Best of the best?

After Saturday's amazing UFC card I realized something as Shogun Rua knocked Lyoto Machida out to become the new Light Heavyweight champion. I was truly watching the two best light heavyweights in the world compete to prove who was the best. Shogun proved to be the superior fighter but as I watched the belt wrapped around his waist I realized that this is possibly the only division that the absolute best were facing one another.

Looking at the title picture in other divisions there are dominate champions and decent challengers but nothing like Saturday's main event. I don't think there is another middleweight fighter that is as good as Anderson Silva, that doesn't mean he cannot lose there just isn't another fighter who you can look at and compare with Anderson. Even though Frankie Edgar just outpointed BJ Penn for an upset victory, I still think BJ is the number one lightweight fighter in the world. Brock Lesnar still has several challengers to tackle before I consider him the best. Then there is the welterweight king Georges St. Pierre, who hasn't fought someone who was a "world class" level welterweight since his second fight with Matt Hughes.

Other MMA promotions have their own champions but sadly no matter what, UFC will be the proving ground to prove you are the best in your division. Champions like Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez have destroyed their opponents but havent been truly tested by tough competitors as most fight in UFC. So what does the future hold? How long do we have to wait before another top of the food chain contest? I say the future holds a few options.

First and foremost Brock gets Shane Carwin, winner of that gets Cain Velazquez. That fight will prove who is the top in UFC, the winner from that could face Fedor to prove who is the most dominate heavyweight on the planet. As for Anderson Silva, a fight with Gegard Mousassi at 185 could be a good test, but I would rather see Anderson vacate his title and move to challenge Shogun at 205 for the belt, now that is a fight. With GSP there are a few of options, one that is closer to happening than the others. First Jake Shields will no doubt be signed by UFC and drop back down to 170 to make a run for the belt. With his wrestling and jiu jitsu he presents quite a threat if "Rush" takes him down, but has a few holes in his standup but none the less makes a compelling challenge. The other choice would be for Nick Diaz to crossover from Strikeforce for a shot. His standup and ground game make him a threat, but he has always struggled against decent wrestlers. The last would involve Yoshihiro Akiyama cutting to 170 to try for a title shot, one that I doubt would happen considering he is a fairly good fighter at 185 .Outside of these options I think Georges should move to middleweight and make a run for the belt. As for BJ Penn he gets a rematch with Edgar who I feel would be better suited to drop to 145 and challenge Jose Aldo for his featherweight belt. BJ's options at lightweight would be Eddie Alvarez or Gil Melendez.

Alot of this is wishful thinking yet I feel that these fights have a good chance of happening in the next few years.