Among its many intricacies Dream Stage Entertainment, the company that promotes PRIDE, has a particular way of matching and scheduling title fights.

According to DSE’s point of view, a fighter who lost his last bout can face the reigning champion for the title. Even the weakest fighter, with no influence, has this right. Everything goes according to DSE rules.

PRIDE middleweight champion since 2001, when DSE first established title fights, Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) has put his belt on the line against fighters like Ricardo Arona (Pictures) and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, each man having worked hard to deserve a title shot.

With the recently concluded Open-Weight Grand Prix playing out over three events, and with Silva fighting on each card, PRIDE’s 205-pound fighters had minimal chance to lay claim as Silva’s next challenger.

Clearly Silva cannot fight Mauricio Rua (Pictures), the champion’s Chute Boxe teammate who won PRIDE’s Middleweight Grand Prix last year. So who are the likely candidates?

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures), Ricardo Arona (Pictures) and Alistair Overeem (Pictures) have become the strongest possibilities. Beaten by Nogueira and Arona, Overeem seems to be the first out of contention. Arona, the last No. 1 contender to face the Chute Boxe star, would be a future challenger if Silva continues to hold his title. So that leaves only “Minotoro,” a fighter who has improved his skills day by day and tested them in the ring, whether it be boxing or MMA.

Best yet, Wanderlei and Rogerio want to fight one another.

“I think ‘Minotoro’ is an excellent opponent,” Silva told Sherdog.com. “His fighting style matches with mine perfectly, and I think, here in Brazil, he is number one on the line. His last victory over Alistair Overeem (Pictures) gave him the name he needed to have a title shot.”

Nogueira's recent victories, including his epic battle against “Shogun” in June 2005, are his evidence that he should be next to face Silva for the middleweight belt.

“I want to face Wanderlei so bad,” Nogueira confessed. “My job has been done for such a long time. I have been working hard and I’ve been showing good results. I beat Dan Henderson (Pictures) and Alistair Overeem (Pictures). I had an amazing battle against ‘Shogun’ and that was considered the best fight of 2005. I have improved myself a lot since then and I’m sure I am ready to face this big challenge. I’m working a lot. I guarantee I will show an excellent performance in this fight, which I’ve been waiting for three years.”

Silva knows the size of this challenge.

Nogueira’s training partners, including his twin brother Rodrigo, who held the PRIDE heavyweight belt, are great athletes from Brazilian Top Team. And Little Nogueira’s evolution as a boxer makes him someone who can provide another epic battle in the Japanese ring where Silva was crowned.

“It would be an excellent fight, with lots of action,” said Silva. “‘Minotoro’ has been training boxing real hard, for a long time, so he won’t make this Arona’s lazy game. He would want to make it a standing game, which makes the fight more exciting. I think this will be a fight that everybody would like to watch. And I want it because it would be an amazing show for everyone.”

Nogueira shares the same opinion about Silva and bets that it’s the right time to schedule this challenge. Despite fighting just once in 2006, Nogueira says he didn’t stop training even for one moment, and he looks at a fight with Silva as the goal of his career.

“Be sure you will see an exciting fight,” Nogueira promises. “I’ve been training a lot of BJJ, a lot of boxing, and much more wrestling. And I’m becoming a well-rounded fighter, very experienced. If I have this chance, I’ll take it seriously and I think it would be the goal of my life.”

Even though it is his wish, which would be a bonus to this match, Silva knows his next title defense doesn’t depend on him — it’s all in PRIDE’s hands.

“I don’t match the fights,” the champion said. “PRIDE does and it depend on their will.”