Despite a ho-hum performance at UFC Fight Night 84, Anderson Silva wants to get back into the cage—and he will apparently get his wish sooner than later. According to Sherdog.com, and later confirmed by MMAFighting.com, The Spider is going to come back at UFC 198.
His opponent? The Ultimate Fighter season 17 runner-up, Uriah Hall.
Silva's body of work speaks for itself. A guaranteed Hall of Famer, he broke numerous UFC records during his career, including longest winning streak (16 fights), most consecutive title defenses (10) and longest title reign (2,457 days). During that time, he captivated onlookers with his amazing counterpunching skills and head movement and amassed one of the greatest highlight reels in the sport's history.
Unfortunately, Father Time caught up with him in 2013, which resulted in him losing his middleweight title to Chris Weidman at UFC 162 via a vicious knockout punch and a broken leg in their UFC 168 rematch. His return in 2015 was mired in controversy due to a failed drug test and the embarrassing hearings that followed. Most recently, he lost to Michael Bisping via split decision in a bout that, despite being competitive, showed that he no longer had the lightning-quick reflexes that once made him MMA's top pound-for-pound fighter.
At this point, it's open to debate how much Silva has left in the tank, and it's easy to wonder what he will look like going forward. A fight against Hall will go a long way toward determining that.
Hall wowed UFC brass and MMA fans on The Ultimate Fighter season 17 with his terrifying knockout power, but he has struggled to regularly replicate those performances since jumping into the bigs. He has scored a few of those savage knockouts on the main roster but has counterbalanced them with ugly, boring, split-decision losses. While it seemed as though he may have moved past that when he defeated Gegard Mousasi last September, he is most recently coming off a loss to Robert Whittaker.
Abysmal matchmaking. Beating Hall means nothing for Silva and Hall's not good enough to benefit from an upset. https://t.co/rB3hcqZbxM
— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) March 17, 2016
That inconsistency has many wondering why the UFC would match Silva against him. Several high-upside prospects could benefit from a win over The Spider, while numerous fighters could have served as tomato cans for him.
Either way, UFC 198 is scheduled for May 14 in Silva's hometown of Curitiba, Brazil. It will be interesting to see if this fight launches him back into the top of the division or serves as a swansong for the aging legend.
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