Another free full fight from the UFC highlighting the past successes of one of the UFC 148 headliners. This time Anderson Silva‘s fight with Dan Henderson at UFC 83: Pride of a Champion that unified the UFC and PRIDE championship belts.
It was after this fight that The Spider first began to be regarded as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Though Hendo had just lost his PRIDE 205lb belt to Rampage Jackson at UFC 75, 185lbs was arguably the ideal weight class for him at the time, and he brought a wrestling game that was superior to any that Silva had faced before.
Much of the discussion leading up to the fight centred around whether Silva could defend against Henderson’s takedowns, as it was assumed that he was at his most vulnerable on his back. He was certainly tested in that regard in the 1st round, before taking over in the 2nd, decimating one of the greatest fighters in MMA history.
This is how I picture the rematch with Sonnen going, for the record.
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Anderson Silva is not the kind of guy to lose his cool. in fact, he has often been so relaxed he has not even bothered to fight his opponents properly, coasting to victory when he could have zapped them and added to his long list of highlight reel finishes. hOwever, it seems that Chael Sonnen has really hit a nerve over the last 2 years, as ‘the Spider came out with some pretty aggressive statements in a UFC 148 conference call the other day.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m on bottom, side or top. Chael Sonnen is going to get his ass kicked like he’s never gotten his ass kicked before,” Silva said through a translator. “What I’m going to do inside the Octagon is something that’s gonna change the image of the sport. I’m going to make sure that every one of his teeth are broken, his arms are broke, his legs are broke. He’s not going to be able to walk out of the Octagon by himself, I can guarantee that. I know he’s listening: The game is over, no more s— talking. It’s on now.”
“I’m just gonna make him pay and make him eat everything he said — not only about myself, but about our country, about everything. I’m gonna make sure that he never disrespects any fighter — not only Brazilian — any fighter,” Silva said. “I’m going to beat him the way his parents should have beat him to teach him manners because he’s disrespectful.”
“There is going to be no difference in the end. The first time we fought, he stepped out the loser, and he’s going to step out losing again this time, too,” Silva said. “The only difference this time is he’s going to have to go see a plastic surgeon after the fight.”
“People who live in the past and things that are in the past are in museums. Right now, I’m focused on what’s gonna happen in the next few weeks. Right now, playtime is over. I’m gonna beat Chael like he’s never been beat before. There’s no more talking. I’m going to beat his ass out of the UFC. He’s never gonna want to fight again after I’m done with him,” Silva said.
And there I was thinking that I couldn’t get any more excited about this fight. I’ve always predicted that Silva is going to come out with a career defining performance and punish Sonnen, but reading this and knowing that Silva really seems to want to embarrass his opponent has really got me prepared for some truly next-level violence next week. Dana White observed that this kind of talk iscompletely unheard of from the p4p king. And looking at the kind of performances that he has put in when there was even a shred of animosity between him and his opponent I will repeat myself. I CANNOT WAIT FOR JULY 7th!
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Glay Guida does, well, who knows what on earth he was doing last Friday at UFC on FX 4
It’s taken me this long to even write anything about last weekend’s MMA action, because it was just about the most uninspiring set of fights I’ve seen in quite some time. What makes matters worse, is that there was barely a single fight to get psyched about across 3 major events.
With regard to the main event of UFC on FX 4, the most remarkable thing that happened was that regular fan-favourite Clay Guida’s performance was so putrid that fans actually sided with Gray Maynard, traditionally one of the most derided fighters out there thanks to his lack of charisma and ugly fighting style. Guida has cultivated a reputation as an exciting fighter which I have found to be odd for a while now. While he has provided some exhilarating action against the likes of Diego Sanchez and Benson Henderson (in losing efforts), wins over Nate Diaz and Mac Danzig were not fun to watch, and far from the kind of fight-of-the-night performances that people seem to expect. On Friday night, he moved around a lot, but basically did NOTHING to engage with his opponent, and deservedly dropped a judges decision having frustrated everyone watching for 25 minutes. To be fair, Maynard did not look particularly impressive either and even lost the fight on some observers’ scorecards, leaving him a fair way off getting a rematch with Frankie Edgar or another title shot.
The other gut-wrenching moment of the evening came at the culmination of the co-main event, as Spencer Fisher rolled back the years (much to my, and most other people’s surprise) and put on a striking clinic against Sam Stout. unfortunately, the judges decided that the odd takedown and brief spell of top control from Stout towards the end of rounds was enough to merit a victory on points, leaving Fisher’s future in the UFC uncertain after continuing his poor run of results. It was a true shame to see a veteran with one of the biggest herts in the game get screwed out of a potentially career defining win.
Elsewhere on the card, Brian Ebersole was impressive in beating T.J. Waldburger (my goodness he is going to be a frightening lightweight), Cub Swanson picked up a shocking TKO victory over Ross Pearson, and Ricardo Lamas, took a decision over Hatsu Hioki in an intriguing but underwhelming fight that all but confirmed once and for all that fighters should take the opportunity of a title shot whenever they can get it. Also, the bell seemed to toll for Japanese MMA. Hioki was really the last Japanese fighter with a shot at major success, and he seems to have blown it. On the undercard Matt Brown and Dan Miller came through with convincing stoppage victories to continue their largely unheralded long UFC runs, where great fights are usually a guarantee.
While these fiughts were far from the kind of garbage that completely kills a UFC event, the lack of name recognition for casual fans, and the bitter taste left from the main events served to kill the enthusiasm at the culmination of the broadcast. Hardly the ideal lead-in for one of the least promising numbered UFC events in quite some time the following night…
A lot of people seem to be raving about the headline fight of UFC 147, but I just cant do the same. When Wanderlei Silva went wild and dropped Rich Franklin at the end of the 2nd round, I got as animated as its about as possible for me to get when soberly watching MMA, but with the exception off the last 30 seconds, the rest of the fight was little more than Franklin winning the fight on autopilot as ‘The Axe Murderer’ struggled to gain the confidence to engage. At the very least, I think the fight proved that Wandy does not need to retire yet, but he is firmly out of the elite level. Not that we didn’t know that before. In the other fight between fighters that fans outside of Brazil might have actually known Fabricio Werdum landed a nice uppercut and some follow up punches to finish Mike Russow and bring him closer to a title shot, but a fight to quicken your pulse it was not.
The rest of the main card saw 3 pretty dull fights end in decisions, as no-one seemed to want to show caution to the wind, thanks presumably to being a little overawed by the occasion. Cezar ‘Mutante’ Ferreira and Rony ‘Jason’ Bezerra won the TUF Brazil middleweight and featherweight finals respectively, and Yuri Alcantara suffered a shock defeat to Hacran Dias.
Even Bellator could not save the weekend, due in large to the unfortunate scheduling of an entire light-heavyweight tournament bracket featuring fighters that are unlikely to set the world on fire with their talents. Travis Wiuff, Atila Vegh, Tim Carpenter and Emanuel Newton all advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament, and there were some bright spots to be found (which can be seen in the highlight video below), though the card was not up to the usual high standards that we have come to expect from Bellator after an explosive Season 6.
not to worry though. Bellator will return at the end of next month with Bellator 72, that should return to the kind of fare we’re used to with the welterweight tournament final and the Waachim Spritwolf/Marius Zaromskis rematch.
After the break, the full set of results from the weekend’s 3 events.
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ANOTHER free fight video from the UFC to hype up the forthcoming Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen II fight at UFC 148 next week.
This time, we can take a look back at Silva’s return to Brazil, fighting Yushin Okami and putting on an absolute clinic, totally embarrassing the Japanese grinder. Truly a virtuoso performance against one of the very best in the world, exactly the kind of show you’d expect from the greatest fighter of all time.
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So, last night’s UFC on FX show was about as riveting as could be expected (sigh), so I’ll be taking digs at that in a weekend review post at some point during the course of the next couple of days.
In the meantime, there’s another ‘stacked’ (sigh again) UFC event tonight all the way from Brazil, headlined by the highly anticipated rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen … Wanderlei Silva’s eagerly awaited rematch with Vitor Belfort … Wanderlei Silva‘s highly anticipated rematch with Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin. This fight is anchored by a fairly decent heavyweight co-main event featuring Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow.
Being totally candid, I have no idea who the hell anyone else on the rest of the card is with the exception of Yuri Alcantara and Rodrigo Damm, because I refuse to watch TUF Brazil on the UFC’s useless video player. That is not to say that these other fights will not be fantastic, because I can imagine these Brazilian chaps throwing down for what is the biggest opportunity of their lives. I will however only be able to offer breakdowns of the main and co-main events to avoid the pitfalls of writing some grossly misinformed predictions.
190lb catchweight – Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin
So much of the discourse that the UFC has been spewing in promo videos for this fight revolves around how excited fans are for this rematch (untrue), and how a rematch had been called for thanks to the close nature of the first fight between these 2 future hall-of-famers (debatable at best). As a huge Axe Murderer fan, I can remember really wanting Wanderlei to have his hand raised in June 2009, but I just couldn’t make a case for it without compromising the correct interpretation of the unified rules. I thought I’d watch the fight again and see I was correct in this assumption. I mean this argument that the fight was so close has been rammed down my neck so much in the past couple of weeks by the UFC hype machine I’d began to doubt myself.
I still think that Franklin won the fight. Silva had a couple of flashes of success when he wobbled Rich, but he did not capitalise on them, and Franklin was definitely able to land the majority of the cleaner punches throughout the fight. It was actually a lot closer than I remembered, but I’d still give Franklin the fight 29-28.
I’d honestly expect this fight to play out in a similar way. ‘The Axe Murderer’ is even more shop-worn than before, and he seems to be more gun-shy than ever. Franklin has not been fighting often, but he has likely not depreciated physically too much either. He has never relied too much on speed, and he certainly has the power to test Silva’s suspect chin. Unless Wandy can get inside early and crack Franklin dead on the chin/temple and swarm on him for a T/KO, I can see the former UFC middleweight champion picking up another decision victory.
Heavyweights – Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Russow
Werdum is a 1/5 favourite here, though his opponent should not be counted out at all. While I do think that the Brazilian should work a striking game that should leave Russow looking like the victim of a lawnmower assault, other fighters have found out to their horror that the Chicago cop is never out of a fight, and is always dangerous.
Russow has been fighting fairly inconsistently in the UFC since he arrived in 2009, only fighting once every year until this year. That has not stopped him from getting consistent results. He is 4-0 in the promotion, and I think I’m correct in saying that he has the biggest active win streak in the UFC heavyweight division behind Junior Dos Santos. his overall win streak is actually greater than JDS’s, though it it made up of significantly more wins over scrubs on the regional circuit than the UFC heavyweight champions’.
Russow started slowly in the world’s premier MMA promotion by decisioning ‘The Nsane 1’ Justin McCully (wow, I’d forgotten about that hilariously and absurdly awful nickname), and getting battered by Todd Duffee for 12 and a half minutes before he landed one of the most shocking punches ever to get the KO win. I’d call it the best comeback ever, but I’d usually associate a comeback with some sort of sustained period of success to win the fight after taking a tremendous beating. Russow seemed to tap Duffman on the chin to score one of the most shocking victories in MMA history. After that, Russow began to hit his stride. John Madsen had been putting audiences to sleep with lay-and-pray for a year in the UFC before Russow beat him down so badly the doctors had to stop the fight after the 2nd round. More recently he took a convincing UD win over Jon Olav Einemo at UFC on FOX 2.
So, we’ve learned that Chicago’s finest law enforcement officer/MMA heavyweight can win in a variety of ways, and he can do it after taking a serious licking, and that is absolutely what I expect Fabricio Werdum to give him after looking back at his last fight. Roy Nelson is one of the most aggressive fighters in the division, and Werdum was able to fire right back and paste ‘Big Country’ from pillar to post for 15 minutes with punches and some truly horrific knees in the clinch. If Russow doesn’t want any part of that and he decides to take the fight to the mat instead, he’ll be in the realm of a former bjj world champion, and the only man to submit Fedor Emilianenko. Basically, if you would excuse my French, Mike Russow is fucked.
Both fighters are legitimately big heavyweights, tipping the scales at around 245lbs, but Werdum appears to be in far better shape having completely revolutionised his training after he began his Strikeforce run a while back. His superior strength, conditioning, submission grappling and offensive output will make this a long night for Russow.
The rest of the line-up for tonight’s event is as follows:
Main Card
Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira vs. Sergio “Serginho” Moraes
Rony “Jason” Mariano Bezerra vs. Godofredo “Pepey” de Oliveira
Yuri Alcantara vs. Hacran Dias
Prelims
Rodrigo Damm vs. Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros
Francisco “Massaranduba” Drinaldo vs. Delson “Pe de Chumbo” Heleno
John “Macapa” Teixeira vs. Hugo “Wolverine” Viana
Leonardo “Macarrao” Mafra Teixeira vs. Thiago de Oliveira Perpetuo
Marcos Vinicius “Vina” Borges Pancini vs. Wagner “Galeto” Campos
Bellator’s 2012 Summer Series kicks off tonight with Bellator 71, an event that I’m not going to break down, because quite honestly my knowledge of regional-level light heavyweights is not good, and nor should it be because these guys are largely irrelevant in terms of rankings. All of the best 205lb fighters are in the UFC, and with one or two exceptions, everything else is average at best.
Even with all that said, I’m sure there will be some entertaining action, but the kind that is probably worth waiting for highlights and such while you occupy your time watching the UFC on FX 4 tonight instead.
To compliment this light-heavyweight tournament ‘action’, domestic violence stand-out Brett Rogers makes his Bellator début. So there’s that
Main card
Chris Davis vs. Travis Wiuff – light heavyweight tournament quarter-final
Zelg Galesic vs. Attila Vegh- light heavyweight tournament quarter-final
Roy Boughton vs. Emanuel Newton – light heavyweight tournament quarter-final
Tim Carpenter vs. Beau Tribolet – light heavyweight tournament quarter-final
Brett Rogersvs. Kevin Asplund
Prelims
Dan Spohn vs. Josh Stansbury
Duane Bastress vs. Jason Butcher
Chris Goldbaugh vs. Kevin Zalac
Neil Johnson vs. Brylan Van Artsdalen
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Gray Maynard and Clay Guida face off after making weight yesterday
The first of 2 UFC offerings this weekend takes place TONIGHT, as two top contenders at 155lbs face off in a 5 round non-title fight for UFC on FX 4!
Main Card
Clay Guida vs. Gray Maynard
OK, so first up is Maynard vs. Guida, and we all know that 5 round fights equal fun, particularly in the lighter weight classes. Both men are coming into this contest having lost their previous fights against Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson, the two top fighters in the division no less. A win here would be a huge step towards immediately thrusting one of these gentlemen back into the title picture.
Maynard possesses a significant size and strength advantage, though his boxing is not the most crisp, and he will have a hard time hurting Guida if he can put hands on him. Furthermore, ‘The Carpenter’s’ defensive wrestling and scrambling is excellent so Maynard won’t be able to rely on just getting a takedown and acting as a blanket for 25 minutes.
I do think that Maynard will be able to get some takedowns though, and tag Guida enough to get the nod on the judges scorecards. The only thing that could prevent that would be him running out of gas late on, but he must have learned to not go nuts and suffer a massive adrenaline dump after the Edgar fights by now, right?
Spencer Fisher vs. Sam Stout
A rubber match that is probably about 4 years too late, but it should still be a fun fight. Here’s a litle video from the UFC breaking sown the affair.
After the second fight, it seemed that Fisher was by far and away the superior fighter, having adapted his game to thoroughly outclass ‘Hands of Stone’ for a convincing decision victory. However, it seems perfectly reasonable now to chalk that down to a lack of experience from Stout. He is still only 28, and gradually improving year-on-year, establishing himself as a solid fighter in the middle of the ultra-tough 155lb weight class.
Fisher is now 36, 8 years his opponent’s senior, and he comes into this fight with a 1-4 record in his last 5 fights. He is looking incredibly shopworn at this point, and I think it would take some kind of miracle for him to roll back the years and win this fight. Stout should be able to put together combinations and maybe even finish Fisher late, putting an end to his UFC career in the process.
Brian Ebersole vs. T.J. Waldburger
Ebersole has quietly put together an impressive 3 fight win streak at 170lbs, and is looking every bit like he belongs in the UFC’s hornet’s nest of a welterweight division after having previously spent a long time on the regional circuit that defined him as one of the sport’s premier journeymen. He has a well rounded game and a ton of experience that will probably be enough to deal with all but the very best in the UFC. Waldburger haas won 3 of his 4 UFC fights, with his only loss coming against top-contender Johny Hendricks. He is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting grapplers at 170lbs after a couple of impressive submissions in his most recent fights.
Waldburger chans submissions together to dispatch Mike Stumpf for the sub-of-the-night at UFN 25…
…and wraps up Jake Hecht in his last outing at UFC on FX 2
I’m going to have to have to have a bit of a stab in the dark here, as I’ve not seen to much of Waldburger apart from his remarkable finishing abilities. Ebersole has fought fighters with better records than this, and I would guess he has the fight IQ to deal with whatever Waldburger can throw at him and pick up a decision win.
Ross Pearson vs. Cub Swanson
Here’s a potential fight-of-the-night contender. Pearson likes to keep his fights standing and out-box his opponents while Swanson will probably play into that game plan by coming forward and looking to take the Sunderland-born fighter’s head off. I don’t think I really need to do much more analysis here. This will be fun, and Pearson should emerge with a victory on the scorecards or via late T/KO.
Prelims
Hatsu Hioki vs. Ricardo Lamas
A quick note on this preliminary fight, and a lesson for UFC contenders. Hioki was offered a fight with UFc featherweight champ José Aldo, but he turned it down arguing that he felt he needed one more fight before he was ready. Well now he’s buried on the undercard of an FX show on FUEL TV, and facing a very live underdog in Lamas, who has been very impressive since moving to featherweight with 2 stoppage victories. I still think Hioki should win thanks to his incredible grappling, but he is walking a tightrope here against a guy with serious KO power.
The rest of the prelims are as follows:
C.J. Keith vs. Ramsey Nijem
Brock Jardine vs. Rick Story
Joey Gambino vs. Steven Siler
Chis Camozzi vs. Nick Catone
Matt Brown vs. Luis Ramos
Ricardo Funch vs. Dan Miller
Dustin Pague vs. Ken Stone
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It appears that the UFC has arranged for Matt Serra to travel around and interview fighters before they compete at major events for the next few months. Why? I have no idea, but the combination of Serra meeting Chael Sonnen before his fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 148 was much more interesting than some no-faced reporter.
Chael isn’t in troll mode, but it’s nice to see him be himself and bounce off Serra as he acts out like he’s a extra in Goodfellas.
Another free fight video from the UFC in the build up to the biggest fight of the year, Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II at UFC 148 on July 7th.
In this video, Chael Sonnen runs over top 10 middleweight Brian Stann in his comeback fight after over a year out last year. While it’s true that Stann’s defensive wrestling and submission grappling is not anywhere near the elite level of other fighters at 185lbs, he is a great fighter, and should have provided a stiff test for the self-styled American gangster from West Linn, Oregon. What actually happened was Chael Sonnen putting on one of the performances of his career, completely dominating Stann for 1 and a half rounds, stopping all of his offence and submitting him witha an arm-triangle choke.
Post-fight, the infamous pro-wrestling-style loser-leaves-town match call-out of Silva.
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