Another one up, another one down. MMA's middleweight king solidified his top pound-for-pound status with his destructive second-round submission over Dan Henderson (Pictures). While the present talk of a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. may not be realistic, Silva's reign has been spectacular thus far. And like Jones' reign as king of the ring, many fans are left wondering who can beat "The Spider."
2. Paulo Filho (Pictures) (16-0-0)
His on-again, off-again rematch with Chael Sonnen (Pictures) was officially moved to June, following Filho's admission into rehab for substance abuse. Here's to a speedy recovery for the potent Brazilian, who reportedly suffered from depression as well.
3. Rich Franklin (Pictures) (22-3-0, 1 NC)
Following another destruction at the hands of Anderson Silva, Franklin will attempt to get back into the saddle in March against solid but unspectacular competition in Travis Lutter (Pictures). Like Franklin, Lutter has firsthand knowledge of the division's kingpin, having been another victim of Silva last February.
4. Nathan Marquardt (Pictures) (26-7-2)
With a dominant drubbing of Jeremy Horn (Pictures) now behind him, Marquardt will set his sights on once-beaten Brazilian Thales Leites (Pictures) in a June bout that has twice been postponed. If Marquardt wants to prove he deserves another crack at the UFC title after getting blown out by Anderson Silva in July, he'll need an impressive victory.
5. Robbie Lawler (Pictures) (16-4-0)
Injury nixed a proposed Dec. 15 bout in Icon Sport with Hawaiian banger "Kala Kolohe" Hose for the second time. However, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for Lawler. With Hose having just run roughshod over Phil Baroni (Pictures), more fans have taken notice, which bodes well for the interest in a Lawler-Hose clash in the near future.
6. Yushin Okami (Pictures) (22-4-0)
If Okami needed a dominant and decisive victory to really cement his place in the middleweight division, he's got it. Japan's best plus-155 product crashed former UFC champ Evan Tanner (Pictures)'s homecoming party with a nasty second-round knockout earlier this month. Given the controversial history between the two, a rematch with Anderson Silva would seem to be the most sensible fight, though Okami will be hard-pressed to score a second win over Silva.
7. Frank Trigg (Pictures) (16-6-0)
Not the most poignant victory in the world, "Twinkle Toes" made easy work of Edwin Dewees (Pictures) on the Dec. 15 HDNet Fights card. What's more important is that Jason "Mayhem" Miller knocked off Tim Kennedy (Pictures), setting up a quality rematch between the two fighters early next year. Their first encounter was the bout that brought Trigg back to prominence, as he literally stomped out MMA's cult hero in December 2006.
8. Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures) (10-1-0, 2 NC)
While there is much scrutiny around potential political motivations being the impetus for overturning Akiyama's bout with Kazuo Misaki (Pictures), the fact remains that the governing powers overturned the bout. However deserved, Akiyama moves ahead of Misaki and takes the eighth spot following the invalidation of his loss. For the sake of propriety, hopefully a rematch happens down the line.
9. Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) (18-8-2, 1 NC)
Talk about a rollercoaster: After his improbable and arguably tainted Pride Grand Prix run in 2006, Misaki began 2007 with high hopes and was instead destroyed by Frank Trigg (Pictures). Misaki then appeared to turn in a performance that embodied the brand of gameness he's known for, getting up from a brutal knockdown to put Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures) to sleep in vicious fashion. Akiyama protested, though, alleging that Misaki finished with an illegal soccer kick. The result was overturned and the win erased.
10. Jorge Santiago (Pictures) (16-7-0)
The Brazilian seemed relegated to gatekeeper status after being ousted from the UFC on two losses. Since then Santiago has went on a four-fight win streak, including respectable wins over Jeremy Horn (Pictures) and Andrei Semenov (Pictures) anchored by a fantastic win over the ever-tough Trevor Prangley (Pictures) to capture Strikeforce's one-night tournament in November.