9. Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen might have been fighting for a shot at Weidman's UFC belt at UFC 175 next month in Las Vegas. Who knows? Dana White hadn't confirmed it, and you never really know when Sonnen's telling the truth, but he claimed his bout versus Belfort was a title eliminator, and lets face it, Sonnen could talk his way into a bout with Ronda Rousey tomorrow, and no one would blink an eye. Having said all that, notice the past tense. It came out earlier today (forcing me to rewrite all that) that Sonnen is off UFC 175 after testing positive for banned substances. And as mentioned, Sonnen was the first to really push Anderson Silva - only to have it all slip away when he got caught in an arm triangle with minutes to go. The belt was within reach, then gone. After the match Sonnen was suspended due to not properly disclosing his TRT treatment (even had he disclosed it, a suspension would have been likely as even on TRT his testosterone levels were out of spec). Once back Sonnen went into full promo mode to goad Silva into a rematch, going to far as to call himself the real champion and carry a fake belt at appearances. After beating contenders Brian Stann and Michael Bisping, Sonnen would get his rematch, though not before he pissed off all of Brazil in the process. That's a story for another day, and Sonnen has since mended fences with the Brazilian fanbase. Point being, Sonnen got his second shot, and the first round looked like a duplicate of their original meeting, with Sonnen taking Silva down at will. However, in the second round, he slipped executing a poorly timed spinning back fist, and in all reality it cost him the fight. Silva saw his opportunity, pounced, and ended it with a vicious knee and follow-up punches. The problem with this match-up is that Sonnen has lost to Silva twice. Then again, Silva's lost to Weidman twice, and of the two, Sonnen is the one that has really dominated him. There's a good chance Silva beats Sonnen nine times out of ten, but we'd all watch, rooting for the bad guy, wondering if that night, we'd see that one time in ten where Chael would pull it off. And for Chael's part - there's no doubt he believes he can beat Silva, and would love the chance to prove it. Since he's looking at some time off now, the timing might be right for a match when both fighers get back into the cage.