Welcome to the first installment of The Friday Five, a new feature on FiveKnuckles that will recap recent news stories and solicit readers' opinions by asking questions related to five topics. To participate and comment on the topics, register for our forum and join this thread in our one-of-a-kind news section.

Thiago Silva Suspension & Fine

The verdict is in. Thiago Silva has been fined $33,750.00 and suspended for one year by the Nevada State Athletic Commission following his failed drug test after UFC 125. Last week it was also learned that Major League Baseball slugger Manny Ramirez has retired rather than face a 100-game suspension for his second offense of a failed test. Being an elite professional athlete is something that only a very small percentage of people are ever able to accomplish. Getting there is one thing, staying is another challenge on an entirely different level. Everyone who's fortunate enough to compete at the highest level of their respective sport is in a constant quest for an edge, something that will assist them in continuing to improve. Performance enhancing drugs are banned from sports because they give the athlete an unfair advantage. Silva put a beating on Brandon Vera in Las Vegas that night. Without juice, maybe he still would have won the fight, maybe he wouldn't have. One of the problems is that banned substances raise these questions and damage the integrity of the respective sport. Let's raise this question: is Silva's fine and suspension enough? Is it too harsh? Too lenient? How would you feel if you were Vera?

St. Pierre challenges Matt Hughes .....to a wrestling match!

A few weeks ago in an interview with MMA Fight Corner, presented by FiveKnuckles.com, Matt Hughes said Georges St. Pierre's wrestling wasn't good. He said the champ uses his wrestling well for mma purposes but that he'd have no shot at beating a seasoned wrestler in a wrestling match. This past Tuesday, also on MMA Fight Corner (yeah, these guys get great guests), GSP responded to Hughes by challenging him to a wrestling match. Wrestling and mma wrestling are two entirely different things. St. Pierre has spent considerable time training his wrestling with the Canadian Olympic team so common wisdom would have people believing that he knows where he stands from a pure wrestling standpoint. It's been rumored that he'll one day wrestle in the Olympics. Great wrestlers, Olympic caliber wrestlers, and accomplished collegiate wrestlers don't start training when they're 20 years old like St. Pierre did. Many start as early as 4 or 5 years old.

Are you buying or selling that GSP is actually on the level of the Olympians he trains with? If he and Hughes were to square off on a mat, who do you think would win?

Two Strikeforce champions make statements in fights, and one makes some afterward.

Lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez and welterweight champ Nick Diaz both dominated their fights last Saturday, and looked spectacular in doing so. After delivering an absolute beating to Tatsuya Kawajiri, Melendez called out the UFC, saying he thinks it's time they and Strikeforce "unify some belts."  He went on to...