New UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was asked last night who he would like to face next. His answer, through his interpreter? "I wish I could clone myself and fight me."

Who could blame him for coming to such a conclusion after his dominant performance at UFC 64? Silva stunned the crowd at Mandalay Bay by  dismantling someone thought to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the game in Rich Franklin.

There will be lots of conjecture about Franklin's performance last night. Here are a couple things to ponder:

1. Was Franklin gun-shy after his long, injury-induced layoff? Franklin's match with David Loiseau was a war. Both came out of it hurt; Franklin tore a hamstring and broke a hand. Both Franklin and Loiseau looked tentative in their return fights.

2. Did Franklin let his ego get in the way in thinking he could match Silva toe-to-toe? Silva has never been knocked out or TKO'd in his career, but he has been taken down and submitted twice. Of course, this is easy for me to say sitting behind a computer screen after the fact.

As for what's next in the middleweight division, that's tough to say. The winner of the middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighter is guaranteed a title shot. Umm ... good luck to him. Mike Swick is on the radar, but he didn't look ready for a title match in his win over Loiseau last month. Dana White was asked about the possibility of bringing Matt Lindland back, but, as White pointed out, Lindland is under contract to the IFL right now. Franklin, as the former champion, is deserving of a rematch. I think it is too soon to call Franklin overrated. Every fighter has his bad night, and the real test will come with how he responds to the setback.

*Ken Florian had one of those performances last night where you gain in stature by losing. No doubt Sherk won convincingly (I had it 49-46); but for a fighter with his experience level, Florian's jiu-jitsu was solid and he did his share of damage. Ironically, the cut over Sherk's eye ended up backfiring on Florian, as it may have enabled Sherk to slip out of his opponent's submission attempts. "It got me on that armbar," Florian said. "I thought I had it sunk in and I turned and he just slipped right out of it. The blood and sweat made it real hard to lock anything in."

*For new lightweight champion Sherk, the win was redemption. Not that long ago, Sherk walked away for nearly a year after giving his best and coming up just short as a welterweight. "I've been waiting for this moment for 12 years," said Sherk. "Ever since I saw the early UFCs and wanted to be a part of it, all the effort is worth it now."

*This is simply an observation and you can attach whatever meaning to it you wish. The following fighters were booed by a noticeable portion of the crowd last night: Yushin Okami, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Cheick Kongo, Silva. It wasn't the majority of the crowd, and maybe these fans were simply rooting for American fighters, but either way, it was an ugly display.

*White talked about UFC's plans to run 26 shows in 2007, including five pay-per-views from the United Kingdom. UFC needs to guard against overexposure. Our reader response to UFC 64 was down from any PPV we've covered. That's not an exact science, but would seem to indicate with lots of shows to choose from in a short period of time, some people decided to skip this one.

Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and Matt Hughes are the biggest draws in the UFC. UFC 64 came just three weeks after Hughes fought at UFC 63 and four days after Ortiz-Shamrock III. UFC 64 also happened with viewers knowing the next two PPVs feature highly anticipated showdowns with  Hughes-Georges St. Pierre and Ortiz-Liddell, and with next week's PRIDE show on the horizon (incidentally, White said he will attend the PRIDE show).

*White also said the next season of The Ultimate Fighter will focus exclusively in the lightweight division.

*Finally, White in his upcoming three-round boxing match against Ortiz: "This is the stupidest thing I've ever done. I'm too old for this. I'm going to go ahead and do this because Tito insisted on this as part of his contract and I'm going to live up to my end of the deal."