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http://mmajunkie.com/news/16315/anderso ... anuary.mma

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (25-4 MMA, 10-0 UFC) will likely make his next title defense on Jan. 2 when he meets Vitor Belfort (19-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in the main event of UFC 108.

The Los Angeles Times first reported the matchup and cited UFC president Dana White as confirming the news.

A source close to one of the fighters told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that fight has been discussed but, as the report states, has not been signed.

UFC 108 takes place Jan. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Due to the holiday schedule, the pay-per-view event is technically considered the UFC's traditional year-end blockbuster show.

Although Silva claimed he was healthy, wanted to fight before year's end and shrugged off rumors of an elbow surgery, White said earlier this month that Silva would, in fact, go under the knife.

"Contrary to whatever the hell [Silva] is saying, he's not 200 percent healthy," White said. "He's having some bone spurs removed from his elbow, which is a simple little procedure that happens, but you've got to have recovery time."

I think the LA Times also "broke" the Fedor signing with the UFC story, so maybe this is jumping the gun, but it definitely seems like this is the fight the UFC wants to make next for Silva.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Henderson vs. Marquardt fight end up on this show if it's going to happen.

There's also been talk of Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva being on this card, but I think they will wait to see just how crazy Rampage is before putting Rashad in another fight.

I'd expect to see some other big names fill the undercard, because not only is Silva probably their lowest drawing champion, but I don't think we'll be seeing another title fight on the show.

That's cool

Steve Cofield also talks about this here: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewr ... mma,192224

But yeah, now they gotta get a fight for GSP asap!

At this point, it seems like Henderson and Belfort have had comparable success as of late, but by virtue of Hendo defeating Belfort back in the day and being in the UFC longer, I thought he should've had first dibs at the title shot. I'm hoping for the opposite outcome, but Belfort is going to get tooled. Send Vitor to Marquardt first.

Let Vitor get beat by Silva and let Hendo and Nate fight for the next title shot.

Although I do think Silva would outclass Vitor in a fight, people are so quick to discount Vitor's abilities...

From public perception feels like more people are giving Brett Rogers a chance of knocking out Fedor than Vitor getting past the 1st round against Silva :S

For the first time since he fought Hendo, I think Silva could lose.

Cammo101 wrote:For the first time since he fought Hendo, I think Silva could lose.

+1. I think the same thing when i think of both Shogun and Vitor. I feel like both could use one more fight before getting the champ, but i think both are fully capable of winning and are being totally overlooked. Cant wait to see what the odds are when they come out.

I'm hearing that Wanderlei Silva is fighting Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 108. Stay tuned for confirmation.
about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck
http://twitter.com/MMANation

Supposedly this guy is pretty reliable.

Yes!!! I called this elsewhere. I know it means little but i like personal victories lol. Sexyama goin down (hopefully)

I'm happy to see the Silva/Belfort fight get made, even if Belfort is jumping the line a bit, because it presents a fresh, interesting matchup for Silva, which we haven't seen in a while. At least not at MW (I thought Forrest was going to be a pretty big test...and just because Silva beat him so easily doesn't mean he wasn't).

I'm also excited to see the Wandy vs. Akiyama fight if it happens. I thought they might save that for a card in Japan somewhere down the line, but maybe that is too far away for the UFC to hold out. I think Akiyama takes it, and becomes a high profile guy following the fight.

Akiyama is getting this one. He's tough as nails from what we've seen from his last fight, and Silva's one tail end of the tail-end of his career if there is such a thing. His chin's been suspect for a while now.

Vitor Belfort vs Anderson Silva
Rashad Evans vs Thiago Silva
Joe Lauzon vs Sam Stout
Dan Henderson vs Nate Marquardt - Rumor
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Wanderlei Silva - Rumor

Hilltop wrote:Akiyama is getting this one. He's tough as nails from what we've seen from his last fight, and Silva's one tail end of the tail-end of his career if there is such a thing. His chin's been suspect for a while now.

Wandy is beyond done. He is just being used as a springboard for Sexiyama.

I really wish Sexiyama would drop to WW. He's much more suited to that weight, i think.

Sex would beat GSP IMO.

Well, i don't know about that. I'm sure it would be a great fight regardless though. And with the state of the WW division currently he would be on the short list of viable contenders. Actually i'd just give him the title shot instantly to let the rest of the division sort itself out, so we probably wouldn't need to wait that long to find out who'd win.

The more i think about it the more i like the idea. Too bad it's really unlikely to happen.

jTF2 wrote:Sex would beat GSP IMO.

I don't believe there's anyone on the planet who can beat GSP at 170. Sure a veteran Hughes got him early in his MMA career and he got caught by Serra, but he learned from his mistakes as the rematches showed. He won't lose again until age becomes a problem. His wrestling is the greatest weapon in all of MMA.

High 5 wrote:

jTF2 wrote:Sex would beat GSP IMO.

I don't believe there's anyone on the planet who can beat GSP at 170. Sure a veteran Hughes got him early in his MMA career and he got caught by Serra, but he learned from his mistakes as the rematches showed. He won't lose again until age becomes a problem. His wrestling is the greatest weapon in all of MMA.

I'll take the under. MMA is too erratic to think GSP will win forever. Especially since it wasn't all that long ago he lost to Matt Serra. Loses like that happen and 170 is too deep for GSP to roll through it like that.

He's already taken out the best 170 has to offer. Since losing to Serra he hasn't messed around and when he's in wrestling mode it's game over.

I don't think he'll win forever, but he's in his prime right now and there's not a fighter that matches up to him.

GSP will be the favourite in every fight he's in for the foreseeable future, but he's really not that much different a fighter from the GSP who lost to Serra.

He'll get caught again at some point.