With UFC 151 cancelled, it has been nearly a month since a major MMA event, and another two weeks to go until 152 gets here with its overall strong card but an oddly make-shift main event. If you like to bet on NFL football, you may be excited about the start of the 2012 season… but as strictly an MMA aficionado, I’m getting restless without my weekly dose of fights.
There’s plenty of blame to share for the cancellation of UFC 151, and I’m not going to beat the dead horse that has already been well-beaten in so many MMA blogs. Instead, let’s just put this one behind us and look forward to Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort.
Wait, Vitor Belfort? Why is the reigning, dominant light-heavyweight champion who is #2 on our Division Dominance list, defending his title against the #5 middleweight? The answer is simple: Jones has thoroughly cleared out his division, having destroyed the majority of the 205 Top 10 without suffering so much as a cut or a black eye in process. Dan Henderson is injured, and former champions Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua are not exactly raring at the bit to fight Jones again and try to regain the title they once held. Alexander Gustaffson or Glover Texeira are the only legitimate options left for Jones, and that’s assuming at least one of them gets past their next challenge. This is why middleweight contenders like Belfort, Chael Sonnen, and even Chris Weidman are offering to throw themselves into the 205 mix. But short of a huge stroke of luck, such as the one that visited Belfort when he defeated Randy Couture for the light-heavyweight title, it’s hard to imagine these middleweights giving ‘Bones’ much of a fight.
There is however one middleweight who would be one hell of a challenge for Jones. I am talking of course about the champion and the greatest fighter of his generation, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva. Keep reading to see why I believe this match-up would be great for all the parties involved:
[#2 SW] 
[#13 HW] 
[#24 HW] 
[#16 W135] 
