BREAKING NEWS: Anderson Silva vs Nick Diaz Superfight headlines Super Bowl Weekend.

[The Great Cochrane]

With controversy of a possible superfight with Anderson Silva surrounding Nick Diaz's contract renewal, UFC.com has officially killed that rumour and reported that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz is now set to headline the Super Bowl weekend card January 31st 2015 in Las Vegas.

The announcement came from UFC President Dana White himself on ESPN's Sportscenter this afternoon. Who is just as excited for this fight as any common fan is.

The greatest off all-time Anderson Silva is back. His doctor gave him clearance to fight. The fight the fans have been waiting for, the fight the fans have been screaming for.. also back is Nick Diaz so we have made Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz Jan. 31 in Las Vegas. It will be the main event and it will be five rounds.

From 2006-2013 Anderson Silva was the most dominant figure in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Taking the Middleweight strap from Rich Franklin and defending it a record breaking 10 times before losing the title to Chris Weidman at UFC 162 then breaking his leg in a failing effort at UFC 168.

But White says that Anderson is back up to preparation for this fight and that won't be an issue come January 31st.

He's 100 percent healthy, he's kicking again and he feels great. He's chomping at the bit to get back into the Octagon.

Diaz is also looking to get back after a long awaited absence from the octagon dating back to his unanimous decision loss to champion Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship. Diaz returned from a 5 year stint outside the company at UFC 137 opposite BJ Penn but lost the interim championship to Carlos Condit at UFC 143. He then returned at UFC 158 and hasn't been in the octagon since.

Nick Diaz is a very popular fighter. If he comes in and beats Anderson Silva, he could fight for the title. He's right in there. It would be a huge, huge win for him.

Ladies and gentlemen, its finally happening.

Author: Alex Cochrane
Cited source: UFC.com, Guilherme Cruz (mmafighting.com)

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HOLY FUCK AM I EVER STOKED FOR THIS!!!!

Anderson will knock this fool clean out.

 

[Swinny]

Re: BREAKING NEWS: Anderson Silva vs Nick Diaz Superfight headlines Super Bowl Weekend

It's actually happening. Wow.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Re: BREAKING NEWS: Anderson Silva vs Nick Diaz Superfight headlines Super Bowl Weekend

This will be a very interesting fight stylistically too.

We all know Nick likes to charge forward and pressure the opponents with his bombaring boxing. However, it should be also noted that Silva has a demoralizing counter striking game, is much bigger, and faster going into this fight, the only physical trait that Diaz has is a slight reach advantage.

For Silva, he has to use a lot of lateral movement. We know what happens when guys charge him head on, just ask the likes of Chael Sonnen or Chris Weidman, given those two results we know that Silva does not respond well to pressure and Diaz loves to put the hurt on. Should Silva use lateral movement in this fight he has a better chance of throwing Diaz off his gameplan. Secondly he also has to make good use of leg kicks, with that he'll take away the spring in Diaz's step and he won't want to come forward and strike with Silva if he continues to eat leg kicks on the way in. And third he needs to maintain an active guard - more than likely it won't happen as Diaz offers as little of a threat in takedown offense as Silva does in takedown offence but in the event that the fight should go down to the ground, we know that Diaz is not much of a threat being top heavy, so if Silva can make good use of a closed guard he won't have much of a problem.

Diaz's gameplan should oppose Silva's weaknesses if he's got any chance of winning this fight. For starters he'll have to what Diaz Nick does best - push the pace on Silva and get him moving back into the fence not letting him use those lateral movements. He'll need to use his small reach advantage to get Silva moving back and in order to do that, he'll have to keep Silva on the end of his jab and not let him get close enough to deliver any leg kicks. Third key is he'll have to look for submissions, keep in mind Diaz is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Cesar Gracie and may have the superiority in jiu jitsu given he has a higher submission percentage than Anderson does, and should he get Silva down to the ground at any point, he'll have a better chance winning by submission than trying to out wrestle or ground and pound Silva.

It's an interesting fight indeed. But that I believe he's more of a natural 185 and the fact that he has the advantage in size and speed, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Anderson Silva takes it by TKO in the Rd. 3.