Anderson Silva is the greatest Champion the UFC has ever seen, and there is nothing Yushin Okami will be able to do to stop him. After 14 straight victories, Silva is in the driver seat to defend his title again and hold it for over five years, a recor…
Anderson Silva is the greatest Champion the UFC has ever seen, and there is nothing YushinOkami will be able to do to stop him.
After 14 straight victories, Silva is in the driver seat to defend his title again and hold it for over five years, a record that will be almost impossible to break when Silva eventually loses or retires.
With UFC 134 in Silva’s home country of Brazil, many people feel that his presence there may be a double edged sword. While the comfort level is a good thing for any fighter, the distractions of being in his homeland may have his mind not solely on the fight.
Silva told Sherdog.com when asked about whether he is taking the fight against Okami seriously:
You have to have focus and remember where you came from, where you are and where you want to go. Focus is very important. Me and my team got here, even though many people didn’t think we would ever reach this level. We were always very humble, listing and respecting all the coaches, always observing and studying all the opponents a lot. I think this is the path: always work hard and always be motivated to do the job right.
Silva’s last loss came to the man he is fighting Saturday at UFC 134 in YushinOkami, but the loss wasn’t a standard defeat. Instead, Silva was disqualified for an illegal kick that cause Okami to be unable to continue the fight.
That loss came before Silva’s time in the UFC, but Dana White and the UFC fans will have the pleasure of watching Silva destroy Okami with a fury unseen during many PPVs.
With the show being in Brazil and Silva trying to avenge his last loss, this is the perfect storm for an absolute beat down and a first-round knockout by Anderson Silva.
As the lone Heavyweight bout on the fight card at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday’s matchup between American Brendan Schaub and Brazilian Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria will be among the most exciting of the entire evening at HSBC Arena. At least for Sch…
As the lone Heavyweight bout on the fight card at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday’s matchup between American Brendan Schaub and Brazilian Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria will be among the most exciting of the entire evening at HSBC Arena.
At least for Schaub and his fans, that is.
“The Hybrid” is an up-and-coming star among heavyweights in the world of mixed martial arts and figures to continue his ascent “Minotauro”, even with the ire of the home crowd going against him.
Nogueira is certainly the sentimental favorite in this one, if not necessarily the best bet to win. At 35 years old, Nogueira is no longer the same fighter he once was, the kind of fighter with the stamina, endurance and toughness to withstand blow after crippling blow in search of the perfect submission.
That strategy has served Nogueira well in the past, to the point that he is practically a living legend of MMA, though it won’t help him much against a bigger, stronger and younger competitor like Schaub.
Schaub hasn’t lost a fight since getting knocked out by Roy Nelson in the finals of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10, establishing himself as a fighter to watch for the future of the UFC. A former football player who spent time on the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad, Schaub is a tremendous athlete and packs a devastating punch with his right hand.
For better or worse, the UFC is essentially throwing Nogueira to the wolves here, using Minotauro as a test to see if Schaub is the real deal while giving the 28-year-old from Colorado a historical stepping stone of sorts on his way to bona fide MMA stardom.
Look for Schaub to cut short Nogueira’s attempt at a comeback with some endurance of his own and plenty of power counterpunches as he strengthens his case to face the winner of the Cain Velasquez-Junior dos Santos for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
The official weigh-ins for UFC 134 went off without any fireworks between fighters, though the rabid fans in attendance did not hesitate to pick up the slack at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, where Saturday’s fights will take place.According to MMAjunki…
The official weigh-ins for UFC 134 went off without any fireworks between fighters, though the rabid fans in attendance did not hesitate to pick up the slack at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, where Saturday’s fights will take place.
According to MMAjunkie.com, the local crowd cheered wildly in support of Anderson Silva, Mauricio Rua and the rest of their Brazilian countrymen, of whom there are 14 out of 24 total fighters participating in the event’s 12 bouts.
As for the visitors, well, the fans were not exactly kind, to say the least. For international fighters like America’s Forrest Griffin and Japan’s Yushin Okami, the attendant fans had only words of disdain, going so far as to shout out “Vai morrer!”
Which, for those not well versed in Portuguese, means “You are going to die!”
Luckily for the fighters, no one from the crowd attempted to act out on those threats, though they may not be so lucky once they step into the Octagon tomorrow. Brazilians will be favored in just about all of the 11 bouts in which they will be taking part, including, of course, the three fights wherein both competitors are from the home country.
The warning is particularly foreboding for Okami and Griffin. Okami will be looking to snatch the UFC Middleweight Championship belt from Silva, though “The Spider”, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in all of mixed martial arts, will be out to avenge his defeat to Okami, the most recent of his career, by disqualification at Rumble on the Rock nearly five years ago.
Likewise, Griffin will have some difficulty defeating “Shogun” again, with Rua once again the heavy favorite thanks to his superior technique, talent and striking ability.
So while no one is likely to die in the Octagon on Saturday, as fans in Brazil seem to think, there will be plenty of walking wounded and bruised egos among the international crop once all is said and done on Saturday night.
Mauricio Rua will have both the home crowd advantage and the motivational edge when he steps into the Octagon to take on Forrest Griffin at UFC 134 in Rio di Janeiro on Saturday. “Shogun” will once again be favored to take down the feisty American when…
Mauricio Rua will have both the home crowd advantage and the motivational edge when he steps into the Octagon to take on Forrest Griffin at UFC 134 in Rio di Janeiro on Saturday.
“Shogun” will once again be favored to take down the feisty American when the face off in Rua’s native Brazil, though Rua will certainly be hoping for a better result this time around. These two last came to blows at UFC 76 in September of 2007 in a bout that still stands as one of the great upsets in the young history of mixed martial arts.
At the time, Rua had just recently joined the UFC from Pride while Griffin was little more than a fresh face who had the good fortune of winning season one of “The Ultimate Fighter.” What resulted was nothing short of shocking, as Griffin wore down Rua with his energy before forcing the big Brazilian into submission by way of a rear naked choke in the third round.
Rua’s tenure in the UFC has been up and down since then, with wins over Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida stunted by defeats to Machida and Jon “Bones” Jones.
Rua held the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship belt after snagging it from Machida on his second try at UFC 113 in May of 2010, only to lose it to Jones in a one-sided beat-down at UFC 128 this past March.
Now, “Shogun” will look to regroup and gear up for another run at the Light Heavyweight title, with revenge against Griffin first on the docket. If Rua can keep the fight vertical and strike-friendly, he should have no problem dispatching of Griffin, who relies on grit and determination rather than technique to succeed.
And if that doesn’t work, Rua can always draw on the support of his countrymen and the sting of his past failures to ensure that he, and not Forrest, will be the next one running to reclaim the divisional belt.
Anderson Silva has taken the UFC by storm since joining in 2006, though he has one big challenge left to conquer before he reaches the summit of mixed martial arts—defeating Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.”The Spider” will retu…
Anderson Silva has taken the UFC by storm since joining in 2006, though he has one big challenge left to conquer before he reaches the summit of mixed martial arts—defeating Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
“The Spider” will return to his native Brazil on August 27th to exact revenge on Okami, the last fighter to hand Silva a loss, though not without substantial controversy.
The two foes last fought Rumble on the Rock 8 in Honolulu, Hawaii back in January of 2006. Silva was the favorite to win the tournament but was sent off when the Brazilian sent an illegal kick at Okami’s head while the Japanese challenger was down in the guard position. Okami was given the opportunity to get himself together and continue the fight but chose instead to accept a victory by disqualification.
After the fight, Silva claimed that the rules had not been properly explained to him and has since been anything but shy about his feelings toward Okami, telling Sherdog.com:
“I feel it was a cheap, cowardly way of winning. People that were there saw that he was in the condition to come back and keep fighting, and he didn’t…It wasn’t really a fight.”
Silva hasn’t lost in the intervening five-and-a-half years, including an all-time best 13-0 record in UFC matches. Along the way, Silva picked up the UFC Middleweight Championship and has managed to defend it nine times, thereby establishing himself as arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Okami is no slouch either, having won 10 of his 12 UFC matches since moving up to the league in August of 2006.
Thus, a win over Okami would not only give Silva yet another fine feather to add to his well-decorated fighting cap in defending his title belt, but also the satisfaction of avenging his most recent defeat.
Not to mention prove that Silva knows the rules this time around.
UFC 132 is nearly upon us, and with so many great matches on tap, it’s tough to refrain from getting excited about the present without wondering what this weekend’s festivities mean for the future of MMA’s most popular circuit.In previous years, fights…
UFC 132 is nearly upon us, and with so many great matches on tap, it’s tough to refrain from getting excited about the present without wondering what this weekend’s festivities mean for the future of MMA‘s most popular circuit.
In previous years, fights involving Wanderlei Silva and Tito Ortiz would easily have carried the day, though current fans might only scoff at such antiquated names and wonder whether UFC president Dana White is partying like its 2003.
Nowadays, monikers like “The Axe Murderer” and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” have made way for a new generation of budding superstars who have flooded the UFC’s ranks from other, smaller organizations that have either drifted to the margins or gone defunct entirely.
Among that batch of new blood are the two names adorning the marquee at the MGM Grand Garden Theater in Las Vegas—Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.
The two became part of UFC back in October of 2010, when World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the UFC and brought along with it all of its fighters, including Cruz and Faber, who happened to be two of its top prospects.
Cruz, who is 17-1 in his MMA career coming into Saturday’s bout, has yet to fight since joining UFC, thereby making his rematch with Faber something of a first. At 5’8″ and 134.5 pounds, Cruz, a native of Tuscon, Arizona who now fights out of San Diego, California, tends to switch between boxing while on his feet and traditional wrestling when he’s grounded, and judging by his record, which includes six knockouts, the man known as “Dominator” has done quite well with it.
Faber, on the other hand, is slightly shorter, at 5’6″, but is almost identical in weight at 135 pounds, with significantly more fighting experience than his young challenger. “The California Kid” has emerged as a star for UFC since he defeated former WEC Bantanweight champion Eddie Wineland by unanimous decision in his UFC debut at UFC 128 back in March of this year.
The two former WEC fighters do have something of a history to fall back on in this bout. In March of 2007, Faber and Cruz fought as Featherweights, though truth be told, it wasn’t much of a fight at all. Faber forced Cruz into submission by guillotine choke at the 1:38 mark of the first round, thereby successfully defending his belt for the second time without even going into the second round.
So who’s to say the outcome will be any different this time around? What’s there to suggest that Faber won’t simply toss Cruz aside like yesterday’s news as he marches onward into UFC stardom? After all, this will mark the second time that Cruz will have faced Faber just after joining a new promotion company, as Faber was also Cruz’s first opponent after joining WEC.
And I’ve already told you how that one turned out.
However, to say so flatly that the result will be the same on Saturday simply because the circumstances are similar neglects the fact that Cruz hasn’t lost a match since that fateful day four years ago and would certainly deny that Cruz, now at 25, is a much more mature fighter just entering his prime, while Faber, albeit still considerably more experienced, would appear to be somewhere on the tail-end of his best years about to fade into the twilight of his career at 32 years of age.
If that were the case, then wouldn’t it make much more sense for UFC to promote Cruz as the next big thing, given his potential for greater longevity?
Sure, of course it does, but again, Cruz hasn’t even competed in a UFC fight yet, much less claimed victory in one, even though UFC was kind enough to promote Cruz to Bantamweight Champion after carrying over his belt from WEC. Thus, if Cruz proves his mettle against Faber at UFC 132, he’ll not only have exacted revenge for himself personally, but also established his brand in the UFC world professionally while defending a crown that he seemingly owns by default.
Then again, if Cruz loses, particularly in the rather rapid way in which he did last time, then the spotlight will shine that much brighter on Faber, who already has some prime face time in the television advertisement for UFC’s Personal Trainer video game for the XBOX 360 and won’t soon lose any luster if he adds the league’s Bantamweight Championship to his resume.
Either way, there will surely be at least one star borne from the slate of fights at UFC 132 this weekend. The question remains: Who’s it going to be?
