Tomorrow, Anderson Silva will move up to light heavyweight for the third time in his UFC career to face off against Ultimate Fighter alumni, Stephan Bonnar. Silva stepped up for this fight against Bonnar when both the main and co-main events of UFC 153 went down within several hours of each other.
This is being heralded as one of the biggest mismatches in UFC history, and Bonnar is going off at as much as a 13-to-1 underdog. People are saying that Silva is going to destroy Bonnar, and that this will be a terrible beatdown, on the level of Silva against Forrest Griffin.
I’m here to tell you that that’s exactly what’s going to happen, and Anderson Silva is going to wreck Stephan Bonnar.
Silva has arguably the best striking in MMA history, and is also, arguably, the greatest fighter of all time. Bonnar has never really been much more than a gatekeeper in the light heavyweight division. The majority of his fame comes from the legendary battle he had against Forrest Griffin at the finale of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Every legitimate defeat Bonnar has suffered—ignoring the loss to Krzysztof Soszynski from a cut—has been to a past or future UFC champion. He falters against the top tier competition, and Saturday night will prove no different.
Expect this fight to look like Silva against Griffin. The only difference is the fact that Bonnar has a better chin, and that may prove to be a problem against Silva.
Instead of getting knocked out early like Griffin did, Bonnar may suffer an absolute beating of epic proportions. Because of Bonnar‘s chin, he could go 15 minutes with Silva, whilst suffering an absolute beatdown.
He will always be in the fight, and he’ll always have a chance to throw a big haymaker that could put down Silva, but for the most part, expect Silva to dominate Bonnar.
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.
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