Middleweight Mash-Up

Anderson Silva kicked Vitor Belfort in the face, and with that put to bed any doubt about who the best middleweight in the world is.  Unless GSP moves up a weight class to take on the Spider in a superfight, there may not be a significant challenger to the UFC middleweight for a while.  However, at the same time, the middleweight is currently a breeding ground for some potentially epic match-ups that could result in ballistic knockouts.

The next notable middleweight clash will be between Wanderlei "Axe Murderer" Silva and Chris "Crippler" Leben at UFC 132.  And, although this will likely end in a bloody stoppage or KO, this is only the tip of the iceberg in the division.

• Brian Stann v. Michael Bisping: The "All American" against the British badboy.  Both are well-rounded fighters.  Both can end fights with their fists.  Both are hungry and on the rise.   Now that Bisping has crushed Rivera and Stann made minced-meat of Leben, they are on a collision course.
• Yushin Okami v. Vitor Belfort: Okami may be next in line for a shot at Anderson's belt.  However, talk of the GSP-Silva superfight has overshadowed Okami's rise.  A thrilling pit stop on his way to the championship would be a roll with the Phenom.  Okami has only been stopped once in his life, way back in 2003.  If anyone is up to the task, it is Vitor who has perhaps the fiercest fists in the division.
• Nate Marquardt v. Mark Munoz: Munoz is riding high after his first-round knockout of C.B. Dolloway.  Marquardt rebounded from his loss to Okami with a dominant decision over Dan Miller.  Both of these guys can end fights in a hurry.  Marquardt has stopped Rousimar Palhares, Demian Maia and Martin Kampmann.  Munoz proved the same against Dolloway and Kendall Grove in recent fights.

Unfortunately, there aren't many big fights that haven't already taken place in the Strikeforce middleweight division.  We've see an exhaustive round robin of battles among Jacare Lawler, Robbie Lawler, Renato Sobral, Mayhem, Shields, and even Hendo.  But the UFC is ripe and ready.