When asked about Nate Marquardt's post-fight comment regarding his ambition to rematch Anderson Silva, Ed Soares, Silva's manager, suggested Marquardt do battle with Dan Henderson to determine the next rightful contender. It was speculated that Marquardt/Maia would provide the next challenge for Silva, but Dana White said after praising Marquardt's KO of Maia that he had to "figure this thing out".  Some of White's hesitation may stem from Henderson's desire to fight at 205 unless he was getting a title shot at MW.  At the Fan Club "Q&A" session last week, Henderson made the following statement:

"If I don't get the title shot right now at 185 – [Silva] is the only guy I want to fight at 185 (pounds).  Beyond that, I would probably go up to 205 (pounds) if I don't fight Anderson at 185."  

Since losing to Silva, Henderson has defeated Rousimar Palhares, Rich Franklin (in a fight outside of the 185 lb. weight class), and Michael Bisping.  Nate Marquardt has impressively finished Jeremy Horn, Martin Kampmann, Wilson Gouveia, and now Demian Maia- although three wins back he suffered an astoundingly odd and highly controversial split-decision loss to Thales Leites, where Marquardt received two point deductions immediately with no warning, while the referee gave Leites several warnings for blows to the back of the head.  Despite being two points down on the score cards, Marquardt still almost won the bout, so these unconventional point deductions were at the root of his loss as opposed to his performance.  Its always been my preference for the top guys to fight each other to determine contendership, so I would be thrilled to see this fight happen, and I'd also like to see Yushin Okami thrown into the mix to establish a specific pecking order for the belt. Source:  MMAJunkie.com

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