Originally Posted by Maxfighting.com

At Ultimate Fight Night, UFC attempted to make strides in creating a high-profile challenger for Rich Franklin's Middleweight title. The idea was to build Ivan Salaverry as a top contender, but it didn't work, not just because he lost Nathan Marquardt but because he lost in such a boring fashion.

Dana White has promised Matt Lindland a title shot, and Lindland may very well get that title shot against Franklin should he defeat Joe Doerksen at UFC 54 in a couple of weeks. And if neither Lindland nor Marquardt end up battling Franklin for the middleweight belt, then UFC should be able to find a challenger easily based on the amount of depth they have at the middleweight level.

But what about the welterweight title situation? Rich Franklin will become a bigger star coming off his coaching gig on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, but so will Matt Hughes. Aside from his quick submission loss to BJ Penn, Hughes has been absolutely dominant as the UFC Welterweight champion for years. His first fight after The Ultimate Fighter 2 will be a big deal. So the question is, who should he be fighting?

There's a number of contenders, although UFC is going to need another Spike TV special as a vehicle to air a number one contenders match for the welterweight title. That way they'll be able to build up a challenger who has name value and garner interest in an opponent for Hughes.

But if Hughes' next title defense comes before they're able to air a welterweight contenders match on Spike, then they are only left with a few options.

You can forget about anyone from season one of The Ultimate Fighter challenging Hughes for the title. Although a large number of the fighters from the series have cut to welterweight (the list includes Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian, Alex Karalexis), UFC should be protecting these stars until they are ready to start taking bigger fights.

My opinion is that they are correct in protecting the major stars created by The Ultimate Fighter. I would not book a title match with Koscheck or Sanchez right now, and I would not book them against top welterweight fighters like Frank Trigg or Georges St-Pierre either quite yet. However, less names from The Ultimate Fighter could actually benefit from a high profile fight against Hughes.

Kenny Florian would be ideal for this role. Most likely, Florian would lose to Matt Hughes. But a fight like that would not be about winning or losing, but about getting Florian over as a real guy by having him hang in there with Hughes for just a few minutes. Remember, Patrick Cote made a name for himself just be rocking Tito Ortiz once in the first round of their fight. That split-second against Tito would do more for Cote's career than a win against virtually any other fight on the undercard or in a dark match. The same thing goes for Georges St-Pierre against Matt Hughes. He looked amazing against Hughes until getting submitted at the last possible moment of the first round, and being able to hang with Hughes has made him look like more of a solid fighter than any number of wins over the Jay Hierons of the world would.

Hughes vs. Florian would also have the gimmick of being the first Ultimate Fighter contestant vs. coach match, although they both appeared on different seasons of the show.

Realistically, though, it is not a plausible fight because Florian is still a couple of fights away from being in a title fight situation, plus Florian is more suited for the 155-pound division and would be giving up too much weight to Hughes for the fight to be competitive.

There are really only a few names that spring to mind when you consider whom Hughes should defend against next. A rematch with Georges St-Pierre would be a good idea, but we have to wait and see if he defeats Frank Trigg at UFC 54 first. And it's too soon for Trigg vs. Hughes III.

The next welterweight title shot should go to either Nick Diaz or Karo Parisyan. Diaz and Parisyan are both coming off wins, although Parisyan will probably be the guy to get the shot first since he defeated Diaz via split-decision a year ago at UFC 49.

Hughes vs. Parisyan would be an interesting fight, as would Hughes vs. Diaz. Both fights Hughes would go into the octagon as the favourite, but there would be a good chance each time that he would walk out of there without the belt.

The ideal situation would be for UFC to book a welterweight contenders match on the series finale of The Ultimate Fighter 2. That way millions of people will see the number one contender for Hughes' belt win a major fight, setting up a Hughes title defense on pay per view.

UFC could easily do a Diaz-Parysian rematch on that show. The first fight between the two was a very close match, and a second fight could be a seesaw battle that goes either way. Both guys have proven themselves as top contenders for the belt, and now they just need the exposure in front of a large cable television audience in order to build their names.