While Anderson Silva didn’t win his last fight against Michael Bisping on the scorecards, he did walk away from the bout relatively unscathed – which is more than we can say for Bisping, who looked like someone took an axe to his face. And because Bisping didn’t hurt him, Silva is clear to take a quick turnaround fight at the UFC’s big Brazilian soccer stadium event in May.
For a while, though, that fight looked like it might be in jeopardy because no one was willing to step up and face The Spider. Gegard Mousasi’s managers turned the fight down, saying “A May date is too soon of a return. Had we known immediately after the London card then maybe. But that time has passed us, unfortunately.” Tim Kennedy’s name was also floated, but nothing came of that either. It seemed like Anderson’s request to fight at UFC 198 would fall through.
But the UFC seems to be taking the approach that any fight is better than no fight at all, and multiple reputable news outlets are reporting that the fight promotion is looking to have Anderson Silva fight Uriah Hall for the event. Hall is a former Ultimate Fighter contestant that UFC president Dana White famously compared to Anderson Silva. He’s delivered a couple of the most devastating knockouts in the history of the sport. And now he’s set to face off against the guy whose shadow he’s been under ever since the Spider comparison was made back in 2013.
Hall is a notoriously inconsistent fighter. He knocked Gegard Mousasi out with a glorious spinning back kick / flying knee combo in September of last year, only to follow that performance up with a stinker against Robert Whittaker in November. The guy just can’t seem to pull the trigger reliably. But when he does, amazing things happen. In that way, he is kinda like this current post-championship Anderson Silva. It should be an interesting (and possibly frustrating) fight to watch.
UFC 198 goes down on May 14 in Curitiba, Brazil.
