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by Kendall Shields

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Would it be fair to say that Dana White is sometimes given to hyperbole? Not that you can fault him for it: the man is a promoter; he’s likely to, you know, promote. Sometimes — like when he tries to convince you, the UFC 82 Countdown viewer (watch it online in three parts), that this weekend’s Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo bout is indicative of how “the heavyweight division’s never been more exciting than it is right now” — you know it’s bullshit, you’re sure he knows it’s bullshit, and you’ve got to think that he knows that you know it’s bullshit. It’s really not that hard to remember more exciting times in the UFC heavyweight division. Like, say, a year ago, when Randy Couture came out of retirement to challenge Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight championship? Or when, a few months later, Couture defended it against a young challenger who had just shockingly upset a Mirko Cro Cop we all thought was still among the most dangerous fighters in the world? Or when it looked like the UFC had a legitimate shot at making a Randy Couture/Fedor Emilianenko fight a reality? It’s not that the heavyweight division is completely dead now that Couture has walked away from it — Brock Lesnar is uncommonly promising, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s submission win over Tim Sylvia was sweet relief — but to suggest that the heavyweight division has never been more exciting is obviously nonsense. You know that, Dana White knows that, but still it gets said. And again, that’s fine: promoters promote.

But in that same Countdown show, White states unequivocally that Anderson Silva is not only the top 185lbs fighter in the world, but indeed the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighter as well. This weekend’s bout between Anderson Silva and (sort of) Pride champion Dan Henderson, then, is set to determine not just the best 185 pounder in the UFC, but the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world, White tells us — he says this directly, not just by implication.

And maybe he’s right.

Silva has topped the last two Yahoo! Sports MMA Top 10 rankings, and Sherdog feels the same way. As mentioned previously on this site, I have at least the usual amount of regard (maybe more!) for non-binding, utterly inconsequential lists of who would be the best fighter if everybody was the same size. And however strange it might initially seem to argue that the champion of one of the UFC’s weaker divisions is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Anderson Silva’s leisurely stroll through the UFC’s 185-pounders, hardly breaking a sweat en route to devastating wins over top talents like Rich Franklin and Nate Marquardt (and solid second-tier fighters in Leben and Lutter) is simply impossible to ignore. Silva is almost certainly as deserving of that number one overall ranking as any other active fighter. A win over Dan Henderson, a solid top ten pound-for-pounder by anyone’s measure, would only prove to solidify that ranking further. As Dana White says, again in that same Countdown show, if Silva wins this fight, it’s hard to imagine anyone giving him any trouble at 185 pounds. Silva has four losses on his record to avenge, but, provided Silva could get past Henderson, would anyone seriously doubt the outcome of rematches with Yushin Okami (their first match cut short by DQ) or, I mean, Daiju Takase? It’s a shame Ryo Chonan didn’t look any better in his UFC debut against Karo Parisyan, as he could have been built for a Silva rematch. Perhaps he still can be. And maybe Luiz Azeredo could be convinced to pack on some pounds. But all of those fight would be about of settling accounts, rather than Silva proving himself against the best in the world.

But what if Henderson wins? What if Henderson is able to keep Silva on his back — where Silva is merely “very good” instead of “absolutely devastating,” as he is in other stages of the game — and Henderson manages to grind out a decision? What if Henderson manages to connect with a big right hand, as he did against Wanderlei Silva (not that Wanderlei was the first), and get the stoppage? Neither of those outcomes are at all outside the realm of possibility. Setting aside the question of what a Henderson win over Anderson Silva would mean for pound-for-pound rankings (CHAOS~), what would it mean for the 185-pound division on the whole?

Unfortunately, with the exception of maybe a Franklin/Henderson bout, the only real competition to be found for either Henderson or Silva at middleweight is currently outside the UFC. In the case of, say, the WEC’s Paulo Filho, who is under contract with Zuffa, that distinction is trivial; in the case of Kazuo Misaki, Yoshihiro Akiyama, or Matt Lindland, far less so.

Filho, who seemed like a world-beater in Pride, including his submission wins over Misaki and Chonan, has seemed flat and not at all himself in his two stateside appearances against Joe Doerkson and Chael Sonnen. Whether that’s because he’s adjusting to the cage or to drug testing, who knows? But while the Filho who was undefeated through 2006 seemed like a tough match-up for any top middleweight, that hardly seems the case at this point.

The inconsistent Misaki’s awkward style gave Henderson fits in both losing and winning efforts against Henderson. How long the upstart World Victory Road promotion will be around is anyone’s guess, but it would seem that in the near future there would be no real chance of a Henderson/Misaki III (or a Silva/Misaki I, for that matter). Surely Misaki’s value is greater in Japan than it would be to the UFC, particularly after his star-making performance against Yoshihiro Akiyama, in which Misaki’s post-match dressing down of Akiyama was almost as intense as the fight itself. Akiyama’s improved relationship with FEG (in that they’re willing to use the guy now, at least) and that company’s ambitious plans for their Hero’s/Pride fusion DREAM promotion suggest that Akiyama isn’t going anywhere, either.

Matt Lindland, though, is clearly the middleweight outside the UFC with the best claim to being at or near the top of the division. In the nearly three years since being unceremoniously dumped by the UFC in a strange sponsorship decision that many at the time interpreted as being more about protecting Rich Franklin than anything else, Lindland has been extremely impressive — in defeat more so than in victory, strangely enough. Wins over Schembri, Leopoldo, Van Arsdale, and the 2007 version of Carlos Newton are all well and good, and a win over Jeremy Horn is a win over Jeremy Horn, but it was Lindland’s narrow decision loss to Quinton Jackson in a match that really could have gone either way, and his strong showing against Fedor (has anyone ever looked better in a three-minute loss?) that have solidified Lindland’s reputation in his post-UFC career. Not that we would ever see see Lindland/Henderson, in all likelihood (TQ Portland vs TQ California?), but Lindland/Silva has to be near the top of any fan’s wish list. But with the half-announcement of his three-fight, big-money deal apparently with a new Golden Boy-backed promotion, there’s no chance of Lindland back in the UFC anytime soon, if ever. “Everybody makes a big deal about not fighting in the UFC,” Lindland told MMA Weekly. “I can tell you, I signed a contract and my first fight I’m going to make more than I made in like six fights in the UFC. The most I ever made in the UFC with the win bonus and the show money was $36,000. ”

Remember that when Dana White tells you there’s no one left out there for Anderson Silva to fight, or that the heavyweight division — without Randy Couture, with no sign of Fedor — is the most exciting it’s ever been.