With the recent news concerning Anderson Silva's elbow injury, reports have stated that the native of Brazil will be out until 2010. Not only is this a big punch in the gut to the middle weight division, it also concerns both the Light Heavy Weight division and Welterweight.

It has been rumored for quite some time that Anderson would in fact retire when his contract had expired, which had three fights remaining. But the injury seems to have changed things a bit, which includes a bout that was rumored of him to have faced George St. Pierre. Dan Henderson appeared to be next in line to challenge Anderson for the title, a fight that Anderson clearly was not interested. Which brings to mind what exactly is next for Anderson when he is healthy enough to return? A rematch for certain with either Henderson or Nate Marquardt. Henderson faced Silva in March of 2008 which resulted in a submission loss early in the second round, and a TKO loss for Marquardt in July 2007. Henderson always seem to fight with consistency and undeviating style since his early days of Pride. Marquardt has also been invariable since his loss to Silva with most recently knocking out Damien Maia and a very impressive fashion. One things now awaits with certainty in the middle weight division, Henderson vs. Marquardt.

With Henderson's wrestling it will be no surprise that the former Olympic Wrestler's gameplan will be to rough up Marquardt, however it will be interesting to note that Marquardt is a tough fighter to take to the ground, Marquardt is stronger or equally as strong as Henderson making this a possible stand up war for two solid strikers.Both fighters have power which makes this, "who will fall first" type of fight. I would imagine that Henderson would be favored but not by much, possibly falling in the -150 range, he has fought top competition from all over the world, oh and yes, he is the former reigning Pride Middle weight and light heavy weight champion, losing the belt to Anderson Silva and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

In my opinion I would love to see Anderson fight someone like George St. Pierre or a strong Light Heavy Weight like Quinton Rampage Jackson. We have seen him fight Forrest Griffin and that simply was not pretty. Forrest displayed his impression of The Running Man and sprinted out of the arena after his fight with Anderson. In Anderson's worst performance he fought Thales Leites which prompted the fight with Forrest. Dana White felt he needed to give Anderson a marketing blast, others have argued that Forrest's fight with Anderson was set up, well while no one can prove it it is a definite possibility in my opinion. Another idea would be to put contender Wanderlei Silva to face Anderson, however that scenerio does not sound likely. With Wanderlei being way past his prime I am not sure the public would jump on this as they would have jumped on it back the the way when Wandy was fighting in 2003. Another option would be to have Anderson fight Chris "The Crippler" Leben. But seriously, Anderson has cleaned out the Middle Weight division and needs to move on, possibly to LHW. Now I know that a showdown with Lyoto Machida is not possible, due to the two being friends but it certainly would be the most hyped fight in UFC history. It is really a shame that we will not see that fight, Anderson would retire before Dana White made him fight Machida, or a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. but that will be covered another time

All in all, Anderson needs to move on and pursue professional boxing or pursue the LHW division, however we all know that a fight with Machida isn't possible, so Anderson should retire from the UFC. It would be interesting to see how Anderson would do in the world of professional boxing.