Who Can Break The Spider's Web?

By Scott Matla


This Saturday we saw once again why Anderson Silva is among the p4p best fighters on the planet. A straight front kick straight out of a direct to DVD kung fu movie and challenger Vitor Belfort’s title shot ended like so many others before him. So that begs the question…Who is left? Yushin Okami, Georges St Pierre, Shogun Rua, Bisping? Theres a lot out there for Silva…but only if he should leave the middleweight division and seek a bigger challenge. Let’s take a look at the possibilities of potential matchups for Silva
Yushin Okami (26-5): Okami was promised a title shot in his victory over top MW Nate Marquardt…whether or not Dana White follows through on this promise is up in the air. Following Silva’s knockout victory Dana said he had some news regarding Silva that would “Probably piss off Okami”. Now that sounds like Okami may be getting passed over in favor of a potential super fight between Silva and GSP but more on that later. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a title shot not come to fruition against Silva, Dan Henderson was promised a title shot if he won his fight at UFC 100 against Michael Bisping. We all know how that went and we saw Henderson basically screwed out of a shot by Silva’s management and Dana not forcing the fight to happen. But as of now Okami is still the number one contender so he has a decent shot at still getting his earned title shot.
Possibility fight with Silva happens: 55%
Georges St Pierre(21-2): Theres been speculation about a possible superfight between Silva and St Pierre for months now. And following both fighters’ emphatic victories in their title fights this fight seems to be closer than ever to becoming a reality. GSP would provide quite possibly the best test to Silva at this point; with his dominant wrestling game and tight striking St Pierre could test Silva in ways that he’s never had to deal with before. However this find hinges on GSP keeping his title in his next defense against Jake Shields. This fight is at minimum 7-8 months away from becoming fully into existence. This fight has the highest probability of occurring due to one factor…money!! This fight would create such a media buzz that it’d be an insult to fans to not see it at some point
Possibility fight with Silva happens: 75%
Note: I do believe in the time following GSP’s fight with Shields the UFC could easily fit in Silva vs Okami but hey who knows.
Shogun Rua/Jon Jones(19-4/12-1): These two are combined because I believe Silva will only fight the current champion at 205 and these two are the next title fight. Both provide strong cases to fight Silva, Shogun is the gritty muay thai wrecking machine. Jones is the fastest rising prospect in UFC history and he’s got the full hype train behind at this point. I think at this point the UFC would be more inclined to give Silva to Rua should he win as opposed to Bones for several reasons. First being I highly doubt the UFC would want to see their top prospect get handled by the greatest striker in MMA today. Second…the Brazilian connection we’ve seen how intense these match ups get…look no further then the Silva/Belfort staredown. And in a fight with tensions running so high we’re sure to see an absolute slugfest
Possibility fight with Silva happens: Bones:10% Shogun: 35%
Chael Sonnen (25-11-1): Yup I’m including this matchup because honestly I’d be shocked if the rematch doesn’t happen. Yes Chael is currently on suspension for a positive testosterone response but he is set to return this March and with all the hype leading up to and following the first fight this one seems like a slam dunk to make. However we all know how Silva and his management feel about rematches(ex:Henderson and Marquardt). The only thing stopping this matchup is Sonnen’s suspension and his return. Will he go right back to title contender? Or will he be forced to work his way all the way back up the ladder at 185?
Possibility fight with Silva happens: 50%
Theres so many other possibilities but their very obscure matchups right now such as Bisping(who at minimum one top 10 victory away from a shot), Rashad Evans(if he does drop to middleweight). But I believe we’re going to be hearing a super fight announcement coming soon and then we can all finally settle the p4p best fighter debate.
Thanks for reading as always feedback is welcomed.