Brazilian fighter, Anderson Silva, who is a real candidate for being the greatest of all time. Conor justified his top pick by arguing that Silva not only has fought in two weight divisions, held a championship title in one, but he also has a vast resume of finishes ranging from head kicks to submissions. Unfortunately, that’s where the list started getting a bit odd. McGregor put himself in second place and mentioned that he will undoubtedly be the greatest of all time by his retirement, if he isn’t already number one. After himself, he put some of the biggest names in MMA including Jon Jones and Georges St-Pierre; calling their performances “lacklustre” and “playing it safe”.

Although many both retired and active fighters took issue to McGregor’s list, with some even saying that he doesn’t deserve a spot on it, Anderson Silva’s reaction was by far the most profound. There’s no love lost between McGregor and Silva, with their beef dating back to when Silva took issue with McGregor’s rude treatment of Jose Aldo in 2015. Silva took McGregor’s claim to be tied for first place as a challenge, and decided to call out the former two-division champion for a historic super-fight.

To no surprise, Conor accepted the challenge. Unfortunately, while the prospect of this fight is an exciting one, there are many obstacles to overcome before it can happen. The most obvious one being that Silva stands at a height of 6’2’’, and is considerably taller than the 5’9’’ McGregor. As a result, the two fighters are in vastly different weight classes, and both competitors’ bodies will have to undergo significant changes for them to compete in the same weight class. The second issue is pay. Both fighters will understandably be expecting a massive paycheck for the super-fight and with the bad blood between McGregor and Silva, negotiations about both weight and pay can get out of hand in an instant, capsizing any chances for the fight to happen.

Hopefully, both fighters and their teams can come to agreeable terms, and MMA fans can have a stunning showdown to look forward to in the near future. On the other hand, McGregor is known for his brash and in-your-face attitude; and if Conor’s beratement of Jose Aldo bothered Silva, chances are that he will be even less tolerant when the insults are aimed at him. At the moment, it’s best for fans not to get their hopes up. After all, just because fighters call each other out on Twitter doesn’t mean that they’ll actually sign a fight contract. The best we can do at this point is wait and see if the UFC manages to make an event with terms that are agreeable to both fighters.