Conor McGregor Interested In Fighting Anderson Silva, Silva Open To Fight

Former two division UFC champion Conor McGregor challenges UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title at UFC 229.

While McGregor has his sights firmly set on Nurmagomedov, one fighter the Irishman would like to battle in the future is former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

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“We’ll see what happens, but I don’t think (GSP is) next,” he said to ESPN. “He doesn’t really have anything for me personally. I’m not going to shut the door on that down the line. You know what would be another great one? Anderson Silva. I would be interested in an Anderson Silva bout. I swear to God. Anderson is a legend in the game. What’s the difference between him and Georges? Same damn thing. I’m going to do fights that interest me or have meaning.”

Silva is currently serving a one year suspension from USADA, but is eligible to fight again by November 10 of this year.

If Silva isn’t available, some other fighters competing at UFC 229 could catch McGregor’s interest.

“I’m certainly considering a few options,” McGregor said. “There’s this fight and the co-main (Tony Ferguson vs. Anthony Pettis). Of course then there’s boxing ventures. I’m very excited about that.”

Upon hearing of the challenge from McGregor, a confident Silva says he is willing to fight the former two division champion, which the middleweight stated on Instagram: 

 

 

 

 

 

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-------------------------- Seria uma grande honra me testar ”lutar” com Conor Mcgregor. Ele é um lutador eclético, e já provou que tem que ser respeitado. Vamos fazer isto acontecer! O UFC quer super lutas, tenho certeza que os fãs dos 4 cantos do mundo querem ver está luta. Eu profissionalmente acredito que seria incrível testar minhas habilidades marciais com um lutador como Conor Mcgregor uma super luta de verdade! Agora ele está focado na sua luta contra Khabib Nurmagomedov, depois dessa luta eu estou pronto para este desafio! Quando e onde ele quiser.

A post shared by Anderson "The Spider" Silva (@spiderandersonsilva) on Oct 3, 2018 at 8:20am PDT

Here is a translation of what Silva wrote, provided by Google Translate: 

 

It would be a great honor to test myself for "fighting" with Conor McGregor. He is an eclectic fighter, and has already proven that he has to be respected. Let's make this happen! The UFC wants super fights, I'm sure fans from all 4 corners of the world want to see this fight. I professionally believe it would be awesome to test my martial skills with a fighter like Conor Mcgregor a real super fight! Now he is focused on his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov, after this fight I am ready for this challenge! When and where he wants.

UFC 229 takes place on Saturday, October 6 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.