Anderson Silva suddenly finds himself in a spot where he won't be involved in a title fight in the UFC for the first time since June 2006, which was his UFC debut against Chris Leben. The UFC needs to put together an exciting and pay-per-view selling bout for the fans involving Silva, and the bout that fits well into both that criteria is pairing him with Nick Diaz.
Diaz has been adamant about wanting big money making fights, and has set the bar at no lower than half a million dollars per fight. While Diaz continually has asked for a title shot at 170, he is coming off two losses and there are a half dozen legit contenders waiting for a chance at the belt; so that seems highly unlikely.
The best solution for Diaz's desire for a big money fight is to take on Anderson Silva. Diaz suggested fighting Silva when the Brazilian was the middleweight champion, which again was a very implausible request as Diaz was fresh off losing to Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight title. However, Silva is no longer the champion, and needs a big name to fight, and if Diaz wants to fight a big name, it doesn't get much bigger than Silva. So all of a sudden a battle between Diaz and Silva is the most interesting fight that the UFC can put on from a fan interest perspective, a money-making perspective for the UFC, Silva, and Diaz.
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