I agree that the middle weight division holds no challenge to Silva. Franklin is the #1 contender there, and Silva beat him twice already (three times, if you count the TKO at the very end of the first round in their second match)
But, in my view, Machida is definitely the #1 contender for the LHW title. Ortiz recently left the UFC after losing to Machida, Jackson just lost the belt so he needs a fight or two before there's any chance of another title shot and he's currently having legal troubles, Wanderlei only has one win over Jardine after recently losing to Liddell, Liddell only has a win over Wanderlei (which is big, but still it's one victory) after losing consecutively to both Jardine and Jackson and his next fight is against a mid-level fighter Rashad in September. Shogun might be considered the #1 contender by fans, but after his recent loss to the current champ Forrest he's going to need to a major victory to be in the next title fight, but Liddell is tied up, he and Wanderlei are friends so they won't fight each other, Jackson probably won't be fighting for a while, and I don't think that challenging Silva would be a very good idea if he intends to get a title shot anytime soon.
That leaves Machida. His big selling points are the recent unanimous decision over Ortiz (which was huge considering that Ortiz is a former LHW champ, and is still a very strong fighter) and the fact that's he's currently undefeated - that's not easy to pull off in the UFC, especially in the deep waters of the LHW division. He's not as "exciting" as the other contenders, but MMA fans today are really aware of the subtleties of combat sports and Machida has quite a fanbase. He was also supposed to fight Forrest back in 2007, but that was called off due to injury, iirc. All signs point toward the next LHW title fight being Forrest v Machida.
But, in my view, Machida is definitely the #1 contender for the LHW title. Ortiz recently left the UFC after losing to Machida, Jackson just lost the belt so he needs a fight or two before there's any chance of another title shot and he's currently having legal troubles, Wanderlei only has one win over Jardine after recently losing to Liddell, Liddell only has a win over Wanderlei (which is big, but still it's one victory) after losing consecutively to both Jardine and Jackson and his next fight is against a mid-level fighter Rashad in September. Shogun might be considered the #1 contender by fans, but after his recent loss to the current champ Forrest he's going to need to a major victory to be in the next title fight, but Liddell is tied up, he and Wanderlei are friends so they won't fight each other, Jackson probably won't be fighting for a while, and I don't think that challenging Silva would be a very good idea if he intends to get a title shot anytime soon.
That leaves Machida. His big selling points are the recent unanimous decision over Ortiz (which was huge considering that Ortiz is a former LHW champ, and is still a very strong fighter) and the fact that's he's currently undefeated - that's not easy to pull off in the UFC, especially in the deep waters of the LHW division. He's not as "exciting" as the other contenders, but MMA fans today are really aware of the subtleties of combat sports and Machida has quite a fanbase. He was also supposed to fight Forrest back in 2007, but that was called off due to injury, iirc. All signs point toward the next LHW title fight being Forrest v Machida.
![[Image: rsz_jqvaz_1.jpg]](http://z6.ifrm.com/4805/72/0/p1022159/rsz_jqvaz_1.jpg)