When Life Gives You Lemons: Vitor Next Up For Silva

I guess we know who Tyson will be rooting for. 

The MMA world is still aghast of recent news of Chael Sonnen testing positive for elevated testosterone levels from steroids. The perennial trash talker had done the unthinkable during the fight with Anderson and nearly pulled off the upset. Come to find out, even with Chael beefed up on roids he still couldn't beat "The Spider". That is a testament to how good Silva really is as he was fighting Sonnen with a rib injury and wasn't 100% himself.

With the rematch between Sonnen and Silva now in the dumps thanks to Chael's "If you ain't cheatin, you ain't tryin" attitude the UFC was left to scramble for Ando's next opponent. The Middleweight contenders of the division were tied up in bouts themselves with Okami facing Belfort for the next shot. Thankfully when news broke that Belfort was injured and out of his number one contenders match with Okami, it was just a cover for him to pull out of the fight and into a bigger one with Silva.

This fight is one that fans have been clamoring for since Vitor signed with the UFC but because of Belfort's injuries has never happened. Thanks to Chael's misfortune that is no longer the case, this fight will be exciting and probably even more-so than the Sonnen fight was (Pre-Steroid allegations). Vitor has the power and hand speed to connect on Anderson and possibly knock him out and he is a big 185lb fighter. Vitor's weakness has always been his mental state, when he gets broken down in the ring he loses his confidence and edge. That has not shown to be the case since his move to Middleweight however, and it remains to be seen if it will stay that way.

Anderson is going to have his hands full with Vitor, but he won't have to worry about a wrestler this time out at least! On the feet I believe that Anderson will still come out on top in this fight, but Vitor has the tools to prove me wrong.

Was Anderson Silva Exposed At UFC 117?

Now I am not one to hate the player, nor the game for that matter, but I can't help but think Silva was exposed a bit in the fight against Sonnen. He is no doubt about it a great fighter and a beast with his hands and feet when he is on point, but on point he was not. Silva had never been through a beating like the one he took Saturday and he looked worse for the wear afterward.

Silva has been known as the best striker in MMA for some time now and that did not seem the case as he was rocked several times by the wrestler Chael Sonnen. With a showing like he put in against Chael it would seem very likely that if he were to have been granted the Boxing match against RJJ that he so desperately wanted that he would have been knocked out cold.

Vitor Belfort has recently been chiming to Dana White asking for the fight against Silva that he lost out on due to injury tweeting: "Dana please give me the fight that every one wants to see. This fight will be the fight of the century. Give me Anderson." It seems to me that he may be so anxious to get at Anderson because of the flawed performance he put in Saturday. Belfort's light bulb probably lit up brightly when he thought of the staggered state that Silva was in after punches from Sonnen. If Sonnen would not have tired and gotten a bit sloppy with his ground and pound while leaving his neck and arm available for the wrenching, he would be the new Middleweight Champion.

Anderson and his camp have come forward and revealed that Silva's ribs were injured and he went to work anyways. Now that Silva is out until 2011 recovering from said injuries he will have the chance to fully heal and make people like me eat my words when he steps back in the cage. Until then the Middleweight contenders are probably foaming at the mouth watching tape of Mr. Silva taking a drubbing by the Republican master of shit talking, Chael Sonnen.

UFC 117 Results: Sonnen Close, But No Cigar

Anderson Silva was in the fight of his life for four and a half rounds in his title fight with Chael Sonnen saturday night. The stars seemed aligned for another monumental upset the likes of Werdum defeating Fedor, but Silva came from behind in the final minutes of the fight to submit Chael with a triangle choke. Before the choke Anderson took a beating from Sonnen like he had never done so in his fighting life but still came out the victor showing the heart and determination of a Champion which had been lacking in his previous tilts. Sonnen tried to put on that phantom tap routine that he pulled with Filho in their first fight, but the proof was in that pudding as the tape clearly showed him tapping. Sonnen is tough as nails but has always and will always have a chink in his armor in the form of submission defense.

The full results from UFC 117 are below:

MAIN CARD
Anderson Silva def. Chael Sonnen via submission (triangle choke) - Round 5, 3:10 (retains middleweight title)
Jon Fitch def. Thiago Alves via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Clay Guida def. Rafael dos Anjos via submission (injury) - Round 3, 1:51
Matt Hughes def. Ricardo Almeida via submission (modified arm-triangle choke) - Round 1, 3:15
Junior Dos Santos def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Rick Story def. Dustin Hazelett via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 1:15
Phil Davis def. Rodney Wallace via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Johny Hendricks def. Charlie Brenneman via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 0:40
Tim Boetsch def. Todd Brown via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Stefan Struve def. Christian Morecraft via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 0:22
Dennis Hallman def. Ben Saunders via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

UFC 117: An Anderson Silva Fight That May Spark Casual Fan Interest

Anderson Silva may be the best fighter in the roster of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's stellar lineup, but that hasn't garnered massive PPV buys like the promotion's other stars like Brock Lesnar or GSP. The fight with Anderson Silva facing off with Dan Henderson was the absolute best match up that could be made within the middleweight division at the time. The card that had hardcore fans buzzing with interest didn't attract the eyes of the masses as it should have. Chael Sonnen is the next in line to face the record breaking Brazilian for the 185lb strap and although not considered the best fighter to enter the ring with Anderson he is definitely the most brash and quote-worthy to challenge Silva thus far. 


Sonnen is a gritty wrestler with a heavy top game and decent, but not stellar, standup. his Achilles heel has always been his suspect submission defense throughout his up and down career. His dominating performance over then Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho was looking to be an upset in his favor until he got caught in an armbar by Filho which he claims to not have submitted to. The rematch with Filho was a strange affair with Paulo missing weight by a substantial margin and robbing Sonnen of the chance at the title. Sonnen won the contest but the WEC soon dissolved the 185lb class from their ranks and shifted a portion of the fighter to the Middleweight ranks of the UFC. 


Sonnen made his UFC debut in his usual fashion; he lost via submission. This was no ordinary grappler however as Damian Maia has been the most dominant submission fighter as of late so the loss was more attributed to Maia's prowess rather than Sonnen's weakness. The next three fights for Sonnen put him on the map as a contender in the middleweight ranks of the UFC. Dan Miller, Ushin Okami, and especially Nate Marquardt were supposed to beat Sonnen but he ground out decision victories over all three men. 


Fast forward to the present and Sonnen is the number one contender to Silva's belt and has by no means been quiet or reserved in his opinion of Silva. Sonnen came into the UFC with the intention of fighting the Muay Thai ace and made no secret of his dislike for Anderson's attitude or demeanor. The trash talk by way of Sonnen are at a steady, venomous apex with the bizzarro performance of Silva at the UFC's first event in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. The quotables, worthy of a full page article in and of itself, have been viewed by many as ridiculous and give Chael little chance at dethroning Silva. 


I am not in the minority that thinks Sonnen will be the one to defeat Anderson Silva, but he has made some believers out of fans with his last few performances. The interesting thing will be seeing how all of the pre-fight hype and trash talk will generate that mysterious "casual fan interest" and translate into a higher PPV percentage for Silva. The fans love a grudge match as much as any pubescent pro wrestling fan this side of Alabama. Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans are just the latest installment of a heated rivalry inside the UFC's ranks to draw considerable interest and that PPV card has been speculated to draw over 900,000 PPV buys. Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz was a mismatch fight, and many knew it, but it still drew huge interest and viewers all three times. 

If Chael Sonnen continues to take pages from the WWE play-book, this match up may actually get more of that illusive casual fan interest that A. Silva needs to generate interest in his fights, especially after his last performance against Maia. After that James Toney might be inclined to give him the stand up battle with a boxing legend that he has been asking for for the last couple of years should he somehow get a win against Couture in August.

After the jump a list of Chael Sonnen quotes, hilarity ensues:

Dana White Contradicts Himself With James Toney Deal

(With 4oz gloves on Sam Peter's head may have spun completely around) 

First of all, I am not against the idea of James Toney fighting for the UFC. Being one of the best boxers of all time does not disqualify you from MMA simply because you don't have an amateur wrestling or Jujitsu background. Toney can and more than likely will bring excitement to those who are fans of his and those people who want to see him fail in his UFC endeavors. What has got me messed up when looking at this deal is that the UFC has the most restrictive contracts in all of combat sports yet they are allowing Toney to continue boxing while under contract. A company that has slighted many a fighter by not allowing them to compete in other sports, let alone other promotions, has let a debuting fighter with no prior MMA experience do what so many others have not been able to. If you recall the original negotiations with Fedor Emelianenko The UFC was unwilling to even allow "The Last Emperor" to compete in Combat Sambo tournaments if he signed with the promotion. The company's Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva has been angling for a fight with Roy Jones Jr. for years and Dana White tells his camp to stop talking about it because he won't allow it to happen. Further contradicting his stance on who fights for the UFC, White went out of his way to accommodate Toney. Is it because of name recognition? Kimbo Slice had already had four pro MMA fights and the record for the most watched MMA fight in history, yet he was still forced to cut his teeth on The Ultimate Fighter reality show before given a shot at fighting for the UFC. I am not comparing the former street-fighter to boxing legend James Toney by any means other than to illustrate a point. If they are so willing to go out of their way for Dana's man-crush James Toney, why not show some of that respect to the loyal fighters in-house? Why not extend that type of courtesy to Fedor Emelianenko to get the Heavyweight juggernaut to the UFC? However, now that this deal has been done maybe the doors have been opened for the UFC to offer better deals to fighters like Emelianenko. Maybe the option of co-promotion has secretly slipped into the realm of possibility with the unlikely signing. Only time will tell, but in the meantime I am interested to see who Toney draws as his first fight inside the cage.

And The Sweepstakes Winner is.........

("Do you really want to huuurt me, do you really wanna make me cry")

Damian Maia will step in to challenge Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in Abu Dhabi in April the UFC announced yesterday. Maia, whom I thought was out of the running due to an eyelid laceration suffered against Dan Miller, will take the fight on two months notice to try to dethrone the 185lb kingpin. Maia has already stated that he would be lying if he said he was going to try to stand with Silva. The match-up is being billed as "MMA's Best Striker vs. MMA's Best Grappler" which is a billing that I can live with. With Vitor out for most of the year from his shoulder surgery we will have to wait a while to see him up against Silva or whomever is holding the title if he is to keep his spot in the 185lb pecking order. Chael Sonnen in the mean time looks to be the next up at bat for the belt after this contest is decided. Dana White had the following to say about the match-up of Brazilians:

“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over DanMiller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”

With Vitor Out of UFC 112, Silva is Left With Few Options

Vitor Belfort is out of the much anticipated title fight with fellow Countryman Anderson Silva due to a shoulder injury suffered in training. With Chael Sonnen now being the number one contender for the shot at the MW Title, can he be ready in time for the proposed date of April 10th? Chael was issued a 30 day suspension by the NSAC due to the laceration on his forehead from an upward elbow from the Nate Marquardt fight last 't weekend. Sonnen has spoke on his training regimen before and after UFC 109 saying that he doesn't just hit the pads or drill wrestling, but he actually fights in camp which is going to be an unlikely scenario, at least until that cut heals. With Nate Marquardt just being dominated for three rounds by Sonnen, his name is not at the top of the list and Dan Henderson is no where for comment now that he is with Strikeforce. Other than Chael, there are no fighters that could step in and be considered challengers for the Middleweight belt. A rematch with Patrick Cote could be set up now that the Canadian is recovered from his injury, but would anyone really want to see that match? Not me personally. Cote is the only person that believes he would have beat the Champion had his knee not blown out in the third round. Yushin Okami has been waiting for his shot at Silva in a bout that should have happened a long time ago, but due to his lack of marketability and recent loss to Sonnen it is unlikely that he will be called on for the job. More than likely Silva will have to dip his toes back into the waters of the Light-Heavyweight division for one fight, or his title fight will need to be rescheduled if Sonnen can't compete by April 10th. If the latter is to happen, at least the Abu-Dhabi card still has BJ Penn defending his title and a match-up of legends in Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie.

Why Anderson Silva has earned the right to choose

Dan Henderson claims that Silva is ducking him for his next title defense, and Nate Marquart has stated his intentions as being the next in line. They both have valid arguments and are definitely at the top of the heap of 185ers. However, Silva beat both of these guys convincingly and states that he wants Nate and Hendo to fight to determine the next challenger to the belt which I believe is the most logical solution. Sure it's not Silva's call, but everyone seems to be forgetting that Yushin Okami is right up there in the mix, and I believe the next logical opponent for Anderson. Okami has a DQ win over Silva, he has only one loss in his UFC career, and will present some different problems for the Champion. The one thing that really gets to me about MMA rankings is that there is no universal system that should have to be followed to determine these types issues. WAMMA is a joke because the UFC wont play nice with anyone who doesn't exist solely under their umbrella. The fans and pundits shouldn't choose challengers based on drawing power and flashy styles, they should be determined by consistently working your way up the rankings.

Roy Jones Jr. in attendance at UFC 101 By Nick Thomas

Roy Jones Jr. wanted to see Anderson Silva's skills firsthand last night at UFC 101. There has been much talk about a proposed match between the two mega-superstars. Jones Jr. picked a great night to watch Anderson, wow did he ever dismantle poor Forest. You have Anderson Silva quite possibly the most talented man in MMA matched up against one of boxing's most talented. I don't see what either of them have to prove in a boxing or MMA match against one and other. Having said that imagine the amount of PPV buys that could generate and how many casual fans it could bring into both sports. You would of course have your hardcore fans of each sport backing their man and bringing up that old tired argument on which sport is better. That argument has been blown up in the media and has cause a little rift between hardcore fans of each sport. Bottom line a fighter is a fighter and I think it is stupid to try and compare two completely different sports. Most fighters respect their boxing counterparts and vice versa so why should we let a couple bad apples spoil the whole bunch. I think it would be positive to put the two in the ring together and see what happens. They expect each other so we should respect them.

By Nick Thomas deathwish72@gmail.com

Silva Returns To Form

(How Tastes My Left Hand)

Anderson Silva showed us that Forrest Griffin isn't on the same planet as him in terms of striking ability. Silva knocked down Forrest three times en route to a first round stoppage of the former Light Heavyweight Champion. Joe Rogan put it blatantly in saying that "This is one of the most embarrassing knockouts we've ever seen" well put Joe, well put.

UFC Champs Open Training Center In Miami

Silva and Minotauro open a training academy in Miami Florida. According to Minotauro:

The sport is growing a lot here. It’s a dream of ours to open an academy here (in Miami). This is a good area and the weather’s really good. This is the right time and right place, this is the sport’s greatest moment so far in America

He also added off the record that there is more sweet poon per capita in Miami than any other place in America. Hmm..

The gym opens on the 16th, so if your in the area and want your ass handed to you by the best in the biz... GET TO IT!

Silva Vs. Jones Jr.

Anderson Silva's manager Ed Soares, and Silva himself have been quoted recently as saying they want to set up a fight between Anderson and Roy Jones Jr in a boxing macth.

These comments have the blog nerds imaginations running wild (myself included)!
How would Silva fair against the pugilists in his arena? Well Roy Jones management have apparently responded and are very interested in the possibility of the bout.

I for one am excited at the possibility, and hope they can work something out to see how he fairs in the ring. I know, I know, he would get his ass kicked just like Jones would in an MMA rules bout. That's the word anyways but who knows, maybe Silva's boxing is really that good, I would pay to see it happen!

Undisputed

Anderson Silva

Silva has no visible threat to his middleweight title in sight. He lost the first round to Henderson, but came out and domintated the second before finsihing with a rear naked choke with just seconds left in the round. I won a little grip of money and a stack of DVD's for my prediction of Silva's win, as there were tons of people calling for Hendo to come out the victor. I would like to see him go to a different weight class, and challenge for another belt in the UFC. Quick results are below:




Main Card:

Anderson Silva submits (rear naked choke) Dan Henderson at 4:52 of round 2
Heath Herring defeats Cheick Kongo by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Chris Leben defeats Alessio Sakara via TKO at 3:16 of round 1
Yushin Okami knocked out (knee) Evan Tanner at 3:00 of round 2
Jon Fitch over Chris Wilson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)

Preliminary Card:

Andre Arlovski defeats Jake O’Brien via TKO (strikes) at 4:17 of round 2
Luigi Fiorvanti defeats Luke Cummo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Josh Koscheck defeats Dustin Hazelett via TKO (strikes) at 1:24 of round 2
Diego Sanchez submits (strikes) David Bielkheden at 4:43 of round 1
Jorge Gurgel defeats John Halverson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Middleweight Mayhem!

Before the exodus of some of the elite heavyweights in the UFC, the Middleweight division was by in large considered the thinnest weight class talent wise. The UFC must have taken notice given the plethora of fighters moving into the 185lb realm.

Enter "Hendo"
First an foremost "Dangerous" Dan Henderson who held Pride FC's welterweight and middleweight belts simultaneously during his tenure with the organization. Henderson lost a hard fought decision to the reigning light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in London last year, in what was his first fight since returning to the UFC. "Hendo" as he is so affectionately referred to, was a bit stubborn about moving down in weight at first as he felt more comfortable at 205lbs. Dana White has a way of getting what he wants however and eventually talked Dan into going to Middleweight to unify the Pride and UFC belts in that division. Facing the devistating striker, and BJJ Black Belt Anderson Silva.

The Showdown

Dan Henderson has publicly stated that he does not beleive Silva to be the number one pound for pound fighter he is so widely regarded as, citing his losses in Japan, and not fighting the highest caliber wrestlers, as the reason for his conclusion. The fact that Henderson's teammate Ryo Chonnen has a win over Silva in Pride can only be adding to his confidence. Anderson Silva has been on a tear for a long time now decimating his opposition thus far in the UFC. Hendo will most likely be the toughest test to his skillset, and beleives that he WANTS to be in Silva's clinch, where he says he can dominate.

TUF Middleweights
The latest season of the TUF will feature an all Middleweight cast, and will be coached by LHW champ Quentin "Rampage" Jackson, and Challenger Forrest Griffen. Hopefully this yeilds some good prospects, and adds to the depth of the division.

Of Note
Ricardo Almeida has returned to the UFC after a long layoff, with an impressive submission.

Patrick Cote has been realizing his potential recently, and looks to get his shot at gold after a couple of notable wins.

The other Middleweight showdown happening this weekend is between Yushin Okami and a newly returned Evan Tanner. Tanner is coming off a two year layoff to face Okami.