FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Penick's Take PENICK: Where the UFC goes from here with Anderson Silva after Belfort injury

Feb 11, 2010 - 9:45:12 PM

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The injury to Vitor Belfort has thrown another wrench into the UFC's schedule of events, as his bout with Anderson Silva for the Middleweight Championship had been set as the headliner for the UFC's first trip to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It leaves the UFC with limited options for the card and for Silva, and likely delays Silva's return to defend his Title even further.

Silva hasn't defended the Championship since his five round dance with Thales Leites last April, jumping up to light heavyweight in his last fight to knock out Forrest Griffin. That delay has left the middleweight division with a full year to develop a challenger, even though a clear number one contender had yet to emerge by the time the UFC gave the shot to Belfort.

With Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt getting decisive knockout victories over the summer, Silva's camp called for them to face each other to determine a challenger. Meanwhile, Belfort returned to the UFC and knocked out Rich Franklin in a catchweight bout in December, and the UFC shot him into this Title shot. The fight was delayed twice before as Silva underwent elbow surgery and this April card was the first event he was prepared for.

Now, with Belfort out the UFC can hope for Chael Sonnen to make a quick recovery from a nasty cut suffered at the hands of Marquardt and put him into this Title shot more quickly than planned, they can try to find a light heavyweight bout for Silva to take on the card instead of a Title defense or they can simply push his return back a bit more.

The best option for the sake of the 112 card would be to keep a second Title fight on the card provided Sonnen can heal up and get cleared by the UFC. He's already produced plenty of trash talk and has given people a reason to want to see him against Silva. If they can get that fight together they keep two Titles on the line for their debut in this new market.

Should that not be an option with Sonnen's recovery, and should the UFC still want to showcase Silva on this April 10th card, there's one fight they could go right to in the light heavyweight division. It may end up being a massacre, but Anderson Silva against Randy Couture at 205 lbs could be one hell of a draw. It would get two of the UFC's biggest names onto this outdoor extravaganza.

The final, and probably most likely, scenario is that SIlva is simply pushed back to one of the later events. His opponent will depend upon who is available between Belfort and Sonnen, but it would mean a Title defense once again. Whatever the decision on the part of the UFC, they've shown themselves capable of getting new fights into place when this kind of thing happens, and they've still got a Lightweight Title bout on hand to headline the UFC 112 card.

[Anderson Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.