Marquardt vs. Maia should be the people's choice
After their wins on Saturday, both Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt have staked their claims on the next title fight at middleweight, after Anderson Silva presumably disposes of Thales Leites at UFC 97. But looking at both their records, shouldn't they need to get through each other first?
Since Marquardt last had a shot at Silva, he has wins over Wilson Gouveia, Martin Kampmann and Jeremy Horn, plus a loss to Leites. Maia is undefeated, with wins over Chael Sonnen, Nate Quarry and Jason MacDonald. Neither fighter's resume is so glowing that you look at it and think, "TITLE SHOT!"
Wouldn't the perfect solution to that be a fight with ... let's say ... each other? Marquardt's striking against Maia's submissions sounds like a fun time to me. The fight could happen in June/July, just a short time after the Silva/Leites bout, setting up another title fight for the middleweight belt before the end of the year. This sets up the most exciting set of fights for a middleweight division that has been stagnated by the success of Anderson Silva.
