Penick's Take
PENICK: After embarrasing Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, what does Anderson Silva do next?
Aug 9, 2009 - 4:34:42 PM PENICK: After embarrasing Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, what does Anderson Silva do next?

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After an unbelievably one sided fight against Forrest Griffin at UFC 101, Anderson Silva finds himself back atop the mythical pound for pound rankings for many people, myself included. It was him yet again showing that no matter the opponent, he can make them look like they don't belong in the same arena let alone the same cage as him. So immediately the question regarding Anderson Silva becomes, "what's next?"

With him already facing and defeating almost every challenger there is in the middleweight division, Anderson Silva is concerned with fighting the biggest fights that can be put on. Immediately after he finished Forrest, he and his manager Ed Soares discussed vacating the Middleweight belt to fight up at light heavyweight going forward. At the post fight press conference, that sentiment was slightly echoed, though tapered a bit as Dana White said that Anderson likely has Dan Henderson up next for the Middleweight Title.

Still, there are a few names out there that are going to gain steam in the mouths of everyone as Anderson continues to wind down on his current UFC contract. The two names that everyone has on the tips of their tongues are Georges St. Pierre and Lyoto Machida.

The Machida fight is one of those dream bouts that, barring some unforeseen miracle or Dana White hypnotizing the two of them, is a fight we're not likely to see. At the post fight press conference Dana said when it comes down to it, it's a fight that he'd "find a way to make" because to him, it's about proving yourself against the best and fighting the best. For Silva, however, he responded by saying he would never face Lyoto, and added that it would be a dangerous fight for him as well.

But that's a fight the fans would love to see, and would really provide an almost definitive pound for pound best fighter in the world. With both being amazing fighters when it comes to damaging and beating opponents without taking damage themselves, the story would be which one would engage and which fighter would be able to get in on the other. While Machida is extremely elusive, Anderson proved once again the deceptive strength of his hands against Forrest Griffin, dropping him three times and finishing him with a short straight right jab that dropped the former Light Heavyweight Champion to the canvas. If that dream match comes to fruition, it's going to be Anderson Silva coming out on top.

The other Champion vs. Champion bout that everyone had been wanting to see coming into this weekend lost some steam, and that's the oft-proposed bout with Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. After what Silva did to Griffin, I don't see any way he loses a fight to GSP. GSP has stated he'd need to bulk up to move to middleweight for that fight, but even then Silva would have a massive size advantage. He was nearly the same size as Forrest for this fight, a guy who walks around at a much higher weight than Silva, and he walked through him with ease. GSP's wrestling would allow him to stay in the fight longer than Forrest, most likely, but Silva is too strong and too powerful for even that to last very long. If those two are matched up in the next year I again would take Silva.

The last dream fight that will never happen was one Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! Sports claimed had been quietly tossed around, and that's a fight between Silva and heavyweight King Fedor Emelianenko. That's a fight that would actually make sense, as Silva is a taller fighter with more technical striking than "The Last Emperor," and Fedor's himself is a small heavyweight. It would be Fedor's power vs. Silva's ridiculously solid head and body movement, as Silva would look to bob and weave and pick his spots as he tried to take Fedor out. Obviously, with the issues between M-1 Global and the UFC, it's unlikely we'll ever see Fedor in the Octagon, and if we did Silva wouldn't be the first on the list of challengers for the Russian.

With Silva looking for simply the best fights moving forward, it would make sense for him to fight Dan Henderson here first. If he gets past Henderson for a second time, I'd expect one of two paths for "The Spider." The first one would be the superfight with St. Pierre. Regardless of whether GSP actually has a shot in that fight or not, it's one that fans will go crazy for. The other path for Silva would be to vacate the Middleweight Title and move to 205 lbs. for his last fights. A bout with him and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua should Rua lose to Machida would be great, as would a bout with either Quinton "Rampage" Jackson or Rashad Evans, likely whichever fighter fails to come out victorious in December. So now we await another Title defense against Dan Henderson and then hope for two more amazing performances from the absolute man, and the best fighter in the world right now.