Can Anderson Silva fight in the heavyweight division?

Answer 1

He certainly could. As far as the weight class goes...

Anyone weighing 206-265 can fight at the weight.

Anderson at his highest weight...pre-cut (water weight) or what they call your "walking" weight.

Is roughly 210-215 pounds. Perhaps at the highest 220..but no more.

This DOES qualify him to fight in the division.

BUT to put this into perspective.

Thiago Alves just fought Georges St. Pierre at the welterweight limit of 170 pounds.

Meaning that Alves...weighed in officially for that fight roughly 24 hours before the event and came in at 170. Know what he walked into the octagon at a day later?

In the high 190's.

Yeah...you read that right...Alves weighed about 196 pound on fight night.

This means that although Silva COULD fight at heavy. He would be fighting guy SUBSTANTIALLY larger than him.

So...why do that? I'd rather see him fight at lightheavy if he wanted to jump up in weight.

With the one exception of Fedor.

Fedor is a small heavyweight. And I think Anderson Silva would likely beat Fedor, because it would really come down to skill not really size in that fight.

Hope that answers your question.

Cheers!