Who's Next for The Iceman?

After an impressive unanimous decision victory over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79, who is next for former MMA Light-Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell? Some possible candidates for Liddell are Mauricio Rua, Rashad Evans, or Thiago Silva. A convincing victory over any of these three that would put Liddell in great position to fight the Forrest Griffin-Quinton Jackson winner.

After watching the Liddell/Silva matchup it was clear to me after the first round Liddell had his swagger back. I give all the credit in the world to Silva though. He survived a punching barrage in the second and third rounds and was never knocked down. I really thought there was going to be a knockout at multiple times in that fight.

Regarding the three aforementioned candiates, they are all up-and-coming stars looking to knock off a big name if they want title fights. Thiago Silva just dominated Houston Alexander, who was coming off a two-bout winning streak. 

Rashad Evans defeated Michael Bisping along with Sean Salmon and fought Tito Ortiz to a draw. Although an argument could be made that Evans won that fight, the decision was a draw. Michael Bisping has wins over Matt Hamill and Elvis Sinosic this year as well.

I think a rematch with Rampage Jackson would be a much-better fight for Liddell. Watching the first fight closely you can see that even Jackson was surprised he caught Liddell with the knockout blow. However, when Jackson fought Henderson he proved that he deserves that belt by going the whole five rounds, showing he's a skilled ground fighter.

Liddell flat-out took Jardine for granted and underestimated him.  I don't think he expected Jardine to come out firing the way he did and for a while was just looking for a quick knockout.  Jardine didn't do a whole lot to win the fight but Liddell didn't do much of anything.  Had that been a title fight Jardine might not have been granted the decision, but Liddell was just coming off a loss and needed to came out like he had something to prove.  He was looking ahead to his upcoming fight with Silva and was caught off-guard by a tough opponent. 

Liddell's next fight should be sometime in the summer probably at the June or July UFC events.  I'm sure his team will be working with Dana White to find the best possible opponent for him.