Mania Matchmaker: Possible next fights for UFC 148: 'Silva vs Sonnen 2' winners

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) just wrapped up another full card of fast-paced fights, as UFC 148: "Sila vs. Sonnen 2" featured Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva shutting up his rival, Chael Sonnen, once and for all, when the two locked horns in Las Vegas, Nevada, last night (July 7, 2012).

The card also featured the retirement fight of UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz, who came up shy in a three-round bout versus Forrest Griffin.

The heat from UFC 148 has barely cooled off, but there's never any time to look back in mixed martial arts (MMA), folks. It's always time to look forward.

We've already examined what the future may hold for "The Spider," after putting down "The American Gangster," but what about the rest of the big winners?

After the jump, we'll take a look at what the future may hold for the rest of the victors from the UFC 148 main card:

The trilogy rubber match between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin ended in a unanimous decision that settled the score in its entirety.

Forrest can walk away from the rubble with another notch in his belt, but where does he go from here?

Let's be honest, no one is blown away by Griffin's win against the aging Ortiz. It's nice to get a win, of course, but it would be even nicer to see him have an impressive performance against a fighter with some real hype.

My pick: Stanislav Nedkov. He's 12-0. He's new to the UFC, and still has a bit to prove. It's a good fight for both of them and could result in some serious fireworks.

Cung Le looked the best he has in a while with his win over Patrick Cote, though it should be noted that he his opponent did him a great service by being willing to stand in front of him and trade kicks.

Truthfully, Le will probably resort to what he knows and take a year off to shoot a movie that no one will watch.

If he doesn't, I'd like to see him fight Vitor Belfort. It was a fight that was supposed to take place earlier in the year. I'll be honest, it has the potential to either be 'Fight of the Night" or a real yawner, but to me, it's worth the risk.

Demian Maia had one of the odder victories of the night, which resulted from a hard slam of his opponent, Dong Hyun Kim, into the corner of the cage.

It was almost accidental, but a win is a win.

For his next act, I'd like to see Maia take on Siyar Baharduza. "The Great" had to withdraw from his UFC 149 fight versus Chris Clements, due to an undisclosed injury.

Assuming he can be back within a few months, I think it would be a great stylistic match up.

Chad Mendes' win at UFC 148 was one of the more impressive victories, among a sea of decisions and some less than stellar performances.

His quick knockout win over Cody McKenzie did well to help erase the memory of his last loss to Jose Aldo. It proved that he's no fluke, he just ran into a monster in the person "Scarface."

I'd love to see "Money" take on Hatsu Hioki. Both are top contenders, so it should prove as a good "weed out" fight.

Book it, Joe Silva.

Mike Easton's victory over Ivan Menjivar showed that "The Hulk" is for real, and has a lot of potential to do some damage at 135 pounds.

He's still a couple fights away from title contention (in my opinion), but Menjivar was a guy who almost fought Urijah Faber for the Bantamweight interim belt.

The bantamweight division is a little thin, I'll grant you that. With that said, Easton beating a guy who was close to being "in the mix," has to put him close to being in that same conversation.

Personally, I'd enjoy seeing Easton take on the loser of Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao. Wouldn't you?

So, those are my picks? Think you can do better? Prove it in the comment section, Maniacs!