Ed Soares: Fighting Michael Bisping could be a 'good opportunity' for Anderson Silva

In physics, that's called "the path of least resistance."

UFC MIddleweight Champion Anderson Silva, who may be four fights away from hanging up the gloves for good, is trying to make the most of the remaining bouts on his contract.

That's according to the Brazilian's manager, Ed Soares, who told Sherdog.com that fighting Michael Bisping could be a "good opportunity" for the champ, assuming the British bad boy can get past Jason Miller at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 14 Finale this December.

"I’ll be honest with you: I never even really thought of Bisping too much. Not that I didn’t respect him as a fighter -- I do. It was just that it didn’t cross my mind because there’s so many things happening all the time. People talk about Chael and Brian Stann, and sometimes people are focused on the TUF show. But I think Bisping could be a good opportunity. GSP could be a good opportunity. There’s a lot of great opportunities, and I do think the Chael fight could potentially sell. It could be a big seller. I think it could be a huge pay-per-view. So I see all angles of it, but I’m just expressing what Anderson has talked to me about. That’s how he feels."

Is "The Count" worthy of filling one of four vacant slots on Silva's contract?

One of them will likely go to Chael Sonnen, as the mixed martial arts community has been clamoring for a "Spider" rematch following Sonnen's successful return to action at UFC 136, a second round submission win over the hard-hitting Brian Stann back on Oct. 8, 2011.

It helps that Sonnen went into his pro wrestling schtick and ran a verbal train on the cageside champion after the fight, but outside of the trash talk, there is a legitimate argument for booking part deux.

That's because the mouthy ex-Realtor beat the stuffing out of Silva for four and a half rounds back at UFC 117 and to date, has been the only middleweight to pose any kind of threat to the 185-pound kingpin.

True, he was finished before he could seal the deal, but his performance was light years beyond what any other challenger was able to accomplish. Dan Henderson? He likely won the first round against Silva at UFC 82, but was quickly finished off in the second stanza.

So, if "The Spider" has only four bouts left, who should he use them to fight? If he's not moving up or down in weight for a potential "superfight," then few challenges outside of Sonnen remain.

Is Michael Bisping one of them?