is there are really only "easy" fights for Anderson. M

TSN.cas MMA staff, including John Pollock - TSN Radio 1050 (@iamjohnpollock), James Lynch - TSN.ca (@lynchonsports), and Jordan Cieciwa - TSN Radio 1290 (@FitCityJordan), take a look at some of the hottest issues in the world of mixed martial arts. 1) After losing his title at UFC 162, where does Anderson Silva rank now on the MMA Pound-for-Pound list? Lynch: I have Silva ranked in the third spot behind Jon Jones and Georges St-Pierre. Aside from his DQ mishap against Matt Hamill, Jones, the 25-year-old light heavyweight champion, has dismantled all of his opponents with ease and has fought better competition than Silva (including five former title holders) and easily takes the top spot. The Canadian St-Pierre suffered a similar blemish on his record in an upset loss to Matt Serra at UFC 69 back in 2007, however he has gone undefeated since that time. Pundits will point out Silva has finished more opponents than GSP, however, the Tri-Star fighter (similar to Jones) fought better competition which is why he earns the second spot. The Montreal native has dismantled the likes of Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves and Josh Koscheck in their prime. Meanwhile, nine of Silvas last 13 opponents are either out of the UFC or have left the middleweight division. Pollock: I feel he will slip somewhat in peoples minds but not by a large margin. The quality of opponents he has victories over coupled with the fact that many would still favor Silva in a rematch with Chris Weidman probably leaves Silva number two behind Jones at the moment. There is a world of difference between watching someone grow old in front of your eyes and taken apart over the course of five-rounds as opposed to Silvas loss where he was caught and stopped. JC: Silva is still number two. Jones has been such a dominant force that he has to be seen as number one. Silva comes in second thanks to the fact that his winning streak was so long. There really is no question that Silva beat all the competition the UFC put in front of him. Unfortunately, he lost to a lower level opponent in Weidman, that will always be on his record. But the fact is, Silva went years mistake free and made some of the top level fighters look foolish. Not too many people can snap kick KO Vitor Belfort. St-Pierre doesnt finish fights. He wins, but he doesnt finish. GSP is the most dominate athlete out there, but I cant get on the bandwagon. I want a champion who is deadly. Thats Jones and Silva. 2) Which is a bigger upset, Weidman over Silva at UFC 162 or Serra over St-Pierre at UFC 69? Lynch: Serra scored the bigger upset (who interestingly enough trains Weidman in New York) because he won Season 4 of the Ultimate Fighter (to earn a title shot) and leapfrogged a number of worthy contenders at the time to fight GSP. Weidmans undefeated record only justified the hype surrounding the buildup to his title shot against Silva. With that said, the Brazilian looked unstoppable prior to this fight going a perfect 16-0 in the UFC. However the main reason he suffered this knockout loss was due to his cockiness (leaving his hands down) and really set him up for failure. Not to say Weidman doesnt deserve credit for his victory, but Serra hardly had any supporters when he shocked the world back in 2007. Pollock: Without a doubt I place the Matt Serra win over St-Pierre as more stunning at UFC 69. Going into that fight the only fighter I can recall going on record predicting a Serra victory was Randy Couture and as we learned since that fight it was a bout that St-Pierre didnt take seriously enough, only began training a couple of days in advance for, which led to the metamorphosis of his career into the fighter we see today. In the case of Weidman he was favored among numerous industry experts, he had a style that was very conducive to shutting down Silva as he had experienced problems with wrestlers in the past and was a much more fathomable prediction to accept than Serra defeating St-Pierre in 2007. JC: The bigger upset by far was Weidman. Weidmans record, who he has faced, did not warrant the hype around him. Silva handed him the belt, the win, and everything with it. Serras win wasnt due to a champ showboating, it was a win from one of the grittiest fighters to ever enter the UFC. Serra didnt cave to all the pressure of the dominant GSP, and when it counted he threw a bomb of an upper cut and won the fight. My opinion on this may change if Weidman can string together a few defences. I just see Weidman as very opportunistic. Right place, right time, and a cocky champion who didnt seem to care about being the man anymore. 3) Who should Anderson Silva fight next? Lynch: It was certainly bizarre seeing the former middleweight champion acting overly cocky, dropping his hands and taunting Weidman at UFC 162. Weve seen similar antics against Thales Leites and Demian Maia in the past, but this time the outcome was different as the 38-year-old suffered his first loss (excluding a DQ against Yushin Okami) since December 31, 2004. Being that it was his first UFC loss, many pundits want to see a rematch with Weidman later this year. I disagree and believe this rewards his unsportsmanlike behavior should the former champ earn a second shot at Weidman immediately. Personally, Id like to see Vitor Belfort fight the middleweight champion next; hes dispatched two top contenders (in Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold) and stylistically this would be an exciting matchup. A name that hasnt been thrown around as an opponent for the Brazilian is Gegard Mousasi, who recently hinted at a drop to middleweight. The Armenian fighter hasnt really been tested and even if he suffers a loss against the former champion, it would give the UFC a good indication of where he fits in with the promotion. Pollock: If the rematch is possible and Silva is willing to fight for the title again, that has to be the fight you put together. The rematch will be so much bigger than the first fight because the public knows who Weidman is, people will not be questioning if he is a legitimate threat or not and you have Silva in the challengers role for the first time since 2006, not to mention many will favor Silva in a rematch and makes for a great dynamic. I truly believe Silva will see the positives of what is to be gained by fighting Weidman again and taking into account he will get a nice back end of a pay-per-view that could approach a million buys and maybe more if marketed properly. On the flip side if Silva is adamant in not fighting for the title and wants to have fun fights then it becomes trickier as a matchmaker because you need to book him in fights that will draw to make it worth the while of the UFC to be paying Silva as much as they do as well as not relegating him to fights where he kills off contenders. Michael Bisping comes to mind, Nick Diaz jumping up to 185 pounds and finally fighting Silva will gain my interest but Im optimistic of the rematch with Weidman being the fight we see Silva take part in next. JC: If you lose the belt due to arrogance, and if you publicly say you arent that upset, you dont get a rematch. There are plenty of athletes who would kill for the shot at the title. The problem I see, is there are really only "easy" fights for Anderson. My thinking is thats what he wanted. He has a solid deal with Nike, and the UFC. Id love to see Dan Henderson get in there and try to earn back the choke out loss. I dont think Henderson loses twice to Silva. Put pride on the line, and we may see an excellent match up. I dont think Silva cared about having the belt anymore. He clearly wasnt fighting to keep it. I do think he would fight to win against Hendo, or a fight that has his pride on the line. Next fight I want to see, Belfort vs. Weidman. That fight, and a win for Weidman will tell the MMA world he is for real. Agree or Disagree? Leave your comments below or hit us up on Twitter. Cheap Babe Ruth Jersey .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Cheap MLB Jerseys .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. http://www.cheapbravesjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-phil-niekro-jersey . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Cheap Hank Aaron Jersey . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. Cheap John Smoltz Jersey . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. DETROIT -- Michael Fulmer is one of the biggest reasons the Detroit Tigers are still in the mix for a postseason spot.At the start of the teams final homestand, the rookie right-hander came through with his sharpest performance in weeks.Fulmer pitched seven strong innings for his first win in over a month and the Detroit Tigers homered three times in an 8-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night. Justin Upton, Victor Martinez and Cameron Maybin went deep for the Tigers, who won their fifth game in a row to remain in the lead in the race for the ALs second wild card.Detroit remained a half-game ahead of Baltimore, which beat Arizona in 12 innings.I think theres a little bit of a sense of urgency now, Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. This is our last homestand. This is the last chance at home to try and do something in the standings, and were playing against two teams ... in Kansas City and Cleveland, we know very well. Maybe I was the only one that felt it, but I felt there was more energy.Fulmer (11-7) allowed a run and eight hits, striking out nine with no walks. It was the first victory since Aug. 14 for Fulmer, who emerged around midseason as a Rookie of the Year candidate but is now having to fight off a torrid challenge from Gary Sanchez of the New York Yankees.Danny Duffy (12-3) allowed six runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out four.The Tigers jumped ahead right away against Duffy. The Royals made two errors in the first inning, and Uptons RBI double made it 2-0.Martinez and Upton each hit solo shots in the third, and Maybins two-run homer in the fourth made it 6-0.Upton has 27 homers on the season, including 14 in his last 29 games.Kansas City has loost nine of its last 12.ddddddddddddDISPUTED CHALLENGEKansas Citys only run off Fulmer came after replay overturned the second out of an apparent double play, which would have ended the top of the sixth. Ausmus complained to the umpires, saying the Royals had waited too long before challenging.I said I wanted to protest, which, even going into it, when I said it, I knew instant replay wasnt protestable, Ausmus said.After the review revived the rally, Paulo Orlando hit an RBI single.ON THE BORDERLINEFulmer is the ALs ERA leader at 2.95 -- his 155 2/3 innings are enough to qualify at this point. Hell need to throw 6 1/3 more to qualify for the title at the end of the season.The Tigers have taken steps to limit his workload, and this latest start was a positive sign.I still feel good, so I guess its working, Fulmer said. Hopefully Im able to still pitch beyond the regular season. Thats our goal as a team.TRAINERS ROOMRoyals: Kansas City C Salvador Perez sat out with what manager Ned Yost described as a very minor knee issue.Tigers: 2B Ian Kinsler returned to the lineup from a concussion after missing three games. He had a single, a double, two walks and three runs. ... SS Jose Iglesias left in the top of the seventh with a bruised right hand. X-rays were negative.UP NEXTRoyals: Kansas City sends RHP Yordano Ventura (11-11) to the mound for Saturdays game at Detroit. Ventura is coming off a complete game against the Chicago White Sox on Monday.Tigers: Detroit starts LHP Daniel Norris (3-2) in the middle game of this series.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ' ' '