MMA
Conor McGregor accepts Anderson Silva's challenge, opens as betting underdog in potential fight
If there's one thing that you cannot deny about Conor McGregor, it's that the former UFC two-division champion refuses to turn down a challenge.
After looking to score a boxing match with Oscar De La Hoya and being rumored for a fight with UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, the Irishman caught wind of former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva laying down a challenge to face McGregor at a catchweight of 176 pounds.
Silva posted: "I have immense admiration for the great athlete that Conor is and I believe that a super fight would go down in the history of the sport, neither of us need to prove anything to anyone; I believe that fans of the UFC and of this sport would like to watch this great martial arts spectacle, it would be fantastic to test my martial arts skills against him!!"
As expected, McGregor wasted little time responding.
It's unlikely that the UFC would book a match between McGregor and Silva because of the other possibilities for McGregor, but you can never say never when it comes to the man who landed an improbable boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.
Sportsbooks are already keen to the possibility of a fight and have set odds on whether the fight will happen as well as who would emerge victorious should the fight come to fruition.
Bovada sent DAZN News the opening odds for both betting lines.
Anderson Silva vs. Conor McGregor betting odds
- Anderson Silva -125 (wager $125 to win $100)
- Conor McGregor -105 (wager $105 to win $100)
Will Conor McGregor and Anderson Silva fight in the UFC in 2020? Betting odds
- Yes +275 (wager $100 to win $265)
- No -365
If a fight were to happen at the proposed 176-pound catchweight, then it would be the highest weight at which McGregor has ever fought. He campaigned for much of his career as a featherweight and lightweight, where he became the first UFC fighter to hold world titles in both weight classes simultaneously. He has fought three times as a welterweight (170 pounds), going 2-1.
Silva would be fighting at his lowest weight in nearly two decades. He won the 168-pound championship in Shooto back in 2001 before beginning an extensive campaign at middleweight (185 pounds) where he dominated in the UFC from 2006-12. At 45, he's no longer the dominant fighter he once was, and he has gone 1-6 with one no-contest over the past seven years. He would have a significant weight advantage but would also be giving up nearly 15 years in age to the 31-year-old McGregor.
