The Five Biggest Potential UFC Fights

Over the past week, I've had the honor to engage another writer here at The Bleacher Report in an interesting debate: who is the best fighter in the world right now? It's my belief that Anderson Silva holds that crown at the moment, the result of a breathtaking series of dominating performances. My debate partner contends that Fedor Emelianenko is still the best fighter on the planet and that my contention that he hasn't faced enough top competition should actually serve as a bonus in his favor, since certain fighters have avoided him. 

This debate went on for several days, with neither of us convincing the other, but it brought to light an interesting question: what would happen if Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko fought each other?

One of the beautiful things about being a mixed martial arts (or any other combat sport, really) fan is the ability to play the "what if" game. What would happen if we matched a legend from the past against one of the new generation of fighters? What would happen if Anderson Silva faced Fedor Emelianenko?

The beauty of these debates is that there's rarely a right or wrong answer. You might consider BJ Penn to be the best fighter in the world, and you think he'd destroy any lightweight or welterweight you matched him up against. Another fan might consider Takanori Gomi to be the best lightweight in the world. 

These are valid arguments with no real correct answer, but that's what makes the discussion so much fun.

While thinking about these fantasy matchups, I started thinking about potential UFC fights, match-ups between superstars that would be highly anticipated by most of the UFC audience. I came up with a list of ten potential fights or rematches, and I've whittled that list down to the five you'll find below. 

When trimming my list to these five bouts, I tried to factor in several criteria: the popularity of the fighters involved, the skill of the fighters involved, and the ability each of them have to sell a pay per view main event either alone or with another fighter of equal or slightly lesser popularity.

I believe all five of these fights would amass gigantic numbers on pay per view and, if promoted correctly, could bring millions of new fans into the fold. These are fights that Zuffa has the ability to make, meaning every fighter on the list is under a Zuffa contract.

ANDERSON SILVA VS. CHUCK LIDDELL

Regardless of his losing record over the past 16 months, it's a fact that Chuck Liddell is still one of the biggest pay per view draws in the UFC today. MMA is an interesting sport in that being a huge star and a mainstream draw can cause fans to overlook your failings.

Losing fights doesn't matter if you're a star, because people will overlook those losses, but only to a certain extent. If Liddell continues to get knocked out, there will come a time where his drawing power is hurt, but it would take a few more dramatic losses to turn Liddell into anything other than a money-making machine.

This fight would be an absolute monster. The Couture/Lesnar fight will get more PPV buys, but a Silva/Liddell fight at 205 would do 800,000 buys at minimum. It's a classic battle between two of the most feared strikers in the history of the UFC. 

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