Silva’s destruction of Franklin in UFC 77 was so complete and so absolute that it’s hard to imagine anyone inside or outside of the UFC who might be able to beat the Brazilian.

Joe Rogan the master of hyperbole can’t even do Silva justice in his descriptions of Silva. “Anderson Silva is a scary dude,” Rogan said after the fight.

And here’s where it gets difficult for the UFC. Despite the beatdown he took, Franklin is head and shoulders above anyone else in the UFC’s middleweight division.

Mostly likely we’ll see Anderson get matched up against either Yushin Okami or Ryo Chonan, the last two fighters to beat Silva.

Okami, who beat Jason McDonald in their Saturday matchup, has a victory over Silva due to Silva’s disqualification for an illegal kick in their January 2006 meeting at Rumble on the Rock 8.

This is the same Okami who couldn’t get past Franklin in UFC 72.

Then there’s Chonan, who first must beat Karo Parisyan in UFC 78 before he can start thinking about Silva.

While Okami might be the tougher opponent for Anderson, the fight most fans would probably prefer is a rematch with Chonan, whose flying scissor heel hook submission of Anderson in a Pride match was probably one of the best come from behind victories ever.

If you haven’t seen the video, go to Youtube immediately and search it out. Anderson was dominating Chonan, when Chonan pulled off one of the sweetest submissions you’ll ever see. Would Chonan have the brass to try that move a second time? Or would he reach into his bag of tricks and dazzle us with something new like the Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart?

Other than Chonan and Okami, the other two names that get thrown around are Elite XC champ Robbie Lawler and UFC light heavyweight Dan Henderson. UFC president Dana White has been lukewarm in his comments about Lawler and Henderson has steadfastly maintained that he doesn’t want to cut the weight to get down to 185 pounds.

I would suspect that White’s opinion of Lawler might soften a bit in the coming days when he sits down and takes a realistic inventory of his options.

Then there’s Franklin. My interest in a Franklin – Silva rematch is probably right up there with my desire to catch the Spice Girls reunion tour.

Still if Franklin keeps fighting in the UFC and keeps beating back all the other middleweights what then?

Moving down in weight isn’t a realistic option and moving up in weight doesn’t make much sense.

Franklin is still in his prime and is too talented of a fighter to consider retiring, though those thoughts have got to be going through his head after taking the two beatings that he has taken from Silva.

Instead, we might get stuck in some kind of surreal groundhog day where Franklin loses to Silva, goes out and dominates his next three opponents and then finds himself back in the Octagon again against Silva.

The winner will almost certainly fight for the title against a yet to be determined opponent, though one could assume it would be against the winner of the match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cheick Kongo, which is supposed to take place early next year.

Of course, this means that the Sylvia-Vera winner wouldn’t be fighting for the title until April or May at the earliest.

Another option, which I think makes sense is to have the Sylvia-Vera winner fight for the belt against Gabriel Gonzaga on the proposed Feb. 2 card.

Why not Gonzaga? He was the number 1 contender until he lost to Couture at UFC 74.

Despite his loss, he’s still an extremely talented fighter and is as worthy of another title shot as anyone else in the division. In fact, the fight might have had a different ending if Gonzaga hadn’t broken his nose early on. The injury completely changed the course of the fight.

There’s some who will argue that Gonzaga had his chance and needs to get back in line behind the four fighters I’ve already mentioned.

I don’t buy it, simply for the fact that Couture’s resignation throws the conventional thinking out the window.

Put the Sylvia-Vera winner against Gonzaga for the title and then the new champ can make his first defense against the winner of the Nogueira-Kongo tilt.

While the heavyweight division lost some of its sparkle with Couture’s resignation, there’s still more talent here than in any other organization out there. Life will go on without Couture.

If Andrei Arlovski, Frank Mir and Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic can all get back on the championship track, and if Brock Lesnar is brought into the fold, there should be plenty of exciting heavyweight action for the next couple of years.

Randy Couture’s resignation leaves a huge void in the UFC that might not be filled for quite some time.

Is there another fighter as universally admired, as eloquent, as accomplished, as dedicated and as humble as Couture? He was the perfect ambassador for a sport still fighting for mainstream respect.

Can you think of anyone better? No names immediately come to my mind. Sure, there’s a lot of guys who have some of those qualities, but few who can wrap them up so nicely in a single package.

While fans will be disappointed that they’ll never get to see Couture defend his title, you’ve got to respect and understand his decision.

At 44-years-old and at this stage of his career, there was only one fight that could give Couture enough motivation to enter the UFC octagon another time. That matchup dissolved this week when it was announced that Russian superstar Fedor Emelianenko signed an exclusive contract with M-1.

That left Couture pondering the possibilities — none of them very appealing.

Couture was the aging gunslinger who knew he would be facing a gauntlet of younger up-and-comers looking to earn a reputation at his expense. A rematch with Gabriel Gonzaga, besides being a dangerous proposition, doesn’t make sense.

Could Couture get himself fired up enough to square off against a Brandon Vera or Cheick Kongo? And if he couldn’t get motivated against an exciting, young stud like Vera, what would he do if faced with a rematch against Tim Sylvia? For sure, he wasn’t going to be around long enough for Brock Lesnar to earn a title shot or for Josh Barnett to return from exile. That left Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira who seemed to have lost some of his shine after a so-so UFC debut against Heath Herring.

With his financial future secure and his film career and gym operations taking much of his attention, Couture doesn’t need the UFC as much as the UFC needs him.

Resigning (retiring?) now makes sense because it shows his reasons were tied to the UFC’s inability to sign Fedor and not because he is ducking any of his potential challengers. It also may give him a chance to control his own destiny to fight outside of the UFC against the opponent of his choice.

There’s quite a bit of reading between the lines to do here. Couture’s resignation letter seems to hint at some unhappiness with the UFC. Then UFC President Dana White is quoted as saying that “when he is ready to come out of retirement again, he is still under contract with me, and I’m ready to promote him.” Meanwhile, his agent is quoted as saying that Couture’s contract was always on a “fight-by-fight basis.”

Sounds like there’s some drama here that may involve lawyers.

I have no idea what his contractual obligations are to the UFC — his contract calls for two more fights — but could we see still see a Couture vs. Emelianenko match at some point?

Speaking of the IFL, my latest column at 411mania.com addresses what the league can do to turn things around.

Where to start? The drama over Dorian Price’s supposed rampage, really seemed to have been built up to be a bigger deal than it actually was. After reading Price’s rant about the episode last week, I was expecting something messy. Like Price drop kicking a camera or something.

I don’t think Price came across that bad, at all. The guy was having an emotional breakdown and he had a natural reaction to what was a very unnatural situation — a camera crew capturing your moment of weakness. No big deal. If he crossed the line, it was by a toe, at most.

Matt Hughes, whose team is down 2-1, is concerned about his team’s effort. He puts them through a tough workout That’s what a coach is supposed to do. These guys want to be professionals. They need to start putting forth more effort than what we’ve seen from his team in episodes 2 and 3.

Still, Matt Serra finds a reason to poke at Hughes. From what I’ve seen on the blogs, most people are eating Serra’s act up. I’m undecided. It might take me a couple more episodes to sort through my Serra feelings. A session with my therapist is probably in my future.

This week’s matchup pits Blake Bowman and Richie Hightower. There’s no drama this week about whether either of these fighters are going to make weight. They could have worn their street clothes and carried their gym bags onto the scales and still made weight.

It seems everyone on team Serra wanted a shot at Bowman. Can you blame them?

After watching Bowman spar and then hold back tears after tweaking a rib, you have to wonder just how good Bowman’s audition tape must have been. That must have been one f*ing great tape. How else do you explain this guy making the show?

I’m sure the forums and blogs are going to be merciless.

At one point, Serra has his team around him discussing potential matchups and everyone is talking about wanting Bowman and a shot at $5,000 bonus for stopping the bout early. Serra says something that is bleeped out. I’ve played it a couple times and I think he’s says “Gabe Ruediger” before he’s beeped. Ruediger was the fighter who was sent home in TUF5 because he didn’t make weight.

What Ruediger had to do with this situation puzzles the crap out of me. Of course, there’s a chance he wasn’t saying Gabe but something else.

The other thing we saw in episode 4 was the emergence of Mac Danzig.

There’s Danzig trying to give Bowman some pre-fight advice. There’s Danzig consoling Price. There’s Danzig trash-talking Hightower. Want to start taking some bets about whether Danzig is headed to the TUF6 finals?

And then, there was the fight.

Bowman threw a couple weak jabs. The fighters got into the clinch and Bowman threw some knees. And then inexplicably, he fell to the canvas where Hightower pounced and threw a barrage of punches. Fight over.

So, here we go into episode 5 and we still haven’t seen anyone other than Danzig emerge as a fighter who might have a UFC future beyond this season.

I inserted B.J. Penn as the No. 4 welterweight, despite the fact he’s the top contender in the UFC’s lightweight division and hasn’t fought at welterweight since his loss to Matt Hughes more than a year ago. I figure it’s similar to our putting Dan Henderson in the 2 spot at middleweight. Henderson has said he doesn’t want to move down to middleweight and hasn’t fought at that weight in more than a year.

I think Penn will win the title at lightweight and then move back into the welterweight picture. Those last two losses to Matt Hughes and Georges St.-Pierre have got to be gnawing at him.

The other place that I probably deviated from everyone else was by putting Marcus Davis in my 7 spot. Davis has reeled off 10 straight wins, including five in the UFC. His place on my list is based on his very impressive victory over Paul Taylor in UFC 75. I think he’s a guy that’s going to make a splash in this division over the next year.

My lightweight rankings are all over the board compared to the 411mania consensus. I’ve got Sean Sherk in the top spot and will keep him there until there’s a ruling on his steroid appeal.

I had Takanori Gomi at No. 2 and Penn at No. 3.

The 411mania crew’s top three was Gomi, Gilbert Melendez and Gesias “JZ” Calvancanti.

I think this is a case of both Sherk and Penn not having fought in awhile. Calvancanti is coming off his double win at the K-1 Hero’s tournament last month. That showing was enough to have him to No. 3 on the 411mania list from being unranked in the last poll.

Sam Caplan reports on Five Ounces of Pain and his new blog at proelite.com that Ben Rothwell and Mike Whitehead have been pulled from the International Fight League’s Nov. 3 World Grand Prix event.

Apparently, the IFL won’t let Rothwell and Whitehead fight because they have not signed contracts for the 2008 season. The reasoning, according to Caplan, is that the IFL doesn’t want either fighter to win a title and not be able to defend it next season.

I think the IFL is shooting itself in the foot here. But then what would you expect from an organization that always seems to take one step forward and two steps back?

Rothwell is one of the few recognizable names on the IFL roster. He is undefeated in the IFL and most recently beat former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez at the IFL’s championship event. It’s understandable that Rothwell would want to test the waters and see if he can garner a better contract with another organization.

What’s not understandable is why the IFL would get rid of one of the few draws on its very important, first-ever, live televised event.

So what if Rothwell jumps ship and can’t defend the title next year?

The IFL Grand Prix title is unlike titles in other organizations.

For instance, if a fighter wins the Grand Prix title, he’d have to go through five or six regular season and playoff matches next year before he can defend in the 2008 Grand Prix. There’s a chance he might have one or two losses by that time.

The IFL’s World Grand Prix is the league’s showcase event but I think it is going to be a joke if you don’t let Rothwell compete. It makes the IFL look cheap and petty, much like the UFC does when it puts a fighter like Andre Arlovski in cold storage because he hasn’t negotiated a new contract.

Unlike the IFL, the UFC can afford to do this.

With the IFL struggling for its survival, it just doesn’t make sense to diminish the one event that could give the league some much needed momentum heading into the 2008 season.

Rothwell has been a good soldier and spokesman for the IFL. He deserves better than this slap in the face. He has arguably done as much for the IFL, as the IFL has done for him. Ben Fowlkes at The Fighting Life has Rothwell’s side of it.

The IFL needs to realize that at this point in its existence, it’s a developmental league for other organizations. That’s not a bad thing. The team-oriented league should take it as a feather in its cap that fighters like Rothwell might be in line for more lucrative deals. It gives the IFL credibility and will certainly help it attract the best up-and-coming talent by showing potential recruits that the league nurtures talent and helps fighters take the next step in their career.

Some day, the IFL may be able to afford to keep its stars and become a league of stars, itself. But it won’t be around that long if it doesn’t start making better decisions than this.

Click here to check out my column.

[Update: Apparently, the fight is now OFF. Bummer.]

Here are the words that will follow Joe Scarola around forever: “I’m not a dick. I’m not a douche bag. I’m not a pussy.”

So long, Joe.

I think I speak for all viewers of The Ultimate Fighter when I say we were as sick of your whining as you were of the house.

Scarola, who lost his fight in episode 1, packed his bags and left the house in last night’s episode. He had been crying since the last episode about missing his girlfriend. Awwww. How sweet.

At this moment, there’s some fighter gnashing his teeth because he missed the cut for TUF6 after Matt Serra, one of the coaches, pulled some strings to get Scarola onto the show. Scarola, after all, was the best man at Serra’s wedding.

Scarola got onto the show, lost in half-hearted fashion and then made himself nuts for two episodes by imagining that his girlfriend was blowing every guy on Long Island.

Serra went so far as to tell Scarola that if he left the show, he could say goodbye to his job back in New York as a trainer at Serra’s gym.

John Kolosci, a fighter on Serra’s team, wrote about Scarola in his TUF Diary for the Chicago Sun-Times:

Joey Scarola was simply a cry baby. Yes, as a person he was a nice guy, but he was mentally weak. I couldn’t even talk to him anymore, as he was driving me crazy. All the negativity and ceaseless crying was very annoying. I was sitting there wishing he would just go home because he was bringing me down. He should have just kept to himself until he got over it, or at least that’s what I would have done. How many times could you hear “You just don’t get it” or “I don’t think I can take this”? Yes Joey, we do get it! Perhaps he wasn’t aware that we were all in this house together and we are all going through the same garbage as he was. Nobody likes losing and nobody likes the house, but guess what, we signed up for this and now we must deal with it. Serra shared a story with us about when he and Joey were in the airport on the way to the show. Joey turns to Serra and asks: “Do you think they’ll let me wear Abercrombie and Fitch on the show”? Now what type of question is that? Is that what a fighter (or anyone for that matter) should be worrying about on their way to the biggest opportunity of their life? Annoying, just plain annoying…

Early in the show, there was a nice moment with Matt Hughes talking to the guys about his future in the UFC. Of course, we already knew from last week’s teaser that Hughes was going to tell his team that he had only two or three fights left before he retired.

What he added was that his in his last couple fights, he hadn’t really trained up to his usual standards. And now that the end is near, he’s not going to take anything for granted any more.

Otherwise, episode three was more of the same. Some of the guys cracked open the booze, got drunk, painted on the walls and threw stuff in the pool. Scarola packed up and left, pulling his suitcase and teddy bear behind him.

Well, at least we’ve got a great fight this week to salvage the episode.

Billy Miles vs. John Kolosci.

Miles is a former college wrestler who is a big welterweight. He looks like, well, like a Billy Bad Ass.

We expect too much.

In what had to be one of the worst fights we’ve seen in six seasons of TUF, Miles tapped out to a standing guillotine choke in the first round. I’ll have to rewind the episode but I don’t think either fighter landed a single blow during the entire bout.