Dana White Says Anderson Silva May Fight Again By Year End, Against GSP In Future, No BJ/Spider Freak Show

Dana White served up some tasty morsels in this interview with The Sun:

“You never know when a guy is going to say, ‘Hey, I’m done, I want to retire’.

“But is he really going to retire? I don’t think so."

“Why would he quit? He’s got an opportunity right now to make a lot of money - he’s making a lot of money."

“The window of opportunity in this business is very small and you’ve got to ride it for as long as you can."

“Once you retire from the fight game, it’s very hard to make that kind of money ever again.”

“If Silva finishes Cote in the way he normally finishes opponents, he could fight again in two months."

“I could keep him busy all the time and that’s what he wants to do. He wants to keep fighting."

“If Silva wins this fight easily and impressively, he’ll take another fight at 205lbs."

“Then he’ll defend his title again at 185lbs – he’s got a lot of fights in him and he wants to keep fighting every other month.”

"If GSP beats BJ then you’ll see Silva v GSP - possibly at a catch weight."

“But if Penn beats GSP there’s no way I’d let him move up to 185lbs, no way."

“He’ll f***ing fight, argue and cry about it but there’s no way – it ain’t gonna happen, I can tell you that right now – it ain’t gonna happen.”

Assuming Anderson comes out of his fight with Patrick Cote unscathed, they could stick him on the already-stacked New Year's card. My personal preference would be to put him up against the winner of the Keith Jardine/Brandon Vera match this weekend at UFC 89, assuming the victor comes out injury-free.

Alternately, Anderson Silva could be added to the UFC 94 card on Super Bowl weekend which is largely expected to be headlined by BJ Penn vs Georges St. Pierre 2 - three of the world's four top pound-for-pound fighters on one card would be heaven for serious MMA fans. And of course, the UFC could break the bank if they put Anderson up against Chuck Liddell.

I'm not terribly excited by the prospect of seeing GSP vs. Silva, because I think the Spider would demolish Georges pretty easily. Anderson's striking is far better in terms of both accuracy and power, and he would have a strength/size advantage that GSP has never faced. And BJ/Silva does have some freakshow appeal but I'm in no hurry to see BJ gas out and get mauled - taking on Renzo and Rodrigo Gracie at 185 is one thing, but Silva is on another level.