UFC 92: Will Anderson Silva make it onto the ultimate fight card?

Caption: Could Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami be fighting sooner rather then later?

How do you make Ultimate 2008 “over the top” Ultimate? Try adding Anderson Silva to the fight card. After his recent performance against Patrick Cote, at UFC 90, fans were let down to say the least.

UfC President Dana White acknowledged disappointment in the way the fight turned out, adding, "The crowd was flat at the end. ... I felt like I was in a f---ing alternate universe."

Dana White told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Silva wanted to get right back on the horse:

"He's flipping out. He wants to fight again, like, on Nov 15. He's upset about his performance and he wants to fight again immediately."

In a previous article it was reported that Silva could fight as early as UFC 91 but that’s obviously not happening. A free fight for the fans on Spike’s “Fight for the Troops” seemed like a great idea, but with the fight card recently solidified, and the event a month out, that looks doubtful.

So what has happened to all the Anderson Silva talk? What is ironic is that even before the UFC 90 misfortune there was talk of Silva fighting at UFC 92.

"If Silva finishes Cote in the way he normally finishes opponents, he could fight again in two months," UFC president Dana White told The Sun.

White also mentioned that Silva fighting Georges St. Pierre is a possibility.

"If GSP beats BJ [Penn] then you’ll see Silva vs. GSP—possibly at a catch weight," White said.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I am more intrigued by the possibility of Silva fighting at UFC 92 as of now.

Dana White also told USA Today, "If Anderson wins this fight on Saturday night, I think we'll look for another fight for him at 205 (light heavyweight), then we'll figure out in the 185-pound (middleweight) division what's next," White says.

So if Silva does fight at Ultimate 2008, does he fight at light heavyweight or middleweight?

It is worth nothing that Yuskin Okami, who was replaced by Cote due to injury, will be fighting Dean Lister at UFC 92. Some have expressed they would like to see Lister replaced with Silva.

Fellow B/R writer Todd Jackson discussed the idea in a previous article of his and I for one think that’s an intriguing idea.

I am sure Okami would love to get back the title shot he lost due to injury. The only person I see being upset is Dean Lister, but I am sure the UFC can find ways to compensate him.

Other then Okami, the only other top-level middleweight opponent available to fight on such short notice would be Nate Marquardt. He destroyed Martin Kampmann back at UFC 88 in September. I am sure he would love to step in and get a rematch of his loss back at UFC 73.

Other then those options, it leaves Silva to fight at light heavyweight. Fellow B/R writer Jeremy Botter talked about the possibility of a matchup between Anderson Silva vs. Chuck Liddell in one of his article, “The Five Biggest Potential UFC Fights.”

I am sure the UFC will do the right thing when it comes to placing Silva on an upcoming fight card. They want to market one of their best commodities correctly and while the fans, and Silva, are ready for a fight, sooner rather then later, I don’t expect the UFC to rush things.

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dana White bombshells us all with a fight out of nowhere. How great would it be to see Anderson Silva fighting at Ultimate 2008?!

Let just hope that, whenever he does fight again, he is back to his old spider ways.

Brian Oswald is a new staff writer for Inside Fights. For all the latest in MMA news please check out the site!