If I were Joe Silva...(updated)

by Scott Haber on Dec 17, 2008 3:25 AM EST

I decided I wanted to put together a list of matchups by weight-class that I'd like to see in the coming year, with pairings that I think make sense in terms of both fighter experience and recent performances. All the fighters I'm including are either not currently booked for any upcoming fights, or without a confirmed opponent. I'm also avoiding a few fighters (Liddell, Couture) whose futures seem a bit uncertain right now.

Feel free to share your thoughts...

EDITED with suggestions from commenters

Lightweight:

Frank Edgar vs. Tyson Griffin

Diego Sanchez vs. Sean Sherk - winner faces KenFlo while he waits for BJ

Roger Huerta vs. Spencer Fisher

Jeremy Stephens vs. Joe Stevenson

Cole Miller vs. Aaron Riley

Raphael Dos Anjos vs. Efrain Escudero

Phillipe Nover vs. Mark Bocek

Welterweight:

Dustin Hazelett vs. Anthony Johnson

Mike Swick vs. Paul Taylor

George Sotiropolous vs. Luigi Fiorivanti

Matt Brown vs. Ben Saunders

Pete Sell vs. Matt Riddle

Middleweight:

Nate Marquardt vs. Ricardo Almeida

Thales Leites vs. Demian Maia

If Marquardt wins, he faces winner of Leites/Maia to determine who gets next title shot. If Almeida wins, winner of Leites/Maia alone gets title shot. Also...it remains to be seen what the UFC plans on doing with Bisping, and whether or not he'll fight the opposing coach after the next season of TUF. Another unknown is whether or not Dan Henderson will stay at 205, or drop back to 185 regardless of the result of his fight with Franklin.

Dan Miller vs. Ed Herman

Chris Leben vs. Matt Horwich

Tim Credeur vs. Jason Day

Kendall Grove vs. Wilson Gouveia

Goran Relijc vs. Patric Cote

Jorge Rivera vs. Nate Quarry

Chael Sonnen vs. Alessio Sakara

Light Heavyweight

Luiz Cane vs. Keith Jardine

Vinny Magalhes vs. Brandon Vera

James Irvin (pending NSAC suspension) vs. Tim Boetsch

Jason Brilz vs. Brian Stann

Mark Munoz vs. Ryan Bader

Heavyweight

Cain Velasquez vs. Heath Herring

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Neil Grove

Shane Carwin vs. Junior Dos Santos

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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Comments

Overall excellent match-ups! I would watch every single one of those fights with an interest! But my favorites are..

Lightweight:
Roger Huerta vs. Spencer Fisher
Jeremy Stephens vs. Joe Stevenson
Welterweight:
Mike Swick vs. Paul Taylor (I want Taylor vs Swick. Sure, Swick could probably submit him, but if he doesn`t take him down? Man oh man what fireworks we would see..
Dustin Hazelett vs. Anthony Johnson (I like a lot)
Mike Swick vs. Thiago Alves (This one is a no-go.)
Middleweight:
Nate Marquardt vs. Kendall Grove (Kendall? really? Should be Henderson in my opinion.)
Thales Leites vs. Demian Maia Winners of these two bouts fight each other for title shot

Ricardo Almeida vs. Wilson Gouveia

Light Heavyweight
Luiz Cane vs. Keith Jardine
James Irvin (pending NSAC suspension) vs. Tim Boetsch

"They called him the axe-murderer because he was murdering chumps. They should have been calling him the chump-murderer..." Rampage Jackson (commentating on the fighting abilities of Wanderlei "F#ck Chuck" Silva.)

by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 17, 2008 4:50 AM EST reply actions

MIKE SWICK VS PAUL TAYLOR

Great call! Fireworks all over that, both have incredible hand speed

all you gotta do is...

by imapimp08 on Dec 17, 2008 9:44 AM EST up reply actions

I matched up Marquardt and Grove because I think Grove deserves a fight with a serious contender after dominating Evan Tanner so badly. In this case, I tried to act like Joe Silva might, instead of just doing what I wanted. I don’t think Silva is going to book a Marquardt-Leites rematch right now, and Henderson’s now tied up with a posible stint on TUF.

Of course if Frankling beats Henderson, I’d much rather see Hendo vs. Marquardt, but Bisping’s gotta figure into all these plans as well and Frankling surely can’t be fighting at 185 again vs. Bisping if they end up as opposite TUF coaches.

The middleweight division is admittedly a mess, so this was just my best guess and something that Joe Silva might do.

by Scott Haber on Dec 17, 2008 10:17 AM EST up reply actions

So glad you added Swick vs Taylor. Makes me proud. Overall, hopes Silva reads your post.

by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 18, 2008 6:50 AM EST up reply actions

i’d put roger huerta vs stephens.. Stephens will just be taken down by joe daddy then choked out.. At least in huerta vs stephens we’ll be in for a slugfest..

or stephens vs nover.. that’d be good too.

http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/

by Anton Tabuena on Dec 17, 2008 5:11 AM EST reply actions

plus, i dont think they’d put carwin vs dos santos because it’ll eliminate an up an comer right away.. Maybe down the road when both are established, so that the fight would sell good..

http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/

by Anton Tabuena on Dec 17, 2008 5:13 AM EST up reply actions

Stephens has showed excellent submission defense in recent fights vs. Cole Miller and Rafael Dos Anjos. I think he’d stand a decent chance at sprawling n’ brawling. Of course Joe Daddy’s takedowns are better than either of those other two guys but I still think it would be a competitive fight.

by Scott Haber on Dec 17, 2008 10:19 AM EST up reply actions

Bocek

would probably do the same thing to Nover that Efrain did

all you gotta do is...

by imapimp08 on Dec 17, 2008 9:46 AM EST reply actions

how about

Huerta vs Nover, is Nover ready for that step up?

all you gotta do is...

by imapimp08 on Dec 17, 2008 9:48 AM EST up reply actions

Consider that last season’s winner is still fighting low level newcomers. There is no way in hell that Nover is ready for a guy like Huerta. Personally, I think Nover is part of an overhyped machine. No fault of his own. All Dana there. Poor guy.

by lbk on Dec 17, 2008 10:05 AM EST up reply actions

“Personally, I think Nover is part of an overhyped machine”— Go back a year and you could put Huerta in there instead. But i agree, Nover isn’t ready for that fight yet.

Eliot Marshall: Bader won. Like I said in the episode, I'm not going to make any excuses. It's my job to be able to deal with when somebody's doing that. It's not his job to change up his tactics.

http://eliotmarshall.com/

by BJJDenver on Dec 17, 2008 3:27 PM EST up reply actions

Huerta had like 18 wins a year ago..

I never thought he was THAT good, but he’s def on anothe rlevel than Nover right now.

by lbk on Dec 18, 2008 10:30 AM EST up reply actions

No way…I’m not an Efrain-lover or anything, but his takedowns are far better than Bocek’s. Bocek is a wiz on the ground but his offense is based more on positions than submission. He couldn’t tap Doug Evans of all people, got pounded out by Frankie Edgar, and choked out by Mac Danzig.

Bocek’s just not very strong and only beats opponents who have mediocre wrestling and jiu jitsu…Escudero has shown excellent skills in both those areas.

by Scott Haber on Dec 17, 2008 10:22 AM EST up reply actions

I wasn't comparing them that deeply

Just that Bocek would fake the stand up! Efrain never looked like he really intended to trade, Nover really should have caught onto that during the fight!

all you gotta do is...

by imapimp08 on Dec 18, 2008 12:01 PM EST up reply actions

Whoops…I got confused and thought you were talking about a fight between Bocek and Escudero, not Bocek and Nover. I guess I should read my own fanposts more carefully ;)

by Scott Haber on Dec 18, 2008 4:50 PM EST up reply actions

My list

LW:
Huerta/Stevenson
Sherk/Sanchez
Penn/Florian
Edgar/Miller

Superfight: Penn/Sanchez
WW:
GSP/Alves
Swick/Johnson
Hazelett/Fitch

Superfight: GSP/Anderson at catchwright

MW:
Marquardt/Maia
Leites/Miller
Quarry/Leben
Rellijic/Grove
Bisping/Hendo/Franklin

LHW:
Wandy/Machida
Liddell/Anderson Silva
Thiago Silva/Forrest
Rampage/Evans
Boetch/Cane

Superfight: Anderson Silva/Wandy

HW:
Carwin/Gonzaga
Lesnar/Big Nog
Mir/Do Santos
Cain/Couture

Superfight: Liddell/Lesnar

by lbk on Dec 17, 2008 10:22 AM EST reply actions

Some interesting fights for sure, but...

Nate Marquardt vs. Kendall Grove – or Marquardt vs. Hendo if he loses to Franklin

Thales Leites vs. Demian Maia

Umm, Grove? No way. He was on his way out of the UFC before he beat Tanner, who was nowhere near the fighter he was a few years ago.

Personally, I would love to see Almeida vs Marquardt 2, then follow your plan.

Eliot Marshall: Bader won. Like I said in the episode, I'm not going to make any excuses. It's my job to be able to deal with when somebody's doing that. It's not his job to change up his tactics.

http://eliotmarshall.com/

by BJJDenver on Dec 17, 2008 3:30 PM EST reply actions