From Dan Wetzel’s latest on Yahoo:
That Silva could move up a weight class and not just win, but destroy with power, was a game-changing and perhaps UFC-altering moment. That’s what Silva and his manager, Ed Soares, wanted to discuss with White.
With his arm wrapped around White’s shoulder, Soares leaned in and delivered a proposition. “Spider” Silva would move permanently to light heavyweight, even if it meant the unorthodox move of giving up his middleweight belt.
“I can do that,” White smiled, a bit stunned at the offer. “I like that. We can do that.”
Soares smiled and shook White’s hand. Silva had been accosted by a fan by then and couldn’t hear White, but it was presumably the news he was seeking. The man has such outrageous confidence in his abilities he’s willing to potentially toss away a championship he’s owned for almost three years to take a challenge outside his comfort zone.
“I’d let him,” White said later, sitting in his quiet dressing room. “We’d put [the middleweight title] up for grabs.”
The moment Silva completed his utter destruction of Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, I knew that he would likely never fight at middleweight again. What’s the point of seeing him face Dan Henderson or Nate Marquardt in rematches, or Demian Maia, when you know what the outcome is going to be? He made a very good light heavyweight in Griffin look like he didn’t belong in the same universe with Silva, much less in the cage in a fight.
There are far more intriguing fights, from both a style and a money perspective, in the light heavyweight division. Silva only has three fights remaining on his UFC contract and then he’s leaving to pursue a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr., so Dana White better make the most of what little time Silva has available. Even if Silva doesn’t want to face Lyoto Machida (and I’m almost certain that fight will never happen, no matter what Dana claims), he could still be matched up with Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz or even Chuck Liddell. And if Shogun Rua is somehow able to beat Machida in October at UFC 104, it’s almost guaranteed that Silva will get the next title shot.
