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Anderson Sliva stands apart in the middleweight division in UFC he is arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the world but the middleweight division is a talent filled division who of the UFC M/W is most likely to be the next champion.

I can't believe I missed this thread lol!

I've opted for Bisping as well... he's looking very strong and lean at 185. His record at 205 was awesome. Obviously Anderson Silva could give him some troubles but like you said he is arguably the best pound for pound fighter around!

If you look at the likes of Phil Baroni - he was a tough 185 fighter, but came a bit unstuck when he stepped up against that divisions elite. Now that he has dropped to 170, he looks so much more dangerous! I would rate him as one of the hottest 170's around at the moment, he's explosive and it's given him so much more confidence.

Bisping is very similar in my opinion - I think if he stayed at 205 he could have had a couple more close calls, like the Hammell fight which could have easily gone against him and the Evans fight which did. So I think he got out at the right time, and he will be extremely tough to beat at 185.

I think maia is just too good on the ground i think he could beat anyone on the ground and that is somethng that Bisping doesnt have there is nowhere he clearly beats silva

Goto go for Damian Maia at the moment, although Thales Leites proved a very strong ground game isn't necessarily enough given Silva's ability to dictate where a fight takes place.

I think Bisping really does have the potential and is in many ways a similar fighter to Silva, but I still feel the fight would be too soon for him if he were to face him after the Henderson fight (assuming he wins).

Ideally I would like to see Bisping beat Henderson, then face Maia. If he beat Maia I reckon this would give him confidence to take on Silva.

The work he would put in during training to defend against Maia's BJJ would serve him very well against Silva and I think he is one of the few fighters who could compete with him striking.

The way they both use the Muay Thai clinch is very impressive.

But right now, I'm going for Maia, I simply couldn't see Bisping get off his back if he went down.

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it is really hard to say especially after watching the Thales Leitas fight it made me wonder whether Bisping's good striking is more of an advantage than Maias ground game
I would still like to see Marqaudrt get another shot though.

I agree he's looking a far better fighter nowadays and would probably provide as tough a test as any other fighter Silva has faced in the UFC.

The one fighter I feel would provide the best challenge would be Nick Diaz, his unorthodox stand up would frustrate Silva and his excellent ground game could actually give him the edge, just a shame he's not in the UFC anymore!

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Strike First - Strike Hard - Show No Mercy

Yeah that would be a fight I'd like to see myself! I rate Nick Diaz very highly too, I see you have him in your top ten pound-for-pound Cobra, I wouldn't argue with that - he would be on the edge of mine too.

Like you said, his BJJ is very tidy and he has heavy hands and a good chin. Would be good to see him back in the UFC. Does anyone know how long his contract is with Elite?

I have just heard that Wanderlai Silva was criticizing Anderson silva could he drop down to middleweight to provide a new challenge that would be interesting (Aslong as he proves he is not past it against Rich Franklin)

Just going to reopen this thread and think Bisping will be. Nick Diaz looks a good contender too.