Cofield-
I know we all like to bash u; but whatever ur doing with the raw vegas clips, please keep posting those- they're the only ones I can get on my computer @ work. Now, that being said...
why should Machida have to go through Wandy before he sniffs a title shot? So, if Machida beats Silva, who is 3rd or 4th (at best) in line for a shot, then he deserves it? Or if Wandy beats Machida, then Wandy deserves a shot for beating a guy u say isn't even close enough to sniff it? That matchmaking makes no sense to me. I think if Machida can beat a top guy coming off a win (like Thiago Silva at 94, for example), then he deserves a shot. As of right now, based purely on matchmaking and a matter of who "deserves" it, I'd give the next LtHvyWt. title shot to the winner of Machida/Silva. But realistically, for ppv buys- they'll prob. be have like, Rampage vs. Liddell (2 big $$$ guys who aren't even close to deserving another shot), and the winner of that fight gets Evans sometime in late summer of '09.
I'm not a big Rampage fan, but I give him props for the win. And I'd totally go for the Silva vs. Silva matchup at MdlWt.; but I still think Wandy should have to get a couple of wins at MdlWt. to earn it. And how could Anderson coach TUF, without speaking english? Besides, I heard something about a UK team on the next TUF, with Bisping as a coach; so if Anderson Silva coaches the same season, it'd be (for some reason) Bisping vs. Silva for the MdlWt. title?

I also don't think Lyoto needs to find someone like Wanderlei in order to "deserve" a title shot. He owns wins over Rich Franklin, Stephen Bonnar, and Tito Ortiz (maybe not as big, but still). I understand the business side of things but putting him against Thiago Silva is great for us hardcore fans, but does nothing to push him as a contender. Why not match him against bigger draws on a larger undercard (the way this next fight should have been designed) and give him an opportunity to gain recognition.
I actually wouldn't mind Anderson Silva coaching b/c Nog did a good job last season and they need to display him to the public more. Maybe they just show more training footage and less banter by Silva and that will open some more casual fans' eyes.

depaul_fan-
I'd love to see Anderson Silva as a TUF coach; and def. agree that he needs more exposure- he's the best the UFC (and prob. mma in general) has to offer right now. Nog did a great job; but he speaks decent (broken, but decent) english. As far as I know- Anderson doesn't speak english at all. So I think the language barrier would be tuf (pun intended... sorry, couldn't resist) to overcome...

Jackson wants to fight Griffin and avenge is loss. I don't think a lot of people would be jumping for Griffin/Jackson 4

darkness i'm pretty sure the winner of hendo/franklin will take the other spot as coach on TUF opposite bisping.....which is why i don't get why people are even mentioning those guys in the 205lb title race, neither of them should be at that weight IMO anyway

Yeah, I understand why Franklin is moving to 205. For him, it makes sense, because he obviously can't be the MW champ. But Hendo is good at 185. Yeah, he lost to Silva, but he also arguably won the first round against him, which is more than most of Silva's opponents can claim. I hope he moves back to MW after he beats Franklin.
As for the title shot, Machida has deserved it since his victory against Ortiz i.m.o. When he t.k.o.s Silva next month, he will certainly deserve it, and I hope they give it to him before Rampage.

the machida-silva fight should be the next in line for the title. remember in the ufc you dont need to beat any gate keepers or anyone special to fight for titles(ala brock lesnar). that being said, Douchbag White wont make it happen cuz it dont make business sense. the winner of the Machida-Silva fight is obviously the next deserving title contender. also both griffin and evans cruised into title shots by only winning one fight. that only happens becuz they are Whiteys boys from TUF.

Machida should definitely get a title shot if he beats Thiago Silva.
He beat Ortitz with ease while current champ Rashad got a draw by Tito holding the fence when he didn't have too.
Machida would bore Evans to death and make him twist his titties off and get the decision.

OH I get it, Wandy wants the record vs. Page to be symmetrical. As in 2-2.

adolfo-
While I agree with u that the winner of Machida/Thiago Silva prob. deserves the next title shot at LtHvyWt., I also know that mma (especially the ufc) is a business, and Dana White is gonna do whatever makes him and the ufc the most $$$. That's why I think a Rampage/Griffin rematch makes sense. Griffin won the title (by questionable decision, some say) from Rampage, but is now coming off a loss and needs a major win to get back in contention; Rampage is coming off a big win over Wandi; but lost the title to Griffin in his previous fight- so he should have to avenge that loss before being put back into contention. And both are big draws, so we'll end up with a worthy contender, and evil Dana will still make his $$$. So I'd give the first shot to the winner of Machida/Silva, then the next one to the winner of Griffin/Rampage.
I also don't know exactly why Franklin/Henderson (at 93) is a LtHvyWt. fight; I haven't heard or read anything about either of them being considered for a LtHvyWt. title shot. And it would seemingly make more sense for the winner of Franklin/Henderson to coach opposite Bisping on TUF, with the winner of the TUF coaches' showdown facing Anderson Silva for the MdlWt. title. Either that, or have Silva coach opposite Bisping to promote a title fight, thus giving Silva more exposure he deserves, as well as pushing Bisping as the big star, and possible MdlWt. contender they seem to be wanting to make him (don't know why?) Personally, I'd like to see Hendo get another shot at Silva, as he seems to have been Silva's best challenge thus far...

BTW, adolfo-
since u brought up Brock Lesnar not beating anybody special to fight for the HvyWt. title, I have to make a point to defend Lesnar. Brock beat Randy Couture in only his 4th pro mma fight to win the HvyWt. title; Randy beat Maurice Smith in only his 4th pro fight to win his first ufc HvyWt. championship- so I guess he didn't deserve it at the time either, right? Brock dominated Heath Herring (one of the so-called "gatekkepers") before KOing "Captain America"; and before that, he dominated the former champ Mir, before losing by rookie mistake (Mir even stated in the post fight that he thought he was finished 30 secs. into the fight, and just got lucky when the ref made the questionable call of standing them up, for no apparant reason). And Lesnar's credentials- his ncaa championships and incredible 106-5 collegiate record, as well as his phenomenal athleticism- are what actually got him to the ufc. So was Lesnar given a title shot cuz of his marketability?- Definitely! But did he deserve it any less than any other HvyWt. in the UFC (excluding Mir and Nogueria, who were already involved with TUF, and training for their interim championship fight)- No! Who deserved it more: Gonzaga is impressive; but considering that anyone other than major mma fans have prob. never heard of him, I doubt Couture/Gonzaga would've sold 1.5 mil. ppv buys; or maybe the winner of Carwin/Gonzaga (ufc 96) could then be in line for a shot at the winner of Lesnar/Mir; but neither are big name main-eventers yet. BTW- I do think Mir looked alot better against Nog than he did against Lesnar; and I'm actually looking forward to that fight now, as Mir has def. earned my respect the past couple of months. And I don't think Brock will be able to run Mir over like he did before. Mir finally seems to be back to 100% (both physically and mentally), and Lesnar no longer has the element of surprise in his favor... but he's still a big powerful monster of a man with unreal athleticism for a man his size, unmatched hvywt. wrestling, and KO power- so that could be a hell of a fight.

Darkness, now it makes sense..just like the the BCS Standings...

Wasnt it Bisbing who admitted he wasent ready for the Spider after his three round jab clinic over Leban?? why not a loyota-thiago fight I think that would be great, I also see why they would want Machida to fight wandy first, there is something about his style most people don't appreciate yet..he's not your typical stand up and trade banger, the walking train wreck..He's a very thechnical fighter with great movement and equally good takedown defense...they probably want to justify his legitamacy by notching a few more wins..that's all...In my opinion that is...I also would be very curious to see the outcome of a Machida-Evans fight both guys are very talented with amazing athletic abilities Rashad more so, But Machida is very elusive and can pose a frustrating threat by not being the over agressor that Evans is awsome at making pay, He also has great strength and i'd really lke to see if machida can actually negate rashads wrestling...

I'm sure I'm not going to be the only one who has said it but, WHY would Machida need to take Wandy before the title shot? Machida has beaten EVERYONE ever put in front of him. Including several of the biggest names in MMA. White, Franklin, Penn, Bonnar, Ortiz, he's beaten K1 stars in Michael McDonald, and Sam Greco, in an MMA format, and DESTROYED Sokoudjou who was SUPPOSED to knock him out in Wanderlei fashion.
It's ridiculous. Enough with the B.S. Machida has earned his shot. The powers that be just don't think he's enough of a draw to want him in that LH championship spot.
What's even worse are all you sports writers, who are already on staff for boxing or whatever, who watch a couple MMA matches, then become the MMA "expert". You never know what you're talking about, and talk out of your a!@#$s. I can't wait for the day when MMA is important enough to sites like Yahoo, or AOL, or MSN, to warrant them going out and finding actual MMA "experts".