Anderson's Management Want 3rd Franklin Fight or GSP

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There's a line of middleweights waiting to fight champ Anderson Silva.

The tough part may be rousing Silva's interest in fighting them.

"At the end of the day, it's difficult to find an opponent that can fight Anderson," manager Ed Soares told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "There's not a ton of them out there."

In a recent interview with Brazilian website Tatame, Silva's co-manager, Jorge Guimaraes, called potential fights against Chris Weidman, Alan Belcher and Tim Boetsch a "joke."

Soares took a softer stance on the division standouts, but acknowledged that the contenders in the field don't represent the biggest fights possible for Silva (32-4 MMA, 15-0 UFC), who defended his title a record 10th time against Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 for his 15th overall win inside the octagon.

"I don't think any opponent in that category is a joke," Soares said. "I just think that some of his opponents just aren't as attractive. When I look at Weidman, I think he's a very talented guy. He's got a bright future. But when I look at it, he's 9-0. Anderson has got double the wins he has in his career in the UFC. So I just don't see the value of being able to fight a guy like this right now. That's my opinion."

Another name that Soares said fans are overlooking as a potential contender is former champ Rich Franklin, whom Silva beat at UFC 64 to win the title and again at UFC 77 in his second defense of the belt.

"The only guy that Rich Franklin has ever lost to at 185 pounds is Anderson," Soares said. "So when you look at the 185-pound division, he's definitely up in the mix as far as a contender. I think [Silva would] be interested in fighting Franklin again, just simply because he respects Rich a lot, and he feels that Rich was the guy that gave him the opportunity to fight for the belt."

But perhaps the most attractive fight on the market at this moment, Soares said, is a superfight with welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, which has been on the radar screen for more than a year as the two have continued to decimate their respective divisions.

St-Pierre, who's been sidelined since this past December with a knee injury, is expected to fight interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in a title unification bout.

Soares said Silva might be able to make the welterweight cutoff of 170 pounds, or a catchweight could be arranged.

Fans also suggested a superfight between Silva and light heavyweight champ Jon Jones, but Soares said Silva isn't interested in the bout for no other reason than he doesn't plan on fighting north of the middleweight class.

Whatever is next in store for Silva, it appears some difficult choices lie ahead.

"It's not an easy situation," Soares said. "The middleweight division is a little bit complicated right now. But who am I to sit here and say who they should fight? I'm just saying that as far as the biggest fights go, I see a potential fight with Georges St-Pierre being a big fight."