Anderson Silva: Conor McGregor ‘has the best stand-up technique in the UFC’

Anderson Silva is considered by many to be one of the greatest fighters of all time in mixed martial arts.

Although still dangerous at 41-years-old, “The Spider” will be looking to get his first official win since 2012 as the former kingpin of the middleweight division has run into various obstacles in his last five fights.

Since Silva’s dominance has tapered off in the UFC, a new star has emerged and is bringing in record numbers time and time again with his “Notorious” character and performances inside of the Octagon. Current lightweight champion Conor McGregor has made waves around the world and Silva acknowedges the Irishman and his abilties and wants to test his skills against the new superstar.

“This is a personal challenge for my life, because Conor in my opinion has the best stand-up technique in the UFC,” Silva said, speaking to the media ahead of his UFC 208 competition against Derek Brunson (transcribed by The Mac Life). “For me, I think it’s a good challenge for my technique and for my martial arts technique and stand up. I think this is the great fight in my mind, but I don’t know? One day, maybe.”

McGregor has heard Silva’s desire to fight him and addressed it during his recent pay-per-view interview with Ariel Helwani.

“F**k them all. F**k every one of them,” McGregor told Helwani. “Did you see Anderson? What’s Anderson talking about? What the f**k is Anderson Silva talking about? He keeps mentioning my name over and over again.

“Look, I’ll fight any one of them. Make sure the numbers are right. Make sure the situation is right. I’ll fight any one of them at any given time. We’ve got the Floyd situation lined up, but there’s many of them that are there.”

While Silva and McGregor surely take a different approach to mentioning each other’s names, there is no doubt that a matchup between the two would bring in a massive amount of viewers.

How do you think Conor McGregor vs. Anderson Silva would go? Give us your thoughts in the comment section!

This article first appeared on 2/8/2017.