And The Sweepstakes Winner is.........

("Do you really want to huuurt me, do you really wanna make me cry")

Damian Maia will step in to challenge Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in Abu Dhabi in April the UFC announced yesterday. Maia, whom I thought was out of the running due to an eyelid laceration suffered against Dan Miller, will take the fight on two months notice to try to dethrone the 185lb kingpin. Maia has already stated that he would be lying if he said he was going to try to stand with Silva. The match-up is being billed as "MMA's Best Striker vs. MMA's Best Grappler" which is a billing that I can live with. With Vitor out for most of the year from his shoulder surgery we will have to wait a while to see him up against Silva or whomever is holding the title if he is to keep his spot in the 185lb pecking order. Chael Sonnen in the mean time looks to be the next up at bat for the belt after this contest is decided. Dana White had the following to say about the match-up of Brazilians:

“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over DanMiller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”

With Vitor Out of UFC 112, Silva is Left With Few Options

Vitor Belfort is out of the much anticipated title fight with fellow Countryman Anderson Silva due to a shoulder injury suffered in training. With Chael Sonnen now being the number one contender for the shot at the MW Title, can he be ready in time for the proposed date of April 10th? Chael was issued a 30 day suspension by the NSAC due to the laceration on his forehead from an upward elbow from the Nate Marquardt fight last 't weekend. Sonnen has spoke on his training regimen before and after UFC 109 saying that he doesn't just hit the pads or drill wrestling, but he actually fights in camp which is going to be an unlikely scenario, at least until that cut heals. With Nate Marquardt just being dominated for three rounds by Sonnen, his name is not at the top of the list and Dan Henderson is no where for comment now that he is with Strikeforce. Other than Chael, there are no fighters that could step in and be considered challengers for the Middleweight belt. A rematch with Patrick Cote could be set up now that the Canadian is recovered from his injury, but would anyone really want to see that match? Not me personally. Cote is the only person that believes he would have beat the Champion had his knee not blown out in the third round. Yushin Okami has been waiting for his shot at Silva in a bout that should have happened a long time ago, but due to his lack of marketability and recent loss to Sonnen it is unlikely that he will be called on for the job. More than likely Silva will have to dip his toes back into the waters of the Light-Heavyweight division for one fight, or his title fight will need to be rescheduled if Sonnen can't compete by April 10th. If the latter is to happen, at least the Abu-Dhabi card still has BJ Penn defending his title and a match-up of legends in Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie.