What's ahead for Anderson Silva

Promoted to the front page and edited by Zak Woods.

What's next for the Anderson Silva?

We know that Anderson "The Spider" Silva is coming off a crushing knockout victory over Forrest Griffin but the ease, and dominance, with which Silva defeated the former light heavyweight champion created a great deal of speculation regarding the future for the current middleweight champion.

It appears his next fight will be at UFC 108 in January, but at what weight class is still a mystery. There was talk of "The Spider" moving up to 205lbs and giving up the middleweight belt but it seems that now appears to be a rumor. Recently Josh Gross wrote about Silva entertaining the idea of fighting heavyweights but that appears far from certain. For the moment let us assume that Silva will stay at middleweight while occasionally dabbling at 205lbs.

Let's take a look at the possible opponents for Silva at UFC 108.

Dan Henderson- He has already fought Silva at UFC 82 in a middleweight unification bought between the UFC and Pride champions. Henderson won the first round using solid wrestling and ground-and-pound though Anderson rebounding in round two submitting Dan.. Since Henderson loss, he has won three in a row recently beating Michael Bisping by a nasty KO at UFC 100.

Nate Marquardt- Also has fought Silva already at UFC 73 where he was lost via TKO in the first round. He'll be fighting next week at UFC 102 against Demian Maia.

Demian Maia- A winner of all 5 of his fights inside the Octagon by submission and is 10-0 for his career. He will be facing his toughest fight opponent yet in Nate Marquardt at UFC 102.

Yushin Okami- Actually has a win over Silva back in 2006 at ROTC 9. The fight ended with an illegal kick by Silva that disqualified him in the first round. A rematch has been close to happening several times but never coming to fruition. Okami is set to face  Chael Sonnen at UFC 104.

Wanderlei Silva- The two used to be friend's but that soured when Wanderlei moved to middleweight and a war of words started. He last fought at UFC 99 against Rich Franklin where he lost by unanimous decision.

Vitor Belfort- Hasn't fought in the UFC since his split Decision lost to Tito Ortiz in 2005. Is set to face Rich Franklin at UFC 103 at a catch-weight of 195lbs.

I think the Marquardt vs. Maia fight next week is the key here. If Maia wins I think he gets the first shot at the title. If Marquardt wins though I think he'll have to face Dan Henderson at UFC 106 or 108 with the winner getting  the title shot next. Both Okami and Belfort have fights coming up so a loss or injury would eliminate them. But If Belfort defeats Franklin at UFC 103 and Okami wins at UFC 104 the UFC will have two solid options for Silva should Maia lose to Marquardt. That leave only Wanderlei Silva who just had minor facial surgery and will be sidelined for a couple weeks. He'll likely be left off any fight card until the above plays out as a insurance policy. If Maia loses plus Okami and Belfort either lose or get injured the UFC can exercise said insurance policy for UFC 108.