Anderson Silva, the UFC’s current middleweight champion, displays all of the attributes of a fighter who will eventually reach the heights of legendary status. What would he possibly have to do to serve up some piping hot truth to this statement? In my opinion…beat Dan Henderson.

Silva has an outstanding record of 20 wins with only 4 losses. He has been victorious over Jeremy Horn, Nathan Marquardt and Rich Franklin to name a few. His most impressive and decisive wins of late came from his pair of fights against Franklin. The “Spider” was able to accomplish something beyond giving Rich a makeover that left him looking like he had been hit in the face with a shovel. He generously gave the “Ace” two of the three losses on his very admirable, freshly washed, waxed and hand dried 22 and 3 record. This was not just a pivotal moment for Silva and his career, but possibly more so for Franklin. Anderson has taken the once very competitive, high spirited and confident fighter in Rich Franklin and shaped him into a man who is second guessing himself and his future in this line of work.

Not to take anything away from Rich, as he is most definitely an outstanding athlete and fighter, but if your perception of him was not shaken with each strike delivered from Silva’s fists, knees and elbows, then please follow these instructions… First, watch the initial fight between them. Next, view the fight at regular speed, and then in slow motion. Watching it a second time in slow-mo will not only add a bit of drama to the match, but this will also allow you to visually “feel” every connection between fist and face. This will also put you into an optimum position to pause the fight at the very moment that Rich, while locked into a very solid Muay Thai clinch, displays what I have coined as a hybrid look of confusion and shear terror. The panic that any man would understandably feel as they were about to be made, against their will, to take gigantic fiery shot of Aguardente in through the nose. At that point in the fight, it becomes an inebriated, 100 mph downhill ride in a car with no brakes that’s headed straight towards a brick wall named Anderson.

This is an insanely entertaining ride to watch, which has Franklin sitting in the vehicle’s passenger seat as helpless as a crash test dummy. Rich is neither physically able to tap, or in this metaphor-laced scenario, to slam on the brakes before ultimately crashing and crumbling to the mat in a heap of bent up steel and assorted plastic parts.

For the second part of this exercise, watch the sequel. It’s actually more like the directors cut or deleted scenes that UFC studios had held back from their first feature. The fight plays out much the same way as their previous meeting. Rich must have felt a bit of déjà vu, as he again is left on the mat of the Octagon with the iron-laden flavor of blood in his mouth, and bitter taste of defeat in his soul. He begins thinking that he may soon retire from MMA and float away in a puff of theatrical smoke to go and perform under the bright lights of Hollywood.

Speaking of “Hollywood”, it is Dan Henderson who is more than happy to be currently standing right in the middle of Anderson Silva’s finely crafted plate. Henderson most definitely stays in-line with Silva’s steady diet of fighters that would satisfy the nutritional guidelines of the most selective breed of fight fan. With Silva and Henderson scheduled to meet up in the Octagon on March 1st at UFC 82, we should all buckle up and be prepared to once again speed down the road to a spectacular fight.

Although it’s been said that Henderson has seen his way through the best part of his career, I do not believe this to be true. He will, in my opinion, give Silva the toughest match since the “Spider” signed with the UFC back in April of 2006. We will see the fighter, Champion and demolition driver that Anderson has conditioned and fine tuned himself to be. Silva’s career as a BJJ practitioner and Muay Thai machine will come around full circle, which, fittingly, will be drawn in blood. I predict that on the first Saturday of March 2008, he will have his hand raised up in a tough but decisive win by TKO in the last minutes of the second round.

It is necessary for Silva to pull off a win over the well-rounded, highly regarded and deservingly decorated wrestling and former MMA Champion that is Mr. Dan Henderson. Fighting Hendo will be a true test and achievement for Anderson, as Dan has stood toe-to-toe with some of the best fighters that this sport has to offer and in many cases has defeated them.

So will Silva put his God-given, well-trained and highly-developed skills together to create the recipe that will solidify his place in the pages of history? Will he be able to burn his name into the minds of fight enthusiasts as one of the greatest ever? Will he continue to dominate, diminish and discourage all those who oppose him in the UFC’s middleweight division?

The answers to those questions will come up on you very quickly, quietly and with very little effort. They will look you in the eye, grab you by the back of your neck, lock their fingers together and hit you in the face like a ton of bricks. If you have not realized by now my friends, the price of Silva has just gone up and it most certainly shines brighter than gold.

Written by Contributing Writer, Lyle Thomaschek, of the UMFC's Newsletter, The Beat Down.