
Now that Georges St-Pierre has beaten Matt Serra and become the undisputed UFC welterweight champion, the question fans are asking is who he'll fight next.
The answer is most likely Jon Fitch, and that would be a fine fight. But UFC prides itself on putting together more than just "fine" fights -- UFC is supposed to be about giving its fans the best fights. And the best fight imaginable in the sport of mixed martial arts is St-Pierre against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
The biggest obstacle is that it's just hard to see St-Pierre winning if he moved all the way up from welterweight (170 pounds) to middleweight (185). And Silva can't get down to 170 pounds. So they ought to meet at 180, a weight that Silva could reach safely if somewhat less comfortably and that St-Pierre could get up to and still be in top shape. They could call it the pound-for-pound title fight, and they could let both fighters keep their weight class belts when they moved back to their previous weight classes afterward.
That's a fight that should happen now because Silva is 33 and St-Pierre is 26. Silva won't be in his prime for much longer, so we can't wait a year or more. UFC has the two best fighters in MMA under contract and needs to put them in the Octagon together.