UFC 139 Results: 3 Fights for Wanderlei Silva to Take Next

The Axe Murderer came back with a vengeance last night.

As Wanderlei Silva walked to the Octagon last night, a lot of fans were wondering if this would be the last time we saw him in the UFC.

Dana White had said he would have to have a serious talk with Wanderlei about retirement if he was knocked out again, and Cung Le was a dangerous opponent for Silva to try and avoid getting hit by.

Fortunately (unless you’re Le), Wanderlei’s chin was able to hold up and he ended the fight like the “Axe Murderer” from Pride, completely running through Le in the second round.

Now that his career has been saved, Silva is in need of a new opponent and there are only a select few fighters that make sense.

Chris Leben

In what Wanderlei thinks was the worst fight of career, a rematch with Leben from UFC 132, which saw Leben knock out Wanderlei in under one minute, would be a great option.

Silva has made it clear that he wants to fight Leben again, and the fight makes some sense from a matchmaking perspective since both fighters are in the same position in the division.

Demian Maia

While these two have trained together in the past, the matchup makes a lot of sense if the UFC can convince them to fight.

Wanderlei needs another good win to get near the title picture, and Maia could use a name like Wanderlei to climb back up the middleweight ladder. 

Chael Sonnen

Sonnen is way ahead of Wanderlei in the middleweight division, but there is enough bad blood between these two to make a fight worth it for Sonnen.

Chael has verbally destroyed Wanderlei several times over the last two years, and it is obvious that Silva would jump on a chance to settle the score.