Anderson Silva Returning in 2015

Former UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, was last seen in action at UFC 168 in which he tried to recover the UFC title that he lost at UFC 162 to Chris Weidman.  During their clash, Anderson Silva broke his leg throwing a kick that was checked by Chris Weidman.  Since that moment Silva has been out of action trying to recover from his injury.  Silva quickly underwent surgery and has slowly been recovering and even sharing videos of him training on his various social media accounts.  This week, Anderson Silva's doctor in Brazil has cleared him to begin training and resuming his MMA career.  MMA H.E.A.T.'s Karyn Bryan sat down with Silva and asked him about his future in MMA.



Silva is expecting to return in 2015 and doesn't yet have an opponent in mind yet.  Many are buzzing about possibly seeing a bout that has seemed to elude the UFC fans for years--a fight between Silva and Michael Bisping.  I personally wouldn't mind seeing Silva go up to 205lb for a fourth time or possibly see him face Vitor Belfort or Rich Franklin in a rematch.  Franklin believes that he could defeat Silva if he got his hands on Silva for a third time.  Franklin has one last fight on his contract and I wouldn't be opposed to another round of Silva and Franklin.  If Penn can get a third shot at Edgar in a similar situation, why shouldn't we see Franklin try to redeem himself against the man who took his title?  Also a super fight with Georges St. Pierre has been buzzed about, but I'd rather see a clash with Franklin, Belfort or Bisping over a fight with GSP.  Who would you all like to see the Spider face?

UFC 173: Machida Replaces Belfort in Title Fight

There has been a major change to the UFC 173 card as the main event has changed.  Due to the recent NSAC changes, UFC Middleweight contender Vitor Belfort has been forced to pull out of his title fight with current Champion Chris Weidman.  Vitor Belfort is perhaps the scrutinized TRT user currently signed on the UFC roster despite other big name users also using the testosterone balancing treatment.  With Belfort out of the title fight with Weidman, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida has been booked as his replacement to fight for the title.

Lyoto Machida is coming off a close decision victory over former multi-promotion champion, Gegard Mousasi.  Machida made his 185 lb debut at the end of 2013 after defeating top ten contender and friend, Mark Munoz.  He first decided to drop to middleweight after a highly controversial decision loss to Phil Davis at UFC 163.  Many felt that Machida clearly won the fight, but he still fell short on the judges' scorecards.

Lyoto Machida may only sport a 2-0 record in the UFC's Middleweight Division, but he is definitely a worthy and deserving challenger.  His two fights at 185 lbs. both earned him post-fight bonuses.  He earned KO of the Night over Mark Munoz and Fight of the Night in his most recent bout with Gegard Mousasi.  As a Light Heavyweight, Lyoto Machida had a record of 11-4 with all of his wins clear decisions or stoppages.  His four losses came by the hands of three current or former UFC champions (Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson and Jon Jones) and one top ten contender (Phil Davis).  His fights with Mauricio Rua and Jon Jones were stoppages, but his fights with Jackson and Davis could arguably have been wins for Machida.

Machida has an evasive style similar to Anderson Silva, but with a greater emphasis on complete evasiveness and not just head movement.  Machida has an unorthodox fighting style that I believe will give Weidman some trouble and make it hard for Weidman to grab a hold of him.  If Weidman wants to gain a victory over Machida, He will need to somehow cut off the cage from Machida, grab him and smash him on the ground.  I don't see Weidman earning a quick KO over Machida.  I feel that Weidman will have to work hard for a win over Machida.  He'll be playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse that usually frustrates most of Machida's opponents.  Will he be able to retain the title against a man who I feel is a tougher test than Anderson Silva.  Only time will tell and I am excited to find out.

Machida May Get Weidman/Belfort Winner

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida faces Gegard Mousasi February 22nd at UFC Fight Night 36 in Brazil.  UFC President, Dana White has stated that Lyoto Machida could be fighting for the UFC Middleweight Championship if he wins against Mousasi in their five round fight.  We've heard these same statement from White while Machida was the #2 guy behind Jones.  Hopefully he won't get passed up with a victory over Mousasi.  Machida and Jacare Souza are definitely the best options for the next title fight.

Sonnen/W. Silva to Be Paired With Weidman/Belfort

UFC President, Dana White, has expressed an interest in having the Light Heavyweight bout between Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen be placed on the same card as the UFC Middleweight Championship fight between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort.  The date is not final for that bout, but the fight is scheduled to occur in Las Vegas sometime in May or Fourth of July weekend.  Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva have been exchanging words with each other for the last year or so and they will finally get to back up all of their talk in the cage.  The two men have already come to blows while filming TUF Brazil 3.

Who wins Sonnen vs. W. Silva?--Tough Spar MMA

Chael Sonnen

Wanderlei Silva

Poll Maker

Fertitta: Weidman/Belfort Maybe in May or June

The UFC's co-owner Lorenzo Fertitto has stated that the UFC is targeted for May or July as long as Weidman is able to compete.  After Weidman's TKO victory over Anderson Silva, it was announced tha Vitoe belfort would be the next in line for the title. During a post-fight interview, Weidman expressed some concerns with his knee that he wanted to get looked into.

The UFC believes that the best location for this bout will be Las vegas Nevada. There is no official date or venue for the future UFC Middleweight title fight. Be sure to stay posted to our site to get the official date and time as soon as it is available.

New Options in the Middleweight Realm

With Anderson Silva passing the torch to Chris Weidman with his recent fight-stopping injury, there are new possible fights in the UFC's Middleweight Division.  Though the injury to Silva is tragic if not sad for any MMA fan, it is not a complete loss to followers of the UFC.  If Silva were to have won his fight, we would've been seeing a rematch of a fight that we had already seen in the last few years with Vitor Belfort guarenteed a title shot against the winner.  Vitor Belfort has improved since his last fight with Silva, but the fight against Silva was a quick knockout not a closely contended fight.  Though both Silva and Belfort are knockout artists, one could not convince me that Belfort would even stand a chance against Silva in a rematch.

With Silva away and probably never getting a title shot or even fighting again at the current age of 38, Weidman and the UFC can finally move on.  One of the beautiful things manifesting from such an ugly ending, is a fresh match up between Vitor Belfort and Chris Weidman.  Had Weidman not won against Silva this past weekend we may have never seen or considered a match between the two of these amazing competitors.  It will be a mtach that will showcase the champion's raw athleticism and great wrestling against Vitor Belfort's experience, striking and amazing power-striking. I predict that Weidman will get the better of Belfort in their match, but with Belfort anything is possible.

There are other options lurking about at 185 lbs like former Strikeforce Middleweight Jacare Souza who is 2-0 in his UFC career after his TKO victory over Yushin Okami. Silva had said before that he would never face his teamates Jacare Souza and Lyoto Machida if the UFC wished to have him face either man for any reason. He even went as far as to say that he would surrender the title so that Souza or Machida could fight for the belt had that time come.  Souza has great killer instincts and finishing abilities. His two wins in the UFC were both stoppages, one a submission and the second a TKO. Souza 100% has a chance to potentially stop Weidman or any other man to wear the UFC Middleweight Championship. He faces Francis Carmont who is on a six-fightwin streak since joining the UFC.

Who remembers the words 'the Machida era?' I do. I would love to see the Machida Era truly start considering the original era at 205 was derailed by Shogun Rua by way of KO. Lyoto Machida was guanteed to be the man to face Jon Jones for the UFC on many occassians and then it wouldnt fall through. I believe that Lyoto Machida was definitely the second best 205 lb fighter in the UFC, after Jones, before he fled to the UFC's Middleweight Division following a poor judge's decision loss to Phil Davis at UFC 163. In his middleweight debut, Machida ran through Mark Munoz with a head kick knock out. He is now set to face Gegard Mussasi in early 2014 and with a victory over Gegard we could possibly see Machida fighting for the title in late 2014 or early 2015.

Other fighters who could potentially get title shots soon would be Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold and Mark Munoz. 

UFC Fight Night 32 Results

Main Card on Fox Sports 1
Vitor Belfort def. Dan Henderson, Knockout (Round 1)
Cezar Ferreira def. Daniel Sarafian, Split decision
Rafael Cavalcante def. Igor Pokrajac, TKO (Round 1)
Brandon Thatch def. Paulo Thiago, Submission to strikes (Round 1)
Ryan LaFlare def. Santiago Ponzinibbio, Unanimous decision
Jeremy Stephens def. Rony Jason, Knockout (Round 1)



Facebook Prelims
Sam Sicilia def. Godofredo Pepey, Knockout (Round 1)
Omari Akhmedov def. Thiago Perpetuo, Knockout (Round 1)
Thiago Tavares def. Justin Salas, Submission (Round 1)
Adriano Martins def. Daron Cruickshank, Submission (Round 2)
Dustin Ortiz def. Jose Maria Tome, TKO (Round 3)

UFC Fight Night 32 Weigh in Results

Main Card:

Vitor Belfort (204) vs. Dan Henderson (204)  Vote who you think will win!
Cezar Ferreira (185) vs. Daniel Sarafian (186)
Rafael Cavalcante (205) vs. Igor Pokrajac (204)
Rony Mariano Bezerra (146) vs. Jeremy Stephens (146)
Santiago Ponzinibbio (171) vs. Ryan LaFlare (170)
Paulo Thiago (170) vs. Brandon Thatch (170)

Preliminary Card:

Godofredo Castro (146) vs. Sam Sicilia (146)
Thiago de Oliveira Perpetuo (185) vs. Omari Akhmedov (182)
Thiago Tavares (156) vs. Justin Salas (155)
Daron Cruickshank (155) vs. Adriano Martins (155)
Dustin Ortiz (125) vs. Jose Maria Tome (126)

Dana White Wants Machida vs. Belfort at 185, Mousasi Asks for Machida

UFC President, Dana White, has made it clear that he wants to see knockout artist Vitor Belfort take on Lyoto Machida after Machida knocked out Mark Munoz with a head kick this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 30.  Dana White will probably be able to make this fight happen, but Gegard Mousasui has  followed the recent trend of calling out fighters via Twitter and called out Machida.

Both matches would be awesome to watch, but there is something about the idea of Machida-Belfort that brings excitement to me.  Both men are dangerous strikers with knockout power. I would naturally say that Machida's flawless technique would give him the edge, but Belfort has RIDICULOUS POWER that poses a problem to anyone. It is a fight that has to happen.  I feel that Mousasi ahould face someone else in the UFC Middleweight division before calling out the likes of Machida or Belfort (who he wanted earlier this year.) 

I believe that there are plenty of other good matches that the UFC could make for Mousasi such as bouts with Francis Carmont, Luke Rockhold (when he comes back from injury), Mark Munoz or even Cousta Philippou. Also Rich Franklin has stated that he believes that he wants one more fight before retiring; why not put Franklin in the cage with Mousasi?

All I know is that Belfort vs. Machida makes since from a ranking stand point as well as an entertainment stand point, no matter the outcome od Belfort vs. Henderson in November. UFC, make this happen!

Vitor Belfort Set to face Dan Henderson at 205

It has been announced by the UFC that Vitor Belfort will be facing Dan Henderson in the Light Heavyweight Division on November 9th.  This is coming after Vitor has stated that he would not fight Tim Kennedy or any other Middleweight in the UFC unless if it was for the UFC Middleweight Championship.  The two fighters originally fought in PRIDE in 2006 with Henderson scoring a unanimous decision.  It was rumored that he might be facing off with Lyoto Machida, who will be facing Tim Kennedy soon as the main event of UFC Fight for the Troops 3.

Dan Henderson is coming off of consecutive decision losses to Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans.  This is a must-win fight for Dan Henderson.  I think Henderson has the ability to win this fight as long as he goes in with a a tactical approach to the fight.  Vitor Belfort who is coming off of two consecutive knockout wins over Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold. He will finally get the opportunity to face someone in the UFC who possess as much one-punch knockout power as he has.  I think the UFC is putting together yet another crowd pleasing fight for the fans.  I don't agree with the fact that the UFC is letting Vitor Belfort play the diva in the middleweight division and letting him choose who he will and won't fight.  Belfort must remember that he is an employee and not the employer.

Lyoto Opens Up About Fights He Wants

After a cocontroversial loss to Phil Davis, Lyoto Machida has decided upon fights that he wanted to take. It had been earlier reported that UFC matchmaker, Joe Silva, had wanted to put on a fight between Lyoto Machida and Nick Diaz. After this Saturday's Fox Sports 1 event, Dana White killed the noise on that one stating that that fight will not be happening.  Machida has come out stating that he would like fights with Chael Sonnen as well as Vitor Belfort.

Though I find that both of these fights would be amazing for fight fans I am most interested in seeing Lyoto facing the newly reinvigorated Chael Sonnen.

I think that Chael Sonnen prevents a high pressure fight game that proved to be deadly to most of his opponents including Machida's teammate and former UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, in their first fight.  I think that Chael will not give Machida the opportunity to do his ususal dancing around the cage. I see a potential Machida/Sonnen fight would look much like Silva/Sonnen I with the exception of Machida not having an injury going into his fight so it will be more competitive. Dont get me wrong I still think that Machida could win this fight if he can pressure Sonnen before Sonnen can pressure him (see UFC 159 Jones vs. Sonnen.) The only thing that could prevent this , atch from happening would be Sonnen's desire to square off with Wanderlei Silva.

In the case of Belfort vs. Machida I think that it would be a fight that Machida could win a little easier than fighting Sonnen. It would be a great fight to promote in Brazil. Belfort is on a tear in the Middleweight division and feels that he is entitled to a title fight and is turning down all non title dights at middleweight. Perhaps the UFC can put together a catchweight fight at 195 so then it could happen without Belfort being worried about his stature in the 185 lb category.