Everyone seems to be upset that Leites got a title shot, but the guy had only 1 loss and was on a 5 fight win streak in the UFC including a win over Marquardt. The only other fighter in the UFC who is in a similar position is Bisping like you said. Ofcourse that wont happen for a while because hes doing TUF then hes fighting Hendo, so whoever wins that fight will definately get a title shot next.

So while thats going on Anderson will need a different opponent and as much as i like Kang, he hasnt looked too good lately. He lost to Belcher who i see as kind of a gatekeeper at MW which puts Kang in the bottom half of the division.

Besides the UFC guys, we got Robbie Lawler, Cung Le, Frank Shamrock and Gegard Mousassi. I wouldnt mind seeing any of those guys step into the cage with Anderson even if its not for the title.

It’s sometimes hard to tell who would have a tougher time walking away from the division..Silva or the UFC marketing machine.

If Silva is as bored as he currently exhibits and will probably continue to exhibit, shouldn’t someone be thinking we need to bring in some outside talent, no matter where they’re from or which organization they currently fight with.

I personally would have loved to see Silva face Dennis Kang or the obvious Bisping, so, if the fights that SHOULD happen, WOULD happen….maybe these issues would never surface.

I would love to see Anderson stick around at 205 but imagine if your the champ and the most dominant champ ever at that weight class, can you just walk away from that? or trying to bounce back and forth between divisions? that just doesnt work man, you wont be at peak form in either division because you cant put muscle on that fast it will be mostly fat and water weight shifting around.

Should Forrest be ashamed? i guess its a matter of opinion but look at it this way, you say thats where Forrest has been fighting all his life, but how long has he been 100% committed to MMA? maybe the past 4 years since TUF when he quit his day job. So what does Forrest have in terms of acclaimations? a brown belt in BJJ.

Anderson has been serious about training all his life with a black belt in tae kwon do, a black belt in Judo, a blackbelt in BJJ and hes a master of Muay Thai with championships in brazil and going almost undefeated except for a controversial loss to pele.

Ofcourse its not all about belts, but you have to admit, its pretty impressive man lol. Ofcourse the weight and strength will be to Forrests advantage but should he really be THAT ashamed to lose to Anderson? i think not.

Until Silva starts fighting at 205lb. more often, against the cream of the crop, (Not James Irvin), it’s going to be hard to gauge how great he really was, is, and will be…you only become the best when you beat the best…I never believed that Franklin was the best because the middleweight division has been heavily dominated by B-Level fighters. There’s no reason why Bisping should not have already fought Silva a long time ago…but, once again, the UFC have their own agendas working hard.

If Forrest loses, its nothing to be ashamed of, hes not losing to a middleweight, hes losing to the best middleweight in the world and one of the best in history.

I agree that Randy is the master of gameplans and he has worked miracles in the past, cant think of a better place for Forrest to be.

I think most of Silva’s past opponents beat themselves before they even enter the cage. They read and listen to all the hype surrounding him and become very intimidated (a very justified reaction I might add). Forrest Griffin is NOT one of those fighters. The guy is a total scrapper and does whatever needs to be done to win.

I honestly don’t think the weight is an issue because Silva probably walks around at close to 205lbs. anyway. But, there is a difference between weight, size, and physique proportion. Forrest is tall, muscular, broad-shouldered and yet pushes a relentless pace. I’m very curious to see how Anderson will adjust to fighting someone taller and wider than he is. Yushin Okami is a very big dude, but again…a middleweight.

I think too many people online are using Silva’s last 2 performances to reach the conclusion that he has no heart and I couldn’t disagree more…betting on Forrest for that reason alone I think would be nonsense, because Silva is simply bored.

All the more reason for a great fight. Both have much to prove.

If Forrest loses to a middleweight: where does that put him? that’s why he’ll train harder than ever.

If Anderson Silva loses to a heavyweight: He wouldn’t let that happen and risk losing his status as the greatest fighter on the planet.

Forrest and his camp are fight gameplan masters, if he shows discipline with the plan, I can see him pulling off an upset yet again.

It depends on how Anderson fights too, because if hes gun shy like this past fight and we only see about 6-10 punches/round from both guys the takedowns will make all the difference. If Silva comes out aggressive, maybe it would be a better idea to take him down and just hold him, maybe burn off some of that steam.

I love these conversations, makes it so much more interesting to see what gameplan Forrest will actually use in the fight and how effective it will be.

Look at Tito, his legs are skinny but it hasnt hurt his wrestling game. Even if Forrest does get him to the ground, Silva is amazing off his back, look what he did to Travis Lutter and Travis has much better BJJ than Forrest.

I think Forrests best chance is to use his reach, try and out point Silva, if he can score a few takedowns and stand back up that would be good too. This is definately anyones fight considering the weight difference, but i think Silva just has more ways to win that Forrest.