Wanted: A real challenge for Anderson Silva

Sam Caplan over at 5 Oz of Pain reports that the UFC is considering offering Thales Leites as Anderson Silva’s next sacrificial lamb opponent.

Can the UFC please find someone for Silva to fight? Please?

Silva is absolutely the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world but the UFC is squandering his prime fighting years by giving him guys who are either a few years from being ready (Leites), guys with plenty of heart but nowhere enough skill (Patrick Cote), or journeymen (James Irvin) who offer nothing more than a glorified exhibition match. Who will the UFC think of next? Gina Carano?

Caplan’s post doesn’t mention when Leites would fight Silva, though the assumption is that it could be at UFC 95 in London on Feb. 21. Elsewhere on the blogosphere, there is speculation that Silva could fight either Chuck Liddell or Keith Jardine — both light heavyweights — on the London card.

I wouldn’t mind either of those fights because they would bring legitimate knockout power into the Octagon, though I don’t think either Liddell or Jardine could handle Silva’s speed and all-around arsenal.

I can only think of one reason for a Leites-Silva fight and that’s to insure that Silva doesn’t pick up a loss before a potential matchup with the winner of Georges St.-Pierre and B.J. Penn.

Unfortunately, Dana White might have other plans. MMA Weekly reports that, according to White, the St.-Pierre-Penn winner will fight Thiago Alves. Alves is a beast and deserves the next title shot.

All of which leaves Silva and the rest of us waiting and wondering what stiffs he’ll have to fight before a St.Pierre or Penn fight finally materializes.