Whither Matt Lindland?

As we role into 2008, one has to wonder if Matt Lindland will continue his fade into Bolivian as it relates to the 185 lb division. Over the span of his career I think landland has always been among a handful of the best fighters at 185 but it has been harder and harder to argue that point as time has gone by. Over the past couple of years Lindland has either been taking fights out of his weight class for a pay day (Rampage, Fedor) or when he has fought in the division he has faced guys that look like all the tread is off the tire (Newton, Horn). Matt has intimated that he wants back into the UFC and that would provide some intriguing matchups. Lindland's greco clinch vs Anderson Silva's Muay Thai would be interesting, as would the Lindland - Franklin fight that never materialized during the re-introduction of middleweight title. Even if he isn't able to get back in Dana's good graces, there are plenty of fights at 185 outside of the UFC that would re-affirm his status as a top guy at 185. The UFC may have 205 on lockdown but there is more quality fighters outside of the UFC than in it at 185. This isn’t a Fedor situation where you have to presumptively be in the UFC in order to have matches of any consequence. On the domestic scene, he could deal with either HDNet fights or EliteXC to put on some attractive fights at 185. Frank Trigg, Mayhem Miller, Robbie Lawler, Phil Baroni or Murilo Ninja Rua are some of the higher profile fights he could make. Hell, even Strikeforce has some attractive options at 185 in Sanitago or Prangley. If he is willing to take his game overseas, he could match-up with the like of Denis Kang, Akiyama, Misaki, or some of the other K-1 185er's like Manhoef or the Donger. The sand is slipping through the hourglass for Matt, and he needs to either shit or get of the pot if he is to be remembered as anything more than a guy who never really reached the heights of greatness at 185, losing to Murilo Bustamante in his only shot at Middleweight glory. IF Lindland follows his form of late, though, we are more likely to see him cut to 170 to fight than see him have a competitive fight at 185.