That it is good news for fighters like Vitor Belfort and Nate Marquardt who have indicated that they want to fight Silva, but is that bad news for Silva and the MMA world?  If Silva decides that he does not want to move up to the light heavyweight or heavyweight division to showcase his skills what will that do to his legacy?

Right now Silva is regarded by many as the pound for pound greatest fighter in the world.  This has been largely based on the fact that he has never lost in the UFC, he has set the record for most title defenses with six and he is 2-0 as a light heavyweight with highlight reel knockout victories over James Irvin and former light heavyweight champion Forest Griffin.  If Silva decides that he is going to stay in the middleweight division and continues dominate will he still be considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world?

The likely answer is no. Designations like “best pound for pound fighter” are earned (which Silva has up to this point), and are maintained by stretching one’s skills, by reaching for a greater challenge and by actively seeking out the toughest opponents out there, not by staying status quo. In addition to hurting his legacy, Silva is hurting the MMA world by not attempting to dominate two weight divisions.

In the history of the UFC, no fighter has ever held a championship in two different weight classes at the same time and truly, other than possibly Randy Couture or BJ Penn, there has not been a fighter that has had the ability to do so.  Silva is in the prime of his fighting career and assuming he is victorious over Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, there are only two legitimate fights left for him in the middleweight division and that is the long awaited fight with Belfort and a rematch with Marquardt.

If Silva wins those three fights, the only reason for him to stay in that weight division is if Georges St. Pierre moves up in weight class for a super fight.  If that does not happen then Silva needs to move up in weight class to get the competition he needs to showcase his skills. 

There are many great fighters in the middleweight division but they are not yet at the elite level of Silva.  Silva would be able to compete with fighters in the light heavyweight division that would not be afraid to engage with him and it would allow him to display the skills that made many fight fans love him in the first place.  If Silva does not want to do this, it is possible that he will fade out of the pound for pound best discussion and possibly lose his value as one of the UFC’s top draws. 

For the MMA fan community, MMA world and Silva himself, it would be best for him to show the world he can dominate both the light heavy weight and middle weight divisions.

Well Dana White hinted but didn’t confirm that the next opponent is going to be the winner of the Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (30-7) vs. “Suga” Rashad Evans (19-1-1). Both of these guys are coming off unanimous decisions as well as being opposing coaches on TUF 10. The two were suppose to fight at UFC 108 until Jackson decided to play movie star and ran off to film The A Team remake. Dana likely didn’t confirm who was next for the new champ because if for some reason this fight is boring or goes to a decision then he will want to put someone else in the mix, or he is waiting to see if someone else makes a better case to be the number one contender for the 205 belt.

This is a very deep division with fighters like Jon Jones (10-1), Vitor Belfort (19-8), Ryan Bader (12-0), and who can count out Randy Couture (18-10). Any of these fighters could easily step in and contend for the title. Then we have the former champion Lyoto and who is going to be next for him. Like most former champions he will probably have to have a tune up bout before getting back into title contention. Any of the previously mentioned fighters could be next in line for the dragon. Lets not forget to mention that Anderson Silva could very well move up to this division and be a future opponent for whoever the champ is. There is so many directions the UFC can go here with each, many very exciting fights that the fans will love to see.

Since are last update there was two events, UFC 112 and Strikeforce: Nashville and a total of 5 title fights.

 Movers and Shakers

Frank Mir’s slow decent out of the top 5 was finally completed and Junior Dos Santos has replaced him in the 5th position at Heavyweight.

The lose to King Mo Lawal Knocked Gegard Mousasi from the #3 spot right out of the top five and moved Lawal into the rankings for the very first time. With Mousasi’s downfall both Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson each move up one spot.

The biggest drop was by far Dan Henderson who was ranked #2 at Middleweight but after his lose to Jake Shields fell completely off the list. With the win Shields moved up from 4th to the 2nd spot and Nate Marquardtmoved up from 5th to 4th. With a spot open Vitor Belfort was able to grab the 5th spot on the list putting him on the list for the first time also.

At the Welterweight division the fighters stayed the same but Nick Diaz and Thiago Alves switched spots for no real reason as neither fought recently.

Despite losing his belt at UFC 112 BJ Pennkept the #1 spot at Lightweight and the new UFC Lightweight Champ Frankie Edgar went from not on the list to the #2 spot. Gilbert Melendez finally makes the list at the #4 spot after beating Shinya Aokiwill lost ground moving from #2 to the #5. Both Eddie Alvarez and Ben Henderson were the victims of the two new fighters in the top five and fell off the list.   

Surprises

Dan Henderson falling from #2 totally off the list caught my off guard a little considering Shinya Aoki was in the same #2 spot and remained on the list at #5.

The fact that Nick Diaz moved down a spot when both him and Thiago Alves didn’t fight makes me think Diaz was punished for his part in the Brawl?

Coming Up

WEC 48 - Title fights between Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber at 145lbs. and Ben Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone at 155lbs. will some affect on the rankings for next month.

UFC 113 – The 205 lbs title fight between Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Rua will have a major change at the top of the Light Heavyweight Division. Another fight on the card; Paul Daley vs. Josh Koscheck
is likely going to shake up the Welterweight ranks plus it will determine who fight Georges St. Pierre next.

Today appearing on ESPN’s Rome is Burning, Dana White announced that Chael Sonnen will be the next opponent for the champ Silva. Many believed that Vitor Belfort would be up next since he was the original opponent before withdrawing due to injury. Sonnen is likely up next because the fight is going to happen sooner rather then later and Belfort will not be ready in time. This could mean White will make it up to fans by putting Silva on a free card, possibly the TUF 11 finale.

White also said that following UFC 112, Silva and him sat down and talked about what happened. White concluded that if Silva pulls that act again, whether he’s champ or not he will be cut from the UFC. That’s a very bold statement from White and assuming that was something he and Silva discussed Silva appears on a short leash.

The first two minutes of the UFC 112 main event was what everyone expected, Silva showing his striking while Maia trying to get the takedown. After Silva stuffed Maia’s attempts a few times Silva began to almost kneel down as if inviting Maia to take him down. When Maia didn’t take the bait things slowly went south in a hurry and by round two Silva was taunting Maia to stand with him. When he wasn’t dropping his arm to his side Silva was swinging them around in the air or pretending to draw a line in the canvas. With all this Demian Maia continued to try and implement his “flawed” game plan and as round two came to a close Silva began yelling to fight him (I guess).

Now at this point I had enough of the act and I actually turned off the TV. I knew what the forthcoming outcome was having seen this crap 3 times before this from Silva, so at that moment I was DONE. I did not watch the rest of the fight but from what I have read on twitter the fight and Silva’s antics got worse to the point that many thought Maia won the last two rounds due to Maia actually attempting some offense? If you have read or heard me before you know that I do not agree with fans booing as it’s disrespectful to the fighters and I see this in the same light, disrespectful. With that said I do not care what any Anderson Silva apologist tries to say; he is 100% disrespectful to his opponents, the fans and the UFC. Whether his opponent engages him or not there is a different way to handle it without being disrespectful.

To think I’m the only one thinking this though would be an under statement to say the least. Two rounds after I walked out on the fight Dana White sitting ringside dropped the Middleweight belt and walked out. During the press conference White confirmed he did leave ringside, claiming ” it was an embarrassment“, “an embarrassment for me, the UFC, and the Fertittas“. White went on to say ”if you’re that talented, be Mike Tyson… go in there and finish!“. The much talked about super fight between Anderson Silva and Georges St.-Pierre doesn’t look so appealing to White now either claiming “I don’t want to see GSP vs. Silva after tonight. Silva might be the first champion fighting on a prelim. I don’t want to see that shit”. When Silva joined the Press conference he was asked how he felt, the room silenced for his response…..”The way I feel, my mission was completed, I came in and dominated the fight, I did what I had to do, That’s how I feel“.

Oh great I feel better now…. and so do they. These are actual tweets from the MMA community right after UFC 112

jchcrawk – Anderson Silva is a jerk. I don’t ever want to hear that he’s a great sportsman again.

TVolkert314 – Anderson Silva is a joke after that performance, disrespectful. At least Maia, who was outclassed, didn’t quit.

MMAAdvertising – I’d have rather seen a finish then disrespect like it, it was kind of shameful.

MMAGospel – At least it is only 1 PM so I have been plenty of time to get drunk and forget I watched that.

mmahotstuff – Has anyone ever been stripped of their title? I’d be in support of Anderson being the first

So what is next, where does the UFC and Anderson Silva go from here? Well Silva is not going anywhere that’s for sure, Dana White is not that mad or that stupid. Vitor Belfort is likely next up for Anderson Silva and lets hope Belfort engages him, if not we will see a repeat of UFC 112. For the UFC I’d actually like to see them put Silva’s next fight in the middle of the main card or lower. I don’t see them putting it in the prelim portion of the card for financial reasons but the bottom of the main card will due just fine.

Thank you to MMAHotStuff, MMAGospel, MMAAdvertising, TVolkert314 and jchcrawk for allowing me to use their tweets.

Well that changed 21 seconds into the fight with Marquardt as Maia went for a kick and got caught with a big right hand that ended the fight. Marquardt exposed the stand up of Maia in less than a half a minute and made me rethink the Silva vs. Maia matchup. Maia came back with a much improved striking game when he faced Dan Miller earlier this month winning by Unanimous Decision. Problem there is Dan Miller is no Anderson Silva when it comes to striking/stand up.

When Silva and Maia face each other April 10^th at UFC 112 in Adu Dhabi it will be the classic grappler versus striker matchup. Silva is no ordinary striker though and grappler always has to strike to get in close enough for the takedown, unless you Thales Leites. Maia has the advantage on the ground for sure but Silva is no slouch on the ground though. Silva has the advantage standing and even though Maia looked better against Miller he’s still far off. To me the gap between Silva & Maia in striking is much greater than the gap between Maia & Silva in grappling. Unless Maia can close that gap over the next couple month, which seems unlikely Maia is going to be in trouble.

“Following a hard-fought three round win over Dan Miller at UFC 109 that showed him to be more than just a submission expert, Demian Maia will jump right back into training camp for the biggest fight of his career – an April 10thmeeting with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 112 at Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.”

This is rather surprising as Maia was cut above is his eye during his fight with Dan Miller and the NSAC actually medically suspendedhim until August 6th unless cleared early by an ophthalmologist or ocular-plastics doctor. Guess they will find someone to clear him much earlier then August or maybe since it’s in Adu Dhabi who really cares what the NSAC to say? Most thought Chael Sonnenwould be the replacement, he was only medically Suspended until March 24 with no contact until March 9 which would have worked for him to step in but according to Dana White,

“Top contender Chael Sonnenwas not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt”

Dana White goes on to say,

“Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”

I like the match up ONLY if Maia doesn’t pull a Thales Leites and lay on his back in hoped Silvajumps into guard. If Maia can Hang with silva long enough to get inside then this fight will be really intriguing to watch. Of course if Maia can’t take the fight to the ground he won’t make it past the first round. It is the classic style match up of striker vs. grappler and if the striker keeps the fight standing he’ll usually win. Really hard to bet against Silva here but it’s a very worthy replacement on somewhat short notice, just didn’t think it was possible. Look for Sonnen to get the winner of this fight in late 2010.

- Martin Kampmann has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 111 match with Ben Saunders due to a nasty facial cut above his right eye. Click the link but be warned its pretty nasty http://bit.ly/d8G6IA. Jake Ellenberger has stepped in for Kampmann and will face Ben Saunders at UFC 111.

- Chael Sonnen is running for Oregon state Representative, following in Matt Linland’s footsteps. ~ The guy is talking about a title shot with Anderson Silva yet he also wants to be in politics. To beat Silva he will need to focus 100% on MMA and not 60/40 between MMA & politics.

- UFC will start to show its PPV fights in theatres across the US starting with UFC 111. The UFC trying to build on the success of Mayweather-Marquez which was shown in theatres last September has partnered with NCM Fathom to show four PPV’s in 2010. ~ I like the idea of seeing a fight on a big theatre size screen but can see a fight breaking out and a bunch of teenage workers trying to break it up.

 - Greg Savage via twitter is reporting he is hearing rumors of Randy Couture vs. Rich Franklin to Co-main event UFC 115. I like this fight and mentioned it as a possible next fight with Couture here.

- Amir Sadollah vs. Dong Hyun Kim has been announced for UFC114 ~ I really like the progression in level of talent taken with Sadollah’s opponents so far and Kim is a proper step up. The fight is interesting to me to see how Sadollah handles Kim’s Judo, tough fight for Sadollah.

- The UFC handed out several pink slips this week following UFC 109:

• Phillipe Nover (0-3) – The promising TUF season 8 fighter just hasn’t been able to put it together in the UFC
• Tim Hague (1-2) – Beat Pat Berry in his debut but has lost his last two fights. Maybe he should have gotten one more fight before the boot.
• Frank Trigg (2-5) – Came back to the UFC and looked bad in both his fights, losing each. Time to retire man.
• Mark Coleman (7-5) – The Hall of Famers came back to the UFC and was 1-1 until losing to another Hall of Famer Randy Couture, then got trash talked by Tito Ortiz. Thought the UFC would have given him a fight with Tito Ortiz.

The biggest news broke yesterday

Vitor Belfort Injured his shoulderis out of his UFC 112 championship Bout With Anderson Silva. There just seems to be a dark cloud that has been following this fight as it has been pushed back multiple times and now is off. Silva will remain on the card with a replacement to be named once they figure one out.  So who steps in and fights Silva for the title? The obvious choice is Chael Sonnen as he was next line line after beating Nate Marquardt last weekend. He was medically suspendedwith no contact until March 9th which would give him one month to get ready for the title fight. With all the talk coming from Sonnen about Silva this fight makes sense.

If he was to decline and not even be offered the fight the other obvious choice is Demian Maia but he is suspended until August 6th due to and eye laceration. Maybe of the other Middleweights are already scheduled to fight in the next couple UFC events, but one fighter that is not scheduled is Yoshihiro Akiyama (Sexyama).  Akiyama would make a really good replacement if Sonnen vs. silva doesn’t happen.

A Super wild card emerged today as Gegard Mousasi has left his management group M-1 global today and the rumors are swirling. The UFC has long wanted Mousasi in the octagon but with M-1 global as his management that just wasn’t going to happen. Mousasi is the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and was thought to face King Mo later this year and possible fight in the Dream light heavyweight Grand Prix also. I think the idea of him coming to the UFC and fighting Silva is a dream and only a dream, I don’t see this happening.

We are coming to a split path for fans in MMA where some want the sport to grow and are willing to sacrifice while others are fine the way it has been. The way Dana White cuts fighters from the UFC has been successful for him, but I believe it puts stress on the fighters to do whatever it takes to stay in the organization. Recent examples would be Rumble after the Koscheck fight, Jay Silva after losing to Leben, Tito Ortiz for a few years,  and Chael Sonnen after the Maia fight. It’s like these fighters are seeing guys like Brock Lesnar flipping off the crowd and how much PPV numbers sold, and taking note. I guess they figure if they stir up a lot of commotion, win or lose Dana is going to keep them. This, in my opinion, leaves a bitter taste in True mixed martial arts fans mouths. I am sure it sucks to lose or have embarrassing fights on your record, but there are such things as class and dignity, in which fighters like Jamie Varner have lost.  The more fighters bash each other, the more this wonderful sport that we love turns into the WWE.

 Martial arts have always been a class above the rest when it comes to opponent respect, but I fear we are straying away from it just to boost some ratings or stay in the money. I would rather have a loyal fan base due to being humble like Chuck Liddell, than having deep pockets and a bad rep like Tito Ortiz. Even blasting out that the other fighter sucks because they used grappling or BJJ to end the fight as an easy way out. I hope more examples like Ben Henderson, Nathan Marquardt, Chuck Liddell, and Vitor Bellfort arise and stay mature and full of class win lose or draw. If not, our interest in the sport will dissipate and the MMA fan base will be the laughing stock of sports Organizations worldwide.

Here are a few examples of recent bad talk;

Tito Ortiz “I was fighting with a bad/broken/fractured _______ and couldn’t do my best”

Jay Silva “He was a bitch for saying he was going to stand with me, then taking me down”

Anthony Rumble Johnson“I was getting the better of him in that fight that’s why he bitched out and rushed a takedown”

Chael Sonnen

“I’ll tell you. People don’t know what UFC stands for. The athletes are forgetting. It’s the F that’s confusing everybody. Some guy’s think this is the Ultimate Mitt-Hitting Championships, they think it’s the Ultimate High-Altitude-Training Championships, the Ultimate Let-Me-Go-Away-In-Seclusion-And-Eat-All-The-Right-Food-For-30-Days Championships. This is the Ultimate FIGHTING Championship. Now while these guys are out there swinging a sledgehammer and flipping a tire around, I’m throwing fists at a partner’s head, neck and chest. I’m fighting in practice everyday.”

“Women belong in the kitchen not the cage”

“I would imagine who knows what Anderson’s doing. At the end of the day, who cares? If he wants to leave the division, leave the sport, who cares. Beat it, nobody tunes in to watch him anyways, and his little fake ‘I don’t speak English. You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn’t. I’ve had conversations with Anderson Silva in perfect English, and on top of that he’s so boring to listen to that he and his rocket scientist manager, Ed Soares, who is also about as exciting as watching grass grow, have decided that Ed is better on the mic than Anderson, so just let Ed do the talking.”"

“It’s quite ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great this guy is for reasons that are completely un-understandable to me. How great Anderson Silva is, and all of us fighters are in the back going, ‘jeez, they’re out there massaging his ego, Anderson hates them so much, he pretends he can’t understand them. That guy’s no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods. That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there’s a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon. If Anderson ever signed to fight me, which is highly unlikely, he’ll be getting a verbal beating like you’ve never seen. And his language barrier won’t be the point of interest.”

“Sorry GSP but your cheap and scared”

“I believe I can beat any man god puts in front of me”

Jamie Varner

“I came to fight, He came to grapple”

“I came to box he came to kick box”

All coming after he shot for takedowns and had sub attempts in his fight.

Not including Tito Ortiz (Bad seed) do you think that this talk is bad for MMA and bring it a step closer to the WWE? We want to hear your opinion on this matter.

Fight of the nightwent the the Chael Sonnen vs. Nate Marquardt fight which was dominated by Sonnen for 13 minutes until Marquardt made a late charge almost submitting, then almost knocking Sonnen out. Sonnen was saved by the bell but put on one hell of a performance earning the title shot against the winner of Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort at UFC 112.

Matt Serra might have ended Frank Trigg’s MMA career as he knocked Trigg out in the first round earning himself KO of the nighthonors. Serra came out looking really great standing up and Trigg was very uncomfortable looking and got smacked with a nice right hand dropping him to the canvas where Serra punched him until the ref stepped in and stopped the fight. Trigg like his fight with Josh Koscheck complained to the ref about stopping it early but he was out and it was a good stoppage.

Each fighter gets 60k for the bonus on top for the fight purse.

After the main event between UFC hall of famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman when Joe Rogan was talking to Mark Coleman Tito Ortiz walked past the outside of the cage and said something to Coleman that he took issue with. Coleman dropped a few ”F” bombs and called Tito out. This is typical Tito Ortiz but what a jackass, here is the Video: