What Should The UFC Do With Anderson Silva?

What should have been a triumphant night for the UFC and Dana White quickly turned into a debacle.

Tens of thousands of people poured into the Bell Centre to take in UFC 97. The crowd in Montreal was boisterous and ready to have a great time. They had poured millions of dollars into the coffers of the UFC with their ticket purchases. The event itself was shaping up to be a great one, as both Anderson Silva and Chuck Liddell were both scheduled to fight on the card.

In a perfect world, Chuck Liddell would have signaled that he wasn't ready to retire with an emphatic victory over Mauricio Rua, and Anderson "The Spider" Silva would have demolished the over-matched Thales Leites.

Unfortunately for the UFC, things didn't go down like that.

Chuck Liddell was smashed by Rua, which almost certainly ended the career of one of the UFC's most popular fighters.

Anderson Silva toyed with Thales Leites en route to an easy unanimous decision victory. The fight drew howls of protest from the fans at the Bell Centre, as Leites refused to engage in any stand-up with Silva, and Silva refused to allow the fight to hit the floor. This resulted in a fight that featured more dancing than hitting. Fierce criticism of Silva's performance has been rampant over the past few days, as many feel that he had ample opportunity to finish Leites but chose not to, for whatever reason.

So what's next for Silva?

The UFC is in an unenviable position with Silva. They have hyped him up as the best fighter in the world, and he has served up two very underwhelming performances.

The UFC doesn't dare put Silva in a fight against someone such as Yushin Okami or Damian Maia. They certainly couldn't sell this fight to their fans after what happened at UFC 97.

Dana White and company will clearly put Silva up against someone who is a fierce striker. Someone who will not be afraid to stand and throw with Silva.

If Wanderlei Silva wins against Rich Franklin at UFC 99, then a Silva/Silva match-up would be a fun one.

However, it sounds as though the UFC plans to move Silva up to light heavyweight for another fight.

Who would he fight at light heavyweight?

Names such as Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida have to be taken out of the equation. The UFC has plans for a Jackson / Evans fight, and Silva/Machida is not the type of fight that the UFC is looking for.

Forrest Griffin/Silva would be a huge money-maker for the company, matching up two of the promotion's biggest stars. I'm not sure, however, that the UFC wants to risk Griffin getting pounded on by Silva - I'm sure that they have plans to put Griffin back into the title picture.

I think that you need to look further down the list of light heavyweights to find a potential opponent for Silva.

Names such as Luiz Cane, Brandon Vera, Matt Hamill and Stephan Bonnar jump out at me.

Assuming that Silva his fight at light heavyweight, and assuming that GSP wins against Alves at UFC 100, I definitely think that a GSP/Silva superfight will happen in 2010.

It's a bit of a shame, as people are already starting to look past the GSP/Alves fight at UFC 100. This is going to be a very tough contest for GSP, and Alves certainly shouldn't be overlooked.

Dana White has acknowledged that a GSP/Silva superfight is even more likely after the events at UFC 97, and he has stated that he believes that such a fight could take place in Toronto, Canada. This assumes though that both GSP and Silva win their next fights.

Interesting times in the UFC's middleweight division. The joys of having an ultra-dominant champion..

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