5 possible opponents for Anderson Silva's UFC return

#5: Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz could be a great foil for Silva's return

While Nate Diaz is currently scheduled to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC 230 in a fight that could mark his return as a title contender to the Lightweight division, the enigma from Stockton, California has always shown his preference for so-called ‘money fights’ rather than tough ones against talented, but less known opponents. And what better money fight for him on the horizon than Anderson Silva?

It is true that a win over Poirier might put him in line for a shot at the UFC Lightweight title – particularly if Conor McGregor defeats Khabib Nurmagomedov, as that would set up the biggest trilogy fight in UFC history – but if McGregor were to lose, or if Diaz himself were to come away with a loss to Poirier, which certainly isn’t impossible, then a Silva fight could make sense.

There’s already some history there – Silva defeated Nate’s brother Nick in a strange, if engaging fight in January 2015, but then tested positive for PEDs, bringing the result into question. So the UFC could easily market the fight as Nate looking to gain revenge for his brother. But realistically they probably wouldn’t need to market it heavily – it’d be a match between two of the UFC’s biggest stars. Like anything involving a Diaz brother, it doesn’t make much sense in some ways, but in others it’d make all the sense in the world.