Anderson Silva dismisses potential Rockhold, Belfort matchups at UFC 212, open to Romero or Diaz rematch

RIO DE JANEIRO – Anderson Silva claims he has no desire to fight Luke Rockhold or Vitor Belfort at UFC 212 in June. Yoel Romero or Nick Diaz, however, do garner his interest.

Silva (34-8 MMA, 17-4 UFC), the former longtime UFC middleweight champion, was originally scheduled to fight Kelvin Gastelum in the co-headliner of UFC 212, which takes place June 3 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately, “The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner was recently pulled from the contest due to a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency violation for marijuana metabolites.

Since Silva lost his opponent, a number of names have come to light as potential replacements. Rockhold (15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Belfort (25-14 MMA, 14-10 UFC) are chief among those, and there have also been rumblings involving Uriah Hall (12-8 MMA, 5-6 UFC), who “The Spider” was supposed to fight at UFC 198 in May.

All of those fighters lost their most recent bouts, though, and for that reason Silva dismissed the idea.

“I’m coming off a win,” Silva said through an interpreter at today’s UFC 212 news conference in Rio de Janeiro. “I hadn’t won a fight in a long time, so there’s not really a point in fighting either one of those because they’re coming off a loss. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not going to take me any further, so it makes no sense.

“I’m ready to fight whoever the UFC puts in front of me – whoever it may be. I hope the UFC puts an athlete coming off a win that’s going to bring something to my legacy, otherwise it makes no sense.”

Belfort, in particular, is a fight that doesn’t get Silva overly excited. The pair fought before for the 185-pound title at UFC 126 in February 2011. Silva scored one of the most memorable knockouts in UFC history when he put “The Phenom” out with an incredible front kick to the chin.

It’s a fights in which it would certainly be difficult for Silva to top his performance in the first contest, and for that reason, he says a rematch doesn’t make sense to him.

“People here are going to interpret here what I say as arrogance: Vitor is coming off a loss, so it makes no sense for me to fight Vitor,” Silva said. “It would only be good for Vitor – and not for me. To tell you the truth, if I went in there to fight Vitor and a fluke happened, (it would) erase the last fight, so it’s a fight that doesn’t make any sense.”

Although Silva, No. 10 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, spent more time at the press conference discussing what fights aren’t logical than anything else, he did show some warmer feelings toward a pair of matchups brought up by media members.

One of those fights was against top middleweight contender and No. 2-ranked Romero (12-1 MMA 8-0 UFC), who was expected to challenge champion Michael Bisping for the title this year before UFC legend Georges St-Pierre made his return to the sport from a nearly four-year hiatus and was awarded an immediate title shot.

Romero is riding a divisional-best eight-fight winning streak and has never been beaten inside the octagon. Considering where “The Solider of God” sits in the rankings, Silva said it’s a realistic possibility.

“It’s a fight that would be interesting,” Silva said. “It would be a huge challenge, especially because Romero was going to fight for the belt. It would be a great challenge. He’s an athlete that has all the qualities to fight for the belt. So let’s wait. We’ll have to wait for the UFC and see what happens.”

The second matchup that piqued Silva’s curiosity was a rematch with Nick Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC), who he fought at UFC 183 in January 2015. The Brazilian originally won that fight by unanimous decision, but the result was later overturned when both fighters failed drug tests – Silva for steroids and Diaz for marijuana.

Although Diaz hasn’t won a fight since October 2011 and a rematch would go completely against Silva’s idea of facing an opponent coming off a win, the fact the pair have a history could lead to a second fight. And, in fact, Silva said there’s already been discussions about it.

“It’s something that’s been talked about,” Silva said. “It’s possible that it could happen, the fight against Nick. I respect him a lot. I think he’s an excellent fighter. It’s a fight that would be interesting, a fight that would be pretty cool to watch, and it actually makes sense. It was a no contest, so let’s see. Anything can happen.”

With UFC 212 less than two months away, Silva said he’s “anxious” to get an opponent locked in so he can begin to form a gameplan and center his training around a specific opponent. How long that will take remains to be seen, but Silva said it will be up to the UFC to decide who he shares the octagon with at UFC 212.

“Right now I have to wait,” Silva said. “I have to wait for the UFC to make a decision on who is my next opponent. I continue to train. My focus is still the same, and I’m waiting.”

For more on UFC 212, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie’s Fernanda Prates, who was onsite for today’s press conference, contributed to this report.