UFC News: Anderson Silva's Camp Prefers Rockhold Next, Not Weidman or Lombard

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva's management prefers his next opponent to be Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, as opposed to UFC middleweights Chris Weidman or Hector Lombard. 

The report comes from the latest addition of FUEL TV's "UFC Tonight" (via MMA Mania) and explains why "The Spider" favors a bout with Rockhold:

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One of Anderson Silva's managers said that one of the issues with Hector Lombard is he thinks he needs at least three more impressive wins in the UFC. He said that 85 percent of UFC fans don't even know who Hector Lombard is, who is of course making his Octagon debut on Saturday night.

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Lombard brings an incredible 20-fight winning streak to the Octagon, and is making his big league debut on Saturday when he takes on Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch.

However, he lacks a signature win, as his victories over Brian Ebersole, Alexander Shlemenko and Trevor Prangley are among his most impressive. 

As for Chris Weidman, who retains a perfect record of 9-0 after destroying contender Mark Munoz at UFC on FUEL TV 4 last week, Silva's camp feels he also lacks mainstream name recognition:

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As for Chris Weidman, he said, "Well, there's another great unknown fighter." He doesn't see those match ups as being money making pay-per-view events.

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Silva's management said that Rockhold's name has been mentioned as a future opponent for Anderson, but also acknowledged that it was not feasible right now:

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He did mention Luke Rockhold, who is the Strikeforce middleweight champion. Alas, Rockhold is contractually tied to Strikeforce, so that fight's not happening. We'll have to wait and see, but right now, the Anderson Silva camp not too excited about the options out there.

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Rockhold is fresh off a fairly lackluster decision win over Tim Kennedy on Saturday, improving his win streak to nine in a row, including seven finishes. Interestingly, Rockhold won his belt from Silva's Black House teammate, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in September of last year.

Meanwhile, Silva has won 16 in a row, including a UFC middleweight record of 10 consecutive title defenses. 

Between potential fights with Rockhold, Lombard and Weidman, which one would the fans like to see the most?