FanHouse Forrest Griffin

After his victory over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99, Rich Franklin is now on my list of the Top 10 light heavyweights in mixed martial arts -- and Silva is off it. But what's next for Franklin? I'd love to see him get a Top 10 opponent, but most of the rest of the Top 10 are already committed to other fights: Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva, Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva.

I think the best option is to match up Franklin with Luiz Cane, and I think a dark horse possibility is Franklin vs. Tito Ortiz, if Ortiz returns to the Octagon. In any event, my list of the top 10 light heavyweights in MMA is below.

You can now officially add "author" to Forrest Griffin's extensive list of accomplishments. The former UFC light heavyweight champion's new book, Got Fight? The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat, was released on Tuesday.

FanHouse caught up with Griffin in Central Park (of all places) to talk about his new book, coming to terms with the fact that he isn't the best fighter in the world, and why he wants no part of Lyoto Machida. The full video interview is below.

Now that Lyoto Machida has won the UFC light heavyweight title, there's a growing sense that we're headed into -- in the words of Joe Rogan -- a Machida Era: A time when Machida simply dominates the light heavyweight division and defends the belt several times in a row.

But as great as Machida is, everyone can be beaten. So which fighters would have a chance of beating Machida at 205 pounds? My list is below.

The light heavyweight division is the most talented weight class in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but after watching Lyoto Machida dominate Rashad Evans for the title Saturday night at UFC 98, I'm having a very hard time seeing how anyone is going to beat him any time soon.

That might sound like a crazy thing to say, because upsets happen all the time in mixed martial arts, and the light heavyweight title has changed hands four times in the last two years. But the fundamental way to win a fight is to hurt your opponent without getting hurt yourself, and there's no one better at that than Machida.

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In some ways, the UFC 98 Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida light-heavyweight title match is not getting its due. The first UFC championship fight ever to boast two unbeatens deserves more attention than its currently getting.

As it stands, Evans (13-0-1) will enter the octagon as a sizable underdog, with Machida (14-0) riding a growing surge of respect for his game. While many point to his unique striking skills as the biggest reason for his success, there are many other reasons.

So how will the matchup go down? Let's take a look.

UFC President Dana White and fighters Forrest Griffin and Kenny Florian appeared on today's Dr. Phil to tell teenagers that getting into street fights is not the way to become a professional MMA fighter. Good to know.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin has been reading the Bible lately, and he thinks Sarah Palin needs to re-read it.

It's going to be a huge summer for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

We've known for some time that the July 11 UFC 100 card is going to be among the biggest UFC events in history, and on Tuesday we learned that Anderson Silva will fight Forrest Griffin in a huge match-up at UFC 101. Now comes word, first reported by MMA Junkie, that UFC 102 has added a light heavyweight fight between Keith Jardine and Thiago Silva.

A little over a week after UFC president Dana White said he was "embarrassed" by Anderson Silva's performance against Thales Leites at UFC 97 in Montreal, the current middleweight champion has been booked in an exciting light heavyweight fight against Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 in August, according to Yahoo! Sports.

"Forrest loved the idea and said he'd do it right away, and Anderson told me he would fight anyone I wanted him to fight, no matter who it is," White told Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole. "So we got the deal."