Monday Morning Matchmaker: Silva v Matyushenko

“Are you serious?”

That’s the query I’d pose to Fighters.com’s Middleweight Champion “Spider” Anderson Silva (22-4) if I was UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva after the former Silva put “Sandman” James Irvin (14-5) to sleep in a minute in Las Vegas 19 July.  “Are you serious about being the UFC champion at both 185- and 205-pounds?”

If “Spider” only wants to bulk-up to obliterate un-ranked light heavies for kitsch, fine.

But, if Silva wants to match “Hollywood” Dan Henderson’s (22-7) feat of holding major titles at 185- and 205-pounds simultaneously – if he’s serious – he deserves a serious challenge in his next 205-pound showing.

He could do it.  Not with the Vaseline ease with which he ascended to the 185-pound crown, but it’s not an X-Files storyline either.

The determinant will be how Silva scales the mountain range at the top of the division.

UFC Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin (22-4), “Iceman” Chuck Liddell (21-5), “Rampage” Quinton Jackson (28-7), these beasts are all heavyweights with the work ethic to cut 40, 50 pounds or more and fight at 205 pounds.

Enter IFL Light Heavyweight Champion “Janitor” Vladimir Matyushenko (21-3)…maybe.

Fighters.com reported 21 July that former IFL fighters have confirmed to Fighters.com that they’ve been notified that their contract was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the UFC and WEC.

In Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, 19 July, Vladdy confirmed to Sherdog that he had been told not to take any fights because the IFL was awaiting a buyout, but didn’t confirm that his contract had already been purchased.

It’s likely, in fact, that Zuffa, LLC doesn’t want all of the IFL’s fighters.

It’s possible the UFC doesn’t see a place for Matyushenko in it’s stacked 205-pound division; and, UFC President Dana White has previously indicated that the WEC will eliminate it’s light heavyweight division.

However, for the purposes of this analysis, Fighters.com assumes Matyushenko’s contract was included in the basket of assets Zuffa, LLC acquired from the IFL.

Matyushenko is an over-sized light heavyweight grappler, having formerly competed in the UFC’s heavyweight division.

He’s no lay’n'pray wrestler, nor is he the Delacroix of attack that Silva is.  He consistently takes large fighters to the mat and pounds them out.

That alone makes him potentially dangerous to Silva.  Not that it hasn’t been tried on “Spider” before, but not by so large of a man.

If Silva can weather the larger, stronger Matyushenko’s G’n'P and pick-up a win, then he’s ready for the better skilled big men at the top of 205.

And, what better way to promote Silva as the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artist than if he picks up the IFL Light Heavyweight Championship?

If Matyushenko can survive Silva’s attack and pound out a “W”, the same for him – he’s ready for a top ten challenge in the UFC, perhaps even a title unification fight.