(Originally posted August 26, 2008)

Since Anderson Silva defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 82 in March, there has been a lot of talk about what comes next for arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. As Damon Martin discusses on SI.com, the always classy and selfless "Spider" simply wants to be in the biggest fights possible now. In my mind there are really three potential mega fights on the horizon for Silva:

1. Georges St. Pierre - The name most frequently discussed when it comes to a Silva blockbuster fight, GSP-Silva would be huge for the UFC. You would have two fighters in their respective primes who both appear to be getting better and better with each fight, trying to determine who the best in the world is. Both men have for the most part cleaned out their divsions and look like they need a challenge at this point.
2. Paulo Filho - The undefeated fellow Brazilian has been dominant in the middleweight division in his own right and could be one of the true challenges left for Silva at 185. With the UFC absorbing the larger weight classes from the WEC, a Filho-Silva fight could be a possibility to determine the undisputed Zuffa champion at 185.
3. Chuck Liddell - A pairing of arguably the biggest name in MMA today and the pound-for-pound king would be an enormous draw for the UFC. This match would either be a way to get Silva even more respect from the casual fan and cement him as number one pound-for-pound or be a nice feather in the cap for Liddell as he nears the end of his illustrious Hall of Fame career.

My personal feeling is that for Silva's legacy to be the greatest, a move to 205 to fight Liddell is the way to go. If the Silva-St. Pierre fight was to occur it would either have to be at a catch weight or GSP would need to move up to 185. I'm personally not a fan of catch weight fights and I feel they do not prove much in pound-for-pound calculations. The only way this fight would help Silva's legacy at the end of his career would be if he could somehow get to 170 pounds and hold the welterweight title as well, which I do not think is a possibillity. A catch weight fight would be amusing but not a huge bump for Silva's legacy.

As for Filho, I like this fight more than the GSP fight because it would be another elite fighter at 185 that Silva would have beaten while also giving Filho his first loss. As we know, Silva does not want to fight Filho and has already made that very clear. The amount of money the UFC would have to put on the table to make this fight happen might not be worth it due to casual fans not being able to pick Filho out of a line up.

The best fight for Silva's legacy would be Liddell. Silva loses some of his strength advantage putting on the 20 pounds. If the "Spider" can win, it would be over the most dominant light heavyweight in UFC history and show that he can move across weight classes. With Fedor having more big name fights on the horizon (Couture, Arlovski, Barnett) Silva needs to make a splash in order to stay on top of the pound-for-pound rankings and defeating Liddell would achieve this. Also, if there are any doubts about whether Silva would take the fight, his manager Ed Soares puts that to rest:

"We're not looking past Patrick Cote, but I think we'll take one step at a time and see what happens. But yeah, if a Chuck Liddell fight came up, we'd take it."

If the UFC can set this up right, both fighters' paths could cross by Summer 2009. Liddell could get his title shot by early 2009 with a UFC 88 victory over Rashad Evans. Assuming Silva takes out Cote at UFC 90, you can give him an early 2009 match up with a premier fighter at 205 (Wanderlei Silva? Shogun? Rampage? Machida?). Then, have him square off against Liddell for the 205 belt, making one of the biggest matches in UFC history. Mostly a pipe dream, but definitely a possibility to watch out for.