Chris Weidman to Anderson Silva: If you're not going to fight Jon Jones, fight me

Anderson Silva is undoubtedly the best middleweight fighter on the planet, and perhaps the greatest mixed marital artist who has ever competed under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) banner.

He's amassed a 15-0 record inside the Octagon and defended his 185-pound strap a grand total of 10 times.

We certainly don't need to spend an inordinate amount of time on "The Spider's" many accolades but it serves to underscore how difficult it has become for UFC President Dana White and UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva to find proper opponents for him.

For their part, Team Silva has been less than complimentary of the current crop of contenders within his own division. Michael Bisping is set to take on Brian Stann while Vitor Belfort is booked to bang with Alan Belcher. That takes care of those four and only leaves Chris Weidman without a dance partner.

The champ and his team don't think he deserves to be next in line, though.

Instead, they've been calling out calling out Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre while also leaving the door open to a challenge from Nick Diaz, who recently asked for a fight against Silva.

But what does that leave Weidman? It leaves him pissed off and wondering (via MMA Weekly) why Silva and his team are asking for fights against smaller guys and avoiding the top contender in his own division.

"It's like they're trying to avoid my name being mentioned at all for the title shot. They're trying to deflect with other guy's names so people can start thinking about them as possibilities, but even guys they're choosing to call out like GSP or (Nick) Diaz, they're both welterweights. ... The guy's a champion of 185, he should be fighting the contenders. You don't call out guys that aren't going to be able to fight forever and guys that are lighter than you. Why don't you call out Jon Jones? That makes sense, I'm sure a lot of people would watch, I'd love to watch too. If you're not going to fight him, fight me, I'm ready to go."

Like it or not, Weidman makes a good point. If Silva were ever going to finally call for a fight against St. Pierre, why wait until he's coming off major knee surgery? Plus, he's booked already against Carlos Condit with a whole gang of 170-pound contenders waiting in the wings.

Diaz, meanwhile, is still serving out his year long suspension and won't even be eligible to return until February of next year. Even then, he's coming off a loss and has come right out and said he doesn't care about the title.

The same belt Weidman is working his ass off to get to.

His tactic of baiting Silva with the Jon Jones fight, one he knows neither guy would ever accept, his nothing more than putting an exclamation mark on his point that no one else makes sense for Silva to fight right now.

Weidman's is selling us hard but are we buying him as the top guy? Maniacs, do you want to see him fight Silva next?