Anderson Silva Wants To Fight Luke Rockhold Next

By Dana Becker | July 18, 2012

According to a report by UFC Tonight, the management team for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva wants to see "The Spider" take on Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. That would seem to throw a wrench in plans for Chris Weidman, Hector Lombard, Tim Boetsch, Michael Bisping or anyone else attached to the UFC to secure a shot at Silva.

"One of Anderson Silva's managers said that one of the issues with Hector Lombard is he thinks he needs at least three more impressive wins in the UFC (before receiving a title shot)," UFC Tonight insider Ariel Helwani reported. "He said that 85-percent of UFC fans don't even know who Hector Lombard is, who is of course making his Octagon debut on Saturday night (at UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao vs. Boetsch)."

It appears that Silva's team is maybe living a little of the high life after his recent match with Chael Sonnen. The fight was billed as the biggest rematch in MMA history, and generated a lot of talk and money for the sport and the fighters. The odds of being able to do that again, short of staging a champion vs. champion match, are probably slim-to-none.

The report did say again that Rockhold is tied to Strikeforce, so the match is probably a very long shot at happening in the near future.

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