LAS VEGAS - The way UFC president Dana White see its, only one man stands in the way of the UFC's biggest ever fight.

And that's Jake Shields.

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva did his bit to set the stage for a lucrative super-fight with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre by knocking out Vitor Belfort in highlight-reel fashion at UFC 126 on Saturday night.

Montreal's St-Pierre can complete the other half of the puzzle with a win over Shields (26-4-1) at UFC 129 in Toronto on April 30.

With Silva and St-Pierre touted as the two best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, a showdown between the two would settle the argument of who's really the best. And it would give the UFC the kind of marquee matchup that it can use to showcase the sport of mixed martial arts around the globe.

Whoever has his hand raised that night, it will be win-win for the UFC.

White was careful to remind listeners that Silva-GSP is not a done deal and that Shields, a former Strikeforce champion with a win over Dan Henderson at middleweight, is a tough fighter who has flown under the radar. Plus even if St-Pierre were to beat Shields, he would probably have to emerge uninjured if the UFC is achieve its goal of staging the super-fight in 2011.

But the UFC boss could not help himself, listing off mega-venues where he could host the fight.

"Where do we hold the fight, I think that would be the biggest challenge," he said.

Cowboys Stadium, home of Sunday's Super Bowl, for one. The billion-dollar palace has a capacity of 80,000, not counting standing room.

"If there was ever a fight that we're going to do Dallas, Texas Stadium, this would be the fight," White told reporters.

Some 51,000 turned out for the first boxing match at Cowboys Stadium to see Manny Pacquiao beat Joshua Clottey.

Then there's Canada's Rogers Centre, where 42,000 tickets for UFC 129 will go on sale this week.

"I think we crush it in Toronto," said White. "We can put that fight anywhere and people will travel to see this fight.

"All of Canada, I mean the Canadians that come to these fights, we'll be lucky if an American can get a ticket to this fight because Canada's going to jump all over this thing.

Silva, not surprisingly, favours his native Brazil as host venue. Or Las Vegas, which he says is his second home.

Matching Silva against St-Pierre will have a long-range ripple effect on several weight classes, however.

The six-foot-two Silva (28-4) holds the 185-pound title although he has won at light-heavyweight (205 pounds). The five-foot-11 St-Pierre (21-2) is champion at 170 pounds.

The plan is for St-Pierre to give up his welterweight title and challenge Silva at middleweight.

St-Pierre says if he moves up a division, he will do so permanently so as to not submit his body to constant weight changes. Silva insists he will stay at 185 pounds, refusing to move up to 205.

Silva, 35, normally walks around at 200 pounds-plus, compared to the high 180s for the 29-year-old St-Pierre.

Despite the size differential, St-Pierre poses a challenge to Silva who has had the most trouble against wrestlers. St-Pierre, for all his skills, has the best wrestling in MMA.

"Stylistically it's an interesting fight," White said. "Georges St-Pierre destroys wrestlers. No matter how long you've been wrestling, no matter how good of a wrestler you are, he will take you down, he'll put you on your back and he'll keep you there.

"He can probably do that to Anderson Silva too. Who knows?'

Still one has to give the home-field advantage to the Brazilian. In moving up to middleweight, the Canadian will be fighting on Silva's home turf.

Plus White seems to have no interest in meeting St-Pierre's request that he get sufficient time to get used to fighting in a bigger body.

"We'll do the fight this year," he said.

Said Silva: "It's going to be a fun fight. I'm going to go over here, fly over here, he's going to fly over there. There's going to be punches and kicks thrown. It's going to be another fun fight."

White said he did not see any reason why a Silva-GSP fight should not go ahead.

"I think these guys are both in a place in their career right now where they'd like to test themselves with this fight," he said.

Silva added to his mystique Saturday night by dispatching Brazilian rival Belfort with one kick. After a lengthy feeling out dance between the two and a couple of brief exchanges, Silva looked low and then flicked his foot up high.

The front kick caught Belfort flush on the chin. The challenger crumpled to the ground, then fell backwards. Silva threw a couple of punches at the dazed Belfort before the referee stepped in at 3:25 of the first round.

"I've only seen that on a video game," White said of the kick. "I've never seen somebody do that ... It was so powerful, he literally knocked him out with that kick. It was crazy."

Adding to the story, Silva credited actor Steven Seagal for helping him perfect the kicks. The champion is friends with Seagal, a martial artist himself, and the two have trained together.

Seagal was on hand Saturday to see his handiwork.

Asked what he thought of a possible Silva-GSP matchup, Seagal said: "It will be a very rough fight for both of them because they're both great."

In other UFC 126 action, 23-year-old light-heavyweight Jon (Bones) Jones earned himself a title shot with a dominant performance in a second-round submission win over the previously unbeaten Ryan (Darth) Bader.

Seconds after finishing off Bader by guillotine choke, White told Jones (12-1) that he would be filling in for the injured Rashad Evans against light-heavyweight champion Mauricio (Shogun) Rua at UFC 128 on March 19.

Evans suffered a sprained knee ligament in training and will be out six to eight weeks.

The six-foot-four Jones, who had a 10-inch reach advantage over the 6-2 Bader, had his way Saturday night as Bader (13-1) joined the growing list of capable fighters left in his dust.

In the co-main event, former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin (18-6) used his size and strength to win a unanimous decision over former middleweight title-holder Rich Franklin (28-6 with one no contest) in a fight contested at 205 pounds.

Former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Angel Torres, now training in Montreal under Firas Zahabi, executed a smart game plan in fighting from the outside against a smaller opponent and won a unanimous decision over Antonio Banuelos.

"I think that Miguel Torres had a good game plan tonight and fought a great fight," said White.