Should the UFC make the fight between Wanderlei Silva and Brian Stann next?

With much debate going on over the course of the last week about whether former WEC light heavyweight champion, Brian Stann deserves a crack at MMA royalty, Wanderlei Silva in his next octagon outing, we just thought we’d throw up a poll and see whether it’s a landslide one way or the other…

Stann has put on a couple of impressive performances to date inside the octagon since dropping to 185 pounds, the last of which came at UFC 125 on January 1st where he stopped the unstoppable, Chris Leben in the very first round no less. Leben was seemingly in the running to face Wanderlei next, along with Chael Sonnen before his suspension, so why shouldn’t the former U.S. Marine leapfrog “The Crippler” with no other possible opponent on the horizon for “The Axe Murderer”? Surely a fight against someone who is winning fights at 185 pounds is better than a fight against someone who has just lost, especially when you’re looking to legitimise your place in the title hunt.

The thing is many fans see Wanderlei as a god from the days of PRIDE and they only want to see him fight the elite fighters at which ever weight he chooses to compete at. Why should the Brazilian legend be dealing with someone who couldn’t hack it at 205 pounds (pot calling the kettle black) and has no real name for himself, when there is seemingly nothing to gain from it. Also you have to consider that Wanderlei has been stopped decisively more than once of late and with Stann possessing the kind of knockout power that put Leben in his place, it makes for a very difficult fight for Silva. Anyway, enough talk.