Ed Soares Names Nick Diaz As Potential Opponent For Anderson Silva Comeback In Early 2015
After being recently cleared to fully resume training in MMA after suffering a gruesome broken leg during his UFC 168 loss to Chris Weidman, legendary former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has repeatedly eyed early 2015 as his return date.
While UFC President Dana White would obviously like to see ‘The Spider’ come back this year if he’s able to, Silva has stuck to his guns. However, according to his manager Ed Soares, there’s still always a small possibility that he fights in 2014. Soares appeared on today’s edition of The MMA Hour to discuss Silva’s recovery:
“He’s definitely coming back. He’s feeling good, he’s training hard. Everything is good, man. Hopefully we’ll see him back. We won’t see him back any earlier than the end of this year or, most likely, the beginning of next year. There’s always a chance (he comes back in 2014), but as of right now I think his mind is set on fighting at the beginning of next year.”
When he does return to the Octagon, there are several interesting fights that could be made. Soares touched on some of the possibilities:
“”There’s Michael Bisping, there’s Cung Le. Even Nick Diaz. Nick Diaz has said he’s wanted to fight him before. Nick Diaz wanted to box Roy Jones Jr. You could argue that Nick Diaz and Anderson probably have some of the best boxing in MMA, so we’ll see what happens. Like we all know, so many things can change, the landscape of the sport can change so much in such a short amount of time.
There’s not a shortage of talent that the UFC has, so I’m sure the UFC is going to come up with a good plan on who the next opponent should be, and I’m sure it will be a good fight.”
Indeed the MMA landscape can change in what seems like overnight, and there’s no doubt that a Silva vs. Diaz bout is potentially one of the biggest money match-ups the UFC could book.
But with Diaz on the sidelines awaiting a huge payday, this may be the one big fight that could coax him out of “retirement.” Will ‘The Spider’ return to face the polarizing Diaz sometime early next year?
