Don’t be so quick to dismiss the notion of a potential fight between current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and all-time pound-for-pound great Anderson Silva.

Despite the fact Silva (33-8 MMA, 16-4 UFC), the former longtime UFC middleweight champion, has competed up to four weight classes higher than where McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) once held a UFC title, “The Spider” has recently been very vocal about his desire to face the sport’s biggest star before his career wraps up.

Silva is currently scheduled to fight Derek Brunson (16-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 208 co-main event. After that, the fight he’s most interested in is against “The Notorious.” Silva said he holds no ill will toward the brash Irishman, but rather his call to make the fight happen comes out of respect because he admires the fighting style which McGregor brings to the octagon.

During his more than seven-year title reign at 185 pounds Silva built a reputation as perhaps the greatest striker in UFC history. McGregor has come in and made waves with his standup talent, and that’s why Silva wants to test his abilities.

“I have a lot of respect for Conor McGregor because this man changed everything in the UFC,” Silva said on the UFC 208 pre-fight media call. “I’m very respectful of Conor McGregor’s style. I think it’s a great challenge for my martial arts technique.

“I don’t talk to disrespect Conor. It’s just a challenge for myself and for the best standup fighting. I respect Conor, and I think this would be a great show, a great fight for the rest of my life, the rest of my story in the UFC.”

UFC 208 takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Silva vs. Brunson co-headlines the pay-per-view main card following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

At 41 and with his career winding down, Silva pursuing the fights that excite him most is perfectly reasonable. For McGregor, however, it doesn’t make nearly as much sense.

McGregor, who hasn’t fought since a second-round knockout of Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November to win the 155-pound title, is in the midst of aggressively working toward making a fight with undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, claiming that it’s going to be his next bout even if he has to wait until 2018.

If that doesn’t materialize, though, McGregor’s next fight in the UFC would seemingly take place against the winner of the upcoming interim lightweight title showdown between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, who fight in the UFC 209 co-main event on March 4 in Las Vegas.

McGregor has always been adamant he’s willing to fight anyone at any time as long as the financial compensation meets his standards. And while the matchup seems unrealistic at this point, he said that would be no different if the UFC wants to pit him against Silva.

“(Expletive) every one of them,” McGregor said during a recent Internet pay-per-view interview. “You see Anderson (Silva)? What’s Anderson talking about? What the (expletive) is Anderson Silva talking about? He keeps mentioning my name over and over again. Look, I’ll fight any one of them. Make sure the numbers are right, make sure the situation is right. I’ll fight any one of them at any given time.”

For more on UFC 208, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.