Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsAnderson Silva’s injured shoulder will most likely keep him out until early 2012, Silva’s manager Ed Soares informed MMA Fighting on Saturday night.
Silva injured his shoulder in training for his UFC 134 f…
Anderson Silva‘s injured shoulder will most likely keep him out until early 2012, Silva’s manager Ed Soares informed MMA Fighting on Saturday night.
Silva injured his shoulder in training for his UFC 134 fight against Yushin Okami last month, which he won via second-round TKO. There was some fear within his camp that he would have to undergo surgery, but Soares said Silva will simply need rehab to heal it.
“A month before the fight I injured my shoulder while training with Junior dos Santos and I was feeling a lot of pain in Rio. I’ve had to take some medicine and warn the athletic commission about it,” said Silva recently to Tatame. “I’ve talked to my doctors. I had an MRI and then I started feeling pains in my shoulder but the doctors let me go and said it was not that serious. It’s a small injury, but I guess it’s on the cuff and bothers me. I’ll rest for a while and get healed.”
Soares said he was hoping Silva would be ready to defend his middleweight title again in the first quarter of 2012.
No opponent has been set for Silva’s return, but we may get some answers next month when Chael Sonnen meets Brian Stann at UFC 136 in Houston.
At Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov, a middleweight title fight, that had flown under the radar until it actually happened, led to the crowning of a new 185-pound Strikeforce champion. In a back-and-forth bout, Luke Rockhold dethroned Ronaldo Souza …
At Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov, a middleweight title fight, that had flown under the radar until it actually happened, led to the crowning of a new 185-pound Strikeforce champion. In a back-and-forth bout, Luke Rockhold dethroned Ronaldo Souza with a narrow unanimous decision victory.
Before last night, Rockhold was merely a promising young prospect expected to lose a fight in which he was taking a massive step up in competition. Prior to his loss against Rockhold, Souza was considered one of the better middleweights in the world.
Where does this victory put Rockhold now?
With a Strikeforce belt around his waist, Rockhold is now a win or two away from following in the footsteps of Alistair Overeem, Nick Diaz and possibly Dan Henderson. A dominant win over a Strikeforce contender like Tim Kennedy will undoubtedly begin conversations about how Rockhold would fare against top UFC middleweights.
As soon as that speculation begins, you can bet UFC President Dana White will be on the phone and looking to poach Rockhold from Strikeforce.
It might be too forward-thinking, but could Rockhold be the fighter to finally end Anderson SIlva’s reign over the 185-pound division, if this scenario did play out?
Considering Rockhold was rocked by Souza last night, the answer to that question is more than likely a resounding no, but most said the same thing heading into Silva’s fight with Chael Sonnen. While Rockhold’s wrestling isn’t spectacular, it may be good enough to put Silva on his back.
If Rockhold could take the current UFC middleweight champion to the ground, his chances of winning the fight would increase tenfold.
Disregarding a disqualification loss to Yushin Okami, Anderson Silva‘s two most recent losses have come by submission. Since those defeats, few have even attempt to catch Silva on the ground. A fighter who attempted multiple switch kicks against Souza, Rockhold is the right kind of crazy to risk giving up position for a submission attempt against Silva.
Of course, this is all easier said than done. Once in the cage with Silva, we have seen much more experienced fighters than Rockhold abandon their game plan.
As many middleweight contenders before him have, Rockhold potentially carries the tools to beat Silva. That being said, his chances of beating Silva lie somewhere between slim and none.
The fact of the matter is, we’ve already seen fighters equally, or more, talented than Rockhold step into the cage with Silva. Even with all the weapons and game plans in the world, once they step into the octagon with the greatest fighter of all time, fighters are more concerned with surviving than winning.
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. Sean has also had his work featured on UFC.com and LowKick.com. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.
While there still may be a little unfinished business for the two of them in their respective divisions, Dana White has recently admitted that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre may very well be on the horizon.Georges St-Pierre h…
While there still may be a little unfinished business for the two of them in their respective divisions, Dana White has recently admitted that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre may very well be on the horizon.
Georges St-Pierre has many of the qualities that one may need to dethrone the current middleweight king. Silva has struggled with strong wrestlers and people that have been able to take him down such as Dan Henderson, Travis Lutter, and Chael Sonnen. GSP possesses incredibly strong wrestling skills and certainly has the ability to take Silva to the mat. He also has very good top control and wouldn’t make the mistakes Lutter and Sonnen did that led to fight-ending submissions.
While it is very unwise for anyone to stand and trade with Silva, GSP does have a good stand-up game and has the ability to string together nice combinations and mix up his attacks. He is also very technically sound, which would help him from getting caught.
So even though GSP does not have the power to take out Silva, Silva would at least have to respect St-Pierre’s striking, which is huge.
St-Pierre would be able to set up his takedowns with strikes, so he doesn’t have to shoot from so far out. He would just have to be careful to not gain a false sense of security on his feet.
If Chael Sonnen wasn’t able to put Silva away, then it’s unlikely that very many people could.
St-Pierre also brings elements that Silva hasn’t had to deal with. GSP has the speed, explosiveness, and athleticism that some of the middleweights and light heavyweights that Silva’s fought do not possess.
With all that being said, however, it is very likely that GSP has lost this fight before it’s even started.
Even with all of his physical abilities, St-Pierre’s greatest asset and tool is his mind. He has the incredible ability to fight with his brain and stick to a game plan. He doesn’t get lulled into other people’s traps or tricks, and does not fight off of emotion.
But when doubt starts to set in, he becomes very human and begins to break down.
When asked about moving up to 185 to fight Anderson, he tends to avoid the question, and you can see the nervousness start to show in his face. Then, the excuses begin to flow like a river about how he would need time to add a lot of weight and how it would be a whole reorientation of his career. One can see that he does not feel incredibly confident in his ability to move up and be successful.
This lack of confidence and mental weakness also shows itself in his fights when he gets into trouble.
At UFC 129, when his eye got damaged by Jake Shields, he became very rattled and seemed to lose a lot of confidence. When listening to the conversation between him and Greg Jackson in between rounds, one could tell that he was very disturbed. Jackson had to basically force him to go back out for the final rounds. He was very shaken by the eye injury and did not look the same.
This is very different than the GSP we saw a few years ago. Even in his first fight against Penn he worked his way through a broken nose and a damaged eye to come back and win.
It seems that GSP may be a front-runner whose success is based off how he’s feeling mentally. In the Matt Serra fight, he wasn’t mentally prepared and got brutally knocked out.
So while GSP may possess the physical tools necessary to beat Silva, he may have already lost due to mental weakness and a lack of confidence.
While there still may be a little unfinished business for the two of them in their respective divisions, Dana White has recently admitted that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre may very well be on the horizon.Georges St-Pierre h…
While there still may be a little unfinished business for the two of them in their respective divisions, Dana White has recently admitted that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre may very well be on the horizon.
Georges St-Pierre has many of the qualities that one may need to dethrone the current middleweight king. Silva has struggled with strong wrestlers and people that have been able to take him down such as Dan Henderson, Travis Lutter, and Chael Sonnen. GSP possesses incredibly strong wrestling skills and certainly has the ability to take Silva to the mat. He also has very good top control and wouldn’t make the mistakes Lutter and Sonnen did that led to fight-ending submissions.
While it is very unwise for anyone to stand and trade with Silva, GSP does have a good stand-up game and has the ability to string together nice combinations and mix up his attacks. He is also very technically sound, which would help him from getting caught.
So even though GSP does not have the power to take out Silva, Silva would at least have to respect St-Pierre’s striking, which is huge.
St-Pierre would be able to set up his takedowns with strikes, so he doesn’t have to shoot from so far out. He would just have to be careful to not gain a false sense of security on his feet.
If Chael Sonnen wasn’t able to put Silva away, then it’s unlikely that very many people could.
St-Pierre also brings elements that Silva hasn’t had to deal with. GSP has the speed, explosiveness, and athleticism that some of the middleweights and light heavyweights that Silva’s fought do not possess.
With all that being said, however, it is very likely that GSP has lost this fight before it’s even started.
Even with all of his physical abilities, St-Pierre’s greatest asset and tool is his mind. He has the incredible ability to fight with his brain and stick to a game plan. He doesn’t get lulled into other people’s traps or tricks, and does not fight off of emotion.
But when doubt starts to set in, he becomes very human and begins to break down.
When asked about moving up to 185 to fight Anderson, he tends to avoid the question, and you can see the nervousness start to show in his face. Then, the excuses begin to flow like a river about how he would need time to add a lot of weight and how it would be a whole reorientation of his career. One can see that he does not feel incredibly confident in his ability to move up and be successful.
This lack of confidence and mental weakness also shows itself in his fights when he gets into trouble.
At UFC 129, when his eye got damaged by Jake Shields, he became very rattled and seemed to lose a lot of confidence. When listening to the conversation between him and Greg Jackson in between rounds, one could tell that he was very disturbed. Jackson had to basically force him to go back out for the final rounds. He was very shaken by the eye injury and did not look the same.
This is very different than the GSP we saw a few years ago. Even in his first fight against Penn he worked his way through a broken nose and a damaged eye to come back and win.
It seems that GSP may be a front-runner whose success is based off how he’s feeling mentally. In the Matt Serra fight, he wasn’t mentally prepared and got brutally knocked out.
So while GSP may possess the physical tools necessary to beat Silva, he may have already lost due to mental weakness and a lack of confidence.
Chael Sonnen has made more enemies than friends in the UFC.His disrespectful remarks towards Brazilian fighters has made him a marked man, and it appears Vitor Belfort has his eye on the former WEC middleweight champion. His verbal attacks have co…
Chael Sonnen has made more enemies than friends in the UFC.
His disrespectful remarks towards Brazilian fighters has made him a marked man, and it appears Vitor Belfort has his eye on the former WEC middleweight champion.
His verbal attacks have come against some of Brazil’s most prominent fighters including Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Wanderlei Silva.
In an exclusive interview for TATAME Magazine’s September edition, Belfort said he would welcome a bout against Sonnen in order to defend the honor of Brazil.
“I do want (to fight him),” Belfort said.
“I’d really love to fight him, even more because of the crap he’s talked about Brazil.”
Belfort adds that Sonnen has never accomplished anything credible in his career and is only notorious for trash-talking.
“The Phenom” is one of Brazil’s most respected and accomplished fighters and recently got back on track with a knockout victory over Yoshirhiro Akiyama at UFC 133. Both fighters are likely one or two wins away, but a win over Sonnen to earn a title shot would seem fitting to the Brazilian.
Belfort said he anticipates the matchup.
“His time will come, and when it comes, brother, it’s just do the job the way I’d do against any other opponent,” he said.
Anderson Silva‘s injured shoulder will most likely keep him out until early 2012, Silva’s manager Ed Soares informed MMA Fighting on Saturday night.
At Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov, a middleweight title fight, that had flown under the radar until it actually happened, led to the crowning of a new 185-pound Strikeforce champion. In a back-and-forth bout, Luke Rockhold dethroned Ronaldo Souza with a narrow unanimous decision victory.