Without a doubt Anderson Silva has been looking much sharper than his fellow Brazilian Paulo Filho as of lately.  Interestingly enough, it was almost a Team Quest fighter who derailed Filho, but Filho remains undefeated having leapt the  great divide between PRIDE and the WEC, bridging it with still a perfect record.

Although Anderson does not hold a perfect record, he has been in a perfect roll winning his last eight in a row since submitting to Ryo Chonan, with the exception of a disqualification loss against none other than Yushin Okami, the man who seems should be next in line for the title shot.  But rumor has it that the octagon's prez doesn't find his style pleasing enough, although it can't be denied that it is effective.  Yushin Okami is a very dangerous and large opponent for Anderson, and he could very likely smother his flames and keep him grounded towards a five round victory.  Instead Zuffa has made a very tactful and diplomatic decision by bringing on one of the most popular fighters to grace the PRIDE stage, Dan Henderson.  And indeed it does make sense to let Henderson have a shot at Silva's belt which would make Hollywood the biggest MMA belt holder in the world, having already walked away from Japan with the light heavyweight and middleweight belts, which can now never be challenged.

Yushin Okami's only loss in the Octagon is a decision loss to Rich Franklin.

Although both these men once lurked upon that stage called PRIDE, never did they meet in a roped fight.  At that time Dan Henderson was too busy fighting the big men in the PRIDE heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions.  Meanwhile Anderson Silva had already departed from the PRIDE stage to the UK's Cage Rage and quickly marked his territory in his new environment by taking the Middleweight Belt.

Now many years later these two top tier MMA veterans will meet in the biggest MMA show currently in the land, and for Dan Henderson it will be a dangerous encounter against a younger veteran who is on a rapid-fire roll and who can finish with submissions knees and elbows. Out of his last nine fights only three have even gone into the second round, having finished all the others in the first.

Team Quest super star Dan Henderson is extremely dangerous in his own right having competed among the big men for quite awhile, posing a dangerous ground game and equally dangerous dirty boxing, clinching, and obviously grappling game.  Of course we also cannot forget that Henderson took out Wanderlei Silva in the  final chapter of PRIDEUSA, perhaps the biggest upset aside from teammate Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou who took out Antonio Rogeiro Nogueira as well as Ricardo Arona in no time flat.  Considering that the African Judo-ka has recently entered upon an agreement with Zuffa, it is probably the perfect timing for Henderson to move down a weight class since he is now near the winter of his MMA career.  If Hollywood can't finish Anderson, then Zuffa has to give up their "favorite fighters" status and let the next man on deck have a shot at the title.  That man is indeed Yushin Okami, no matter how "dull" his "American ground n pound style" is.  As I have mentioned before, the UFC desperately needs to apply a ranking system in order to create great contenders.  Right now the pecking order seems extremely random and subjectively favorable to certain "popular" fighters.  Of course popular fighters bring in greater fans and thus revenues, but the caliber of fighters is certainly subject to speculation.  Instead of fully developed martial artists, we are now being inundated by mid-level talent, which is far from fully developed.

I definitely understand the reasons for this match up, since Dan Henderson and  Anderson Silva are surely vintage Alpha fighters.  Their talent is so highly developed and their skills so experimented, that as a fan one cannot help but be  excited.  After all, if Okami did get the  shot and were to smother Anderson, the people in charge would not be very  happy.  Now lets see if Okami winds up being exiled the same way Matt Lindland once was from the octagon.  Or maybe Dana can apply the "PRIDE style pressure", such as was enforced upon a pioneer like Guy Mezger, who completely changed his style for the sake of the fans and pure excitement.