What Will The UFC Do With Their WEC Champ Paulo Filho?

Another issue involves his connection to the division’s current champion. Everyone wants to fight the champion Anderson Silva and he wants to fight the best. Filho is currently considered the #2 185-pounder in the world. However, neither of these men wants to fight each other.

 While this is understandable, being that they are longtime teammates and friends, it creates a quagmire for a division which is already muddled. Assuming Silva beats Cote at UFC 90 there will be at least 4 fighters with a claim to the #1 contender spot.

In a recent interview Filho was asked about the possibility of moving up to the light heavyweight division. He said “"My weight isn't [185 pounds], but I have a contract to do and maybe later I'll think about going to 205lbs." I am not sure what he meant by “isn’t [185”] Regardless, I was curious as to how tall Filho is and went to sherdog.com to look at his fighter profile. I was surprised to see the Brazilian is only 5’8!

Currently the only other fighter that height or shorter, in either UFC division, is fellow Brazilian Rousimar Palhares. So instead of Filho moving up to fight at 205 why not move down to fight at 170. I am not very familiar with his physique so perhaps that is not physically possible for him. He would definitely be sacrificing muscle and some fat to do so.

If Filho refuses to fight Silva then he has three choices. Remain at middleweight and pick off #1 contenders like Rich Franklin would have done. Beef up to 205 and become the smallest light heavyweight in the UFC. Or sacrifice some muscle and fight in a very competitive division free from any “friendly fire.”

The UFC won’t let him follow the 1^st option and the 2^nd option doesn’t seem to put him in a very competitive position. The only way he will be relevant in the UFC is to cut weight and see if he can dominate the welterweight division. Depending on how fast they want to advance him he can fight someone like Karo Parisyan who just signed a new 8 fight deal to be the division’s gatekeeper. I could definitely see him fighting George St. Pierre or BJ Penn if he keeps his game solid. Regardless of what happens, he needs to settle into a division and continue to challenge his undefeated record of 16-0.