Anderson Silva: Best Pound for Pound MMA Fighter?

So after spending a long Friday night/Saturday morning in Alphabet City wishing Maximus well as he leaves New York for a new life in the Far East, there was absolutely no desire from either myself or TJC to go to a bar yet again on Saturday night to watch the next UFC card. Decision was made to just watch it at his place, which was most welcome. The only drawback was that his damn couch was so comfortable, I almost fell asleep once during the undercard as food coma/lack of sleep/evaporation of alcohol from the night before took hold.

But any need for sleep completely disappeared once Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin took to the Octagon for their rematch, as Silva defended the UFC Middleweight belt he won from Franklin about a year ago, but this time, in Franklin's hometown of Cincinnati, OH.

To summarize the results: slightly longer fight, same results. Franklin lasted 1 minute into the second round this time around, as opposed to losing 3 minutes into the first round during their first fight. But the utter domination of Silva was just insane. He just took out Franklin with strikes from all angles. Say he would hit Franklin with a kick to the leg, Franklin would cover that up, but then Silva would just grab him in a Muay Thai clinch and hit him with a left knee to the forehead. Then Franklin would try to defend that and Silva would then just hit him with a right knee to the jaw instead. The strikes came fast, furious, and from every direction known to man.

I am now convinced Silva is the best pound for pound fighter in the UFC, leapfrogging Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn. He might be the best pound for pound fighter in the world, since Fedor has not fought real quality opposition in ages (heck, has not fought at all in ages, period) so who knows if you can still make a valid argument for Fedor these days.

What makes Silva so scary good is his skill set is diverse and all very dangerous. His striking was what won him the fight on Saturday, but he also holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is tall, quick and with a long reach and has a great defense also. There was a point in the match when Franklin tried to flurry with punches and kicks in the middle of the octagon, and Silva just bobbed and weaved like nobody's business and Franklin did not even touch him I think.

Franklin went through the UFC's middleweight division like nobody's business when he rose to the top, and now Silva has tore through Franklin twice. He has fought twice in between his matches with Franklin and he destroyed those two guys also. There is NOBODY left in the middleweight divison who could seriously challenge him. Hendo should move down to middleweight and challenge him, but he does not want to cut weight from light heavyweight apparently. I tend to think Silva would beat him easily too though. Maybe Matt Hamill can move down to middleweight if Hendo won't.

But I really don't get Henderson's reluctance to move down. There is one clear cut top dog in the middleweight division, and that's Silva. He would get a title match right away if he wanted to. Hendo just lost the Lightheavyweight unification belt vs. Rampage Jackson and if you combine that with the fact that UFC's lightheavyweight division is loaded (off the top of my head, I can name Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, Shogun Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Lidell, Michael Bisping, and Keith Jardine as legit title contenders), Henderson will have to go through a gauntlet to even be considered for a title shot again.

But back to Anderson Silva - he is one scary beast in the Octagon, and yet so gracious and humble in his interviews, post fight and pre fight. With Couture in limbo and Lidell on the decline, he, GSP and Rampage might be the next faces of UFC.