Tag: Anderson Silva

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC 134

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UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro was a memorable night for several reasons, not the least of which was the complete dominance of the Brazilian contingent on the card.

You could look at the match-ups beforehand and tell they were perhaps slightly titled in Brazil’s favor, but who among us really thought Stanislav Nedkov would be the only foreigner to defeat a Brazilian?

But now that the action’s over and the post-fight interviews are done, it’s time to sort through the aftermath to find UFC 134’s biggest winners, losers, and everything in between. Won’t you join me?


Biggest Winner: Anderson Silva
It’s clear to me now that this man has something different in his brain. The same way an owl can triangulate the exact location of a squeaking field mouse in the dark, Silva can perform a minute’s worth of feints and look at where you reflexively move your head and hands and feet, and from there decide exactly how to separate you from your conciousness. To put it another way, he’s on some next level stuff out there. Normal human beings, no matter how much they practice, can’t do that. It seems to come so naturally to Silva that he appears at times incapable of appreciating how rare his violent gifts are. Fortunately, he has the rest of us to tell him, and accomplished, though helpless opponents like Okami to show him.

Biggest Loser: Brendan Schaub
Not only was he the biggest betting favorite who ended up on the losing end in Rio, he was also the USA’s best hope for a win on the night. We expected David Mitchell and even Dan Miller to get beat, but Schaub? He was supposed to be the next big heavyweight prospect, and maybe even the lone American to come back to the Northen Hemisphere with a victory stowed in his carry-on. He couldn’t get his head out of the way of Nogueira’s punches, however, so he ended up face down on the mat instead of hands raised on top of the cage. He’s still young and still growing as a fighter, so it’s not a major catastrophe, career-wise. At the same time, getting knocked out by an aging legend who seemed one or two defeats away from forced retirement is the kind of thing that’ll hit the pause button on your superstar plans with a quickness. The hype train hasn’t derailed, but it is always harder to get it started up again once it’s come to such a sudden stop.

Most Impressive in Defeat: Ross Pearson
That was a painfully close fight, and if it’s anywhere but Brazil, where even a glancing blow by a Brazilian brings the crowd to its feet, maybe he gets the decision. Even without it, he did better than many (myself included) expected him to, and proved his toughness beyond a reasonable doubt. Pearson may not be the best pure athlete in the lightweight class, but the man will keep walking you down and forcing you to fight him. Does that style have its limitations? Sure it does. Is it a whole lot of fun to watch, especially when the practitioner of such a style can take a shot as well as Pearson can? Definitely. I don’t see the hard-headed Brit becoming champion any time soon, but every division needs role-players as well as greats. If Pearson’s role is to put on exciting, gritty fights, at least it’s steady work.

Least Impressive in Victory: Thiago Tavares
His plan seemed to be to control Spencer Fisher on the mat and grind the pace down to such a yawn-worthy crawl that his opponent would eventually do something dumb just to try and force some action. Somewhat disappointingly, it worked. It’s not that Tavares didn’t deserve to win — he effectively dictated where and how the fight was contested, so that’s something — but he has to know that he won’t win many fans with takedowns and short, ineffectual punches on the mat. In a night of memorable Brazilian triumphs, his win was among the most forgettable. At least it’s better than losing.

Most Strangely Sympathetic: Forrest Griffin
Yes, he’s a grumpy young man. And no, he does not travel well. But honestly, once you see that sadsack look on his face and consider the fact that he’ll probably never be able to think about his daughter’s birth without also thinking about the night he got knocked out by “Shogun” Rua in Rio, you have to feel for the guy. What I wonder is whether the pursuit of cold hard cash alone is enough to sustain him in this business. He used to be a workhorse in the gym, the guy who told the new crop of TUF hopefuls that “the juice is worth is the squeeze.” These days he doesn’t act like he really believes it. It’s one thing to hate your job and do it anyway if you work at a kiosk in the mall selling cell phone accessories. When you fight for money, however, there are too many hungry young mercenaries out there for you to be going through the motions just for a paycheck. Griffin needs to decide whether he’s all the way in this sport. If not, he ought to get out.

Most Surprising: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
The walk to the cage was the most many of us had seen Big Nog move all week, so it was hard not to analyze every step for what it might tell us about his post-surgery mobility. He wasn’t exactly fleet of foot once the fight started, but then he was never known for his foot speed even in his prime. It seemed as though Nogueira’s plan A was to take Schaub down, but when that went nowhere he quickly resported to plan B: punch the guy in the face until he falls down. Before the fight, I would have said this was a terrible idea. Then he tried it and found Schaub was not all that difficult to hit. I might tap the brakes on the whole ‘Nogueira is back!’ meme that instantly sprouted up after the win, but at least this proves he’s not done. Not just yet, anyway.

Most Baffling: Rousimar Palhares
That’s two bizarre mental lapses in three tries for “Toquinho.” At least this one didn’t cost him the fight. I loved how Herb Dean reacted to Palhares’ premature celebration by looking at Dan Miller like he was a loose ball in a football game, just waiting to be noticed and scooped up. I admit I was a little curious to see what Miller would have done to Palhares had he been allowed to attack as Palhares straddled the top of the cage, flexing for the crowd, but I guess that was the rational point for Dean to pause the action and sort out the confusion. Palhares is obviously talented and has a lot of physical tools at his disposal, but somebody needs to teach this guy to fight until the referee tells him it’s over. There are too many ways to lose in MMA without creating new ones for yourself.

Most Unhelpfully Brief Cage Appearance: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
I’m sure he doesn’t mind winning inside of two minutes, but I sure would have liked to have seen a little more of him. It’s hard to know where his overall game is at when all his fight lasts about as long as it takes to microwave a Hot Pocket. Rua has always had that explosive power, particularly early in the fight. What people rightfully wonder about is his conditioning over the long haul. Saturday night’s fight didn’t give us a chance to find out anything about that, but hey, you can’t really complain about a first-round knockout. You also can’t say that you learned all that much about a fighter’s overall game that way.

Least Potent Offense: Yushin Okami
Aside from a clinch and a couple pawing right hands, Okami didn’t manage too many attempts at hurting Silva, which I thought was kind of supposed to be the goal. Then again, when you consider what happened on the few occasions when he did try to go on the attack, it’s hard to blame him. It seems like no matter what you do to Silva, whether it’s tossing out a jab or shooting for a takedown, you’re only giving him more information about how best to defeat you. Still, if you’re going to step in the cage and fight him, you have to fight him. The more time you spend standing around and letting him figure you out, the worse it’s going to be. As for Okami, he seemed defeated by the time he got off the stool for the second round. Again, hard to blame him. Just because he failed to figure out a fighting genius in the span of a few minutes, that doesn’t mean he’s not still a gifted fighter in his own right. It’s just that, especially in this business, the space between very good and great is so painfully vast.

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Filed under:

UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro was a memorable night for several reasons, not the least of which was the complete dominance of the Brazilian contingent on the card.

You could look at the match-ups beforehand and tell they were perhaps slightly titled in Brazil’s favor, but who among us really thought Stanislav Nedkov would be the only foreigner to defeat a Brazilian?

But now that the action’s over and the post-fight interviews are done, it’s time to sort through the aftermath to find UFC 134’s biggest winners, losers, and everything in between. Won’t you join me?


Biggest Winner: Anderson Silva
It’s clear to me now that this man has something different in his brain. The same way an owl can triangulate the exact location of a squeaking field mouse in the dark, Silva can perform a minute’s worth of feints and look at where you reflexively move your head and hands and feet, and from there decide exactly how to separate you from your conciousness. To put it another way, he’s on some next level stuff out there. Normal human beings, no matter how much they practice, can’t do that. It seems to come so naturally to Silva that he appears at times incapable of appreciating how rare his violent gifts are. Fortunately, he has the rest of us to tell him, and accomplished, though helpless opponents like Okami to show him.

Biggest Loser: Brendan Schaub
Not only was he the biggest betting favorite who ended up on the losing end in Rio, he was also the USA’s best hope for a win on the night. We expected David Mitchell and even Dan Miller to get beat, but Schaub? He was supposed to be the next big heavyweight prospect, and maybe even the lone American to come back to the Northen Hemisphere with a victory stowed in his carry-on. He couldn’t get his head out of the way of Nogueira’s punches, however, so he ended up face down on the mat instead of hands raised on top of the cage. He’s still young and still growing as a fighter, so it’s not a major catastrophe, career-wise. At the same time, getting knocked out by an aging legend who seemed one or two defeats away from forced retirement is the kind of thing that’ll hit the pause button on your superstar plans with a quickness. The hype train hasn’t derailed, but it is always harder to get it started up again once it’s come to such a sudden stop.

Most Impressive in Defeat: Ross Pearson
That was a painfully close fight, and if it’s anywhere but Brazil, where even a glancing blow by a Brazilian brings the crowd to its feet, maybe he gets the decision. Even without it, he did better than many (myself included) expected him to, and proved his toughness beyond a reasonable doubt. Pearson may not be the best pure athlete in the lightweight class, but the man will keep walking you down and forcing you to fight him. Does that style have its limitations? Sure it does. Is it a whole lot of fun to watch, especially when the practitioner of such a style can take a shot as well as Pearson can? Definitely. I don’t see the hard-headed Brit becoming champion any time soon, but every division needs role-players as well as greats. If Pearson’s role is to put on exciting, gritty fights, at least it’s steady work.

Least Impressive in Victory: Thiago Tavares
His plan seemed to be to control Spencer Fisher on the mat and grind the pace down to such a yawn-worthy crawl that his opponent would eventually do something dumb just to try and force some action. Somewhat disappointingly, it worked. It’s not that Tavares didn’t deserve to win — he effectively dictated where and how the fight was contested, so that’s something — but he has to know that he won’t win many fans with takedowns and short, ineffectual punches on the mat. In a night of memorable Brazilian triumphs, his win was among the most forgettable. At least it’s better than losing.

Most Strangely Sympathetic: Forrest Griffin
Yes, he’s a grumpy young man. And no, he does not travel well. But honestly, once you see that sadsack look on his face and consider the fact that he’ll probably never be able to think about his daughter’s birth without also thinking about the night he got knocked out by “Shogun” Rua in Rio, you have to feel for the guy. What I wonder is whether the pursuit of cold hard cash alone is enough to sustain him in this business. He used to be a workhorse in the gym, the guy who told the new crop of TUF hopefuls that “the juice is worth is the squeeze.” These days he doesn’t act like he really believes it. It’s one thing to hate your job and do it anyway if you work at a kiosk in the mall selling cell phone accessories. When you fight for money, however, there are too many hungry young mercenaries out there for you to be going through the motions just for a paycheck. Griffin needs to decide whether he’s all the way in this sport. If not, he ought to get out.

Most Surprising: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
The walk to the cage was the most many of us had seen Big Nog move all week, so it was hard not to analyze every step for what it might tell us about his post-surgery mobility. He wasn’t exactly fleet of foot once the fight started, but then he was never known for his foot speed even in his prime. It seemed as though Nogueira’s plan A was to take Schaub down, but when that went nowhere he quickly resported to plan B: punch the guy in the face until he falls down. Before the fight, I would have said this was a terrible idea. Then he tried it and found Schaub was not all that difficult to hit. I might tap the brakes on the whole ‘Nogueira is back!’ meme that instantly sprouted up after the win, but at least this proves he’s not done. Not just yet, anyway.

Most Baffling: Rousimar Palhares
That’s two bizarre mental lapses in three tries for “Toquinho.” At least this one didn’t cost him the fight. I loved how Herb Dean reacted to Palhares’ premature celebration by looking at Dan Miller like he was a loose ball in a football game, just waiting to be noticed and scooped up. I admit I was a little curious to see what Miller would have done to Palhares had he been allowed to attack as Palhares straddled the top of the cage, flexing for the crowd, but I guess that was the rational point for Dean to pause the action and sort out the confusion. Palhares is obviously talented and has a lot of physical tools at his disposal, but somebody needs to teach this guy to fight until the referee tells him it’s over. There are too many ways to lose in MMA without creating new ones for yourself.

Most Unhelpfully Brief Cage Appearance: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
I’m sure he doesn’t mind winning inside of two minutes, but I sure would have liked to have seen a little more of him. It’s hard to know where his overall game is at when all his fight lasts about as long as it takes to microwave a Hot Pocket. Rua has always had that explosive power, particularly early in the fight. What people rightfully wonder about is his conditioning over the long haul. Saturday night’s fight didn’t give us a chance to find out anything about that, but hey, you can’t really complain about a first-round knockout. You also can’t say that you learned all that much about a fighter’s overall game that way.

Least Potent Offense: Yushin Okami
Aside from a clinch and a couple pawing right hands, Okami didn’t manage too many attempts at hurting Silva, which I thought was kind of supposed to be the goal. Then again, when you consider what happened on the few occasions when he did try to go on the attack, it’s hard to blame him. It seems like no matter what you do to Silva, whether it’s tossing out a jab or shooting for a takedown, you’re only giving him more information about how best to defeat you. Still, if you’re going to step in the cage and fight him, you have to fight him. The more time you spend standing around and letting him figure you out, the worse it’s going to be. As for Okami, he seemed defeated by the time he got off the stool for the second round. Again, hard to blame him. Just because he failed to figure out a fighting genius in the span of a few minutes, that doesn’t mean he’s not still a gifted fighter in his own right. It’s just that, especially in this business, the space between very good and great is so painfully vast.

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UFC 134 Results: Anderson "The Spider" Silva May Never Be Defeated Again

Anderson “The Spider” Silva devastated Yushin “Thunder” Okami in front of his home country at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro.With the support of the Brazilian-biased HSBC Center crowd, Silva’s elite level stand-up striking overwhelmed Okami en route to a Ro…

Anderson “The Spider” Silva devastated Yushin “Thunder” Okami in front of his home country at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro.

With the support of the Brazilian-biased HSBC Center crowd, Silva’s elite level stand-up striking overwhelmed Okami en route to a Round 2 TKO.

Utilizing his customary head movement, feinting and some razzle dazzle, “The Spider” tactically picked apart Okami with an array of jabs, leg kicks and pin-point power punches.

Dazed and dismantled, “Thunder’s” skill set was no match for Silva, who went on to defend his UFC middleweight championship a record nine times, with his 14th straight victory inside the Octagon.

Absolutely mesmerized by Silva’s abilities, this author sat in awe as he once again has made the No. 1 contender look amateur.

Clearly the greatest striker on the planet and arguably the pound-for-pound king within all of mixed martial arts, I do believe Anderson Silva will retire as the UFC middleweight champion without succumbing to another loss.

Until his retirement from the sport occurs, Silva will defend his title against the following list of competitors.

Please follow along as I detail the top four contenders for Silva’s crown and why they will not defeat “The Spider.”

I welcome your comments.

“Like” me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 134 Results: The Top 25 Pound-for-Pound Fighters in MMA

Anderson Silva is just too good.For years now, he has been considered the best pound for pound fighter on the planet and, after his performance at UFC 134 last night, it’s looking like Silva will occupy the P4P throne for a long time still.Silva’s oppo…

Anderson Silva is just too good.

For years now, he has been considered the best pound for pound fighter on the planet and, after his performance at UFC 134 last night, it’s looking like Silva will occupy the P4P throne for a long time still.

Silva’s opponent last night was Yushin Okami, a strong grappler that many believed had a good chance of upsetting the UFC’s middleweight champ.

Although he trained with Chael Sonnen for this fight, Okami’s performance looked nothing like when Sonnen fought Silva, as the Japanese fighter was very tentative and hesitant to engage.

Said hesitancy allowed Silva time to figure Okami’s timing, and we all know what happens when Silva gets his opponent’s timing down.

Early in the second round, Silva baited Okami by dropping his hands to his sides and tagged the challenger when he rushed in. Okami fell to the ground, hurt badly, and Silva ended the fight with ground and pound.

Pound for pound rankings are meant to be current, always up to date, and so after every UFC event, a new list must be made.

Taking in the consideration all of the events that transpired last night, here is the new top 25 pound for pound fighters in MMA.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 134 Results: Is Chael Sonnen Rematch for Anderson Silva Next?

Amidst the aftermath of UFC 134: Rio, the MMA world is just starting to comprehend how good Anderson Silva really is. Everybody is starting to wake up and realize that they are witnessing history in the making, a legend in the living flesh and a hero i…

Amidst the aftermath of UFC 134: Rio, the MMA world is just starting to comprehend how good Anderson Silva really is. Everybody is starting to wake up and realize that they are witnessing history in the making, a legend in the living flesh and a hero in his home nation, Brazil.

As the father of the UFC, Royce Gracie, watched on from the crowd, Anderson Silva set about cementing his legacy alongside the UFC 1, 2 and 4 champion’s prestige as one of the sport’s greatest competitors ever. To once and for all unify Silva’s pound for pound dominance, there is a buzz beginning to ring around the media—should Anderson Silva fight Georges St.Pierre? Should Anderson Silva fight Jon Jones? Or…should he give Chael Sonnen a well-earned rematch?

Sonnen did a lot of trash talking about Anderson Silva previous to their fight back at UFC 117. And, up until almost the final minute of the final round, he backed it up. Then Silva dished up a bit of that magic he seems to have in abundance, and slapped on a triangle choke. Sonnen defeated. Silva proved to be human, but still Champion.

So Sonnen proved in that fight that he IS able to rock Silva, he IS able to dominate him on the ground and, most of all, he IS able to stand with the Middleweight Champion.

What Sonnen wasn’t able to do, though, was beat The Spider. This is something that will eat away at him until a rematch is made—as he made so clear in the Post-fight conference at UFC 117.

So should a rematch be on the cards?

I think so. Before Anderson even considers moving up to Light Heavyweight to fight Jones or moving to a Catch-weight to fight St.Pierre, he should at least honour Sonnen’s legitimate requirement of a rematch. It was a great fight that saw the Brazilian pushed to his very limits—only to prove that he has genius and cunning far beyond what anyone thought possible.

Sonnen will certainly be haunted by the ghosts of UFC 117—and therefore I would expect to see him very hesitant and methodical when on the ground. Likewise, I think Anderson Silva would respect Sonnen’s punching power a lot more the second time around. Both fighter’s gained each other’s respect after their first encounter, so naturally the second encounter would be a lot more wary and cautious.

My Prediction:

If these two were to meet again—a likely possibility—I see Silva winning…again. He would know what to expect with Sonnen, he would train to counter-act Sonnen’s strategy and, ultimately, Silva possesses that ability to always find a way to win, no matter what. Just like Ali laid back on the ropes in 1974 for eight rounds—whilst George Foreman abused his ribs—Anderson took a severe beating from Sonnen. Just like Ali sparked a picture perfect KO in the eighth and literally changed history in a second, Anderson finished Sonnen with a breath of time to go. History is in the making again—this time in MMA.

Anderson would win the rematch by either a dominant decision victory or a KO later in the fight.

Disagree?

Let me know why below.

 

Thanks for reading!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 134 Results: Anderson Silva Crushes Okami, Jon Jones Next?

So people…let’s confess now, who was as naive and clueless as Chael Sonnen? Who really ever doubted Anderson Silva would lose to Yushin Okami? Me neither.I don’t want to spend this article ranting (like some articles I have written in the…

So people…let’s confess now, who was as naive and clueless as Chael Sonnen? Who really ever doubted Anderson Silva would lose to Yushin Okami? Me neither.

I don’t want to spend this article ranting (like some articles I have written in the past), but let me just get something off of my chest…honestly, this is like a therapy for me. If Chael Sonnen really believed that Yushin Okami stood any chance against Anderson Silva, he is living in a dream world. So what if Okami trained with him? And so what if Sonnen is the only person to push Silva to his absolute limit? At the end of the day, he didn’t beat him. So I lost what little respect I had for Sonnen last night. End of rant.

The way Anderson Silva disposed of Okami on Saturday Night was scary. It sent shock-waves across the entire Mixed Martial Arts world. His 14th consecutive win and 12th UFC Middleweight Championship Title defense is enough to give him the Pound for Pound King Crown.

His elusive head movement and unbelievable footwork completely overwhelmed Okami. His speed and accuracy broke Okami. And his power? That destroyed Okami. Once Anderson steps it up a gear, his movements become sincere, his head becomes loose, his hands drop and then his opponents follow. He is simply out-of-this-worldly good.

With this in mind then, and a flurry of punches still ringing fresh in Okami’s ears, it’s beginning to look impossible to find a worthy opponent for The Spider now. He has avenged his controversial loss to Okami as well as cleared out his entire division. And, after recent performances on Georges St.Pierre’s behalf, it is highly unlikely we will ever see that superfight happening in the future. So who can the most dangerous man on the planet fight next?

The second most dangerous man, of course.

At the moment, Jon Jones is still yet to hit his prime. But he is a supremely talented young fighter that is more than capable of taking a fight to Silva, more so than Okami managed anyway. The only question that remains is whether Silva would be prepared to move up to light-heavyweight again to do so. He performed well at light-heavy last time, out-classing James Irvin and Forrest Griffin.

An area in which Silva would be significantly weak against Jones is his reach—something that is usually his biggest advantage. Jon Jones has the longest reach in UFC history at 84.5 inches, compared to Silva’s 77.6. But a fighter like Anderson Silva seems to always find a way to overcome a problem like this.

Aside from the reach, I see this fight being extremely close in every department—although Silva is 12 years the elder.

Superfight Prediction:

My prediction then for the possible clash between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones.

I think this clash is dependent on time, really. If the fight happened tomorrow, I would go with Anderson Silva. But if the fight happens a year or two down the line, Silva will be nudging 38 years of age, whilst Jones would be entering his prime. If this was the case, I would have to go with Jones. But, for the sake of the prediction, if the fight happened within the next year—as Dana White hopes—I would give it to Anderson.

It would be a very close encounter, possible even a split decision, but as both fighters are explosive, I see the likely end being a KO or TKO. Chael was able to rock Anderson, so Jones would have no trouble doing the same. Likewise, Anderson was able to KO Forrest Griffin—amongst other huge names—so he is probably able to do the same to Jones.

It’s a close call, really. But I’m not sitting on the fence by any means—Anderson Silva would win via third round TKO.

Disagree?

Leave your thoughts in a comment below.

 

Thanks for reading!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 134 Results: Anderson Silva’s Dominance and Analysis of the Entire Card

UFC 134, Silva vs. Okami, is over and done with and the UFC could not have planned a better return trip to Brazil. The fans in Rio de Janeiro went crazy for their Brazilian fighters, particularly because Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro…

UFC 134, Silva vs. Okami, is over and done with and the UFC could not have planned a better return trip to Brazil. The fans in Rio de Janeiro went crazy for their Brazilian fighters, particularly because Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira and Anderson Silva all had huge knockout victories.

Having watched every fight on the card, I can say this is probably the best mixed martial arts event that was put on this year. There wasn’t a single boring fight and it was filled with spectacular finishes.

Yves Jabouin and Ian Loveland put on a really fun bantamweight bout to start off the card. I played the “How many different ways is ‘Jabouin’ pronounced?” game and ended with four. This was the only card on the fight to not feature a Brazilian, but it was a great back-and-forth battle that resulted in a split decision victory for Jabouin.

Next up, Yuri Alcantara overwhelmed an inexperienced Felipe Arantes to easily take a unanimous decision victory in their featherweight bout.

Alcantara and Arantes were similarly matched on the feet, but Alcantara easily controlled the 23-year-old Arantes when the fight hit the ground. Arantes’ purple-belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu was no match for the black belt of Alcantara, who consistently managed to pass his guard and do damage.

Still, Arantes is young and could learn a lot from the loss.

Erik Silva and Luis Ramos had the most memorable fight on the Facebook prelims, as it lasted just 40 seconds.

Silva and Ramos are both welterweight champions of their respective leagues in Brazil, therefore this was something of a super fight for the fans. Silva, however, made this one pretty decisive, landing a huge overhand-right that dropped Ramos. He then threw his opponent’s legs aside and finished the fight with punches on the ground. 

Silva looked great and he definitely deserves another shot in the UFC if only because his back flip off the cage post-fight was perfect.

Although Raphael Assuncao took a 30-27 decision from Johnny Eduardo, the fight was much closer than that. Eduardo, who fittingly has “Muay Thai” tattooed across his abdomen, pretty clearly held the advantage on the feet.

Still, Assuncao, having been in there with the likes of Urijah Faber and Diego Nunes, kept his composure and displayed his clear advantage on the ground, even taking Eduardo’s back. It was Assuncao’s bantamweight debut and his frame seems perfect for this weight class.

Paulo Thiago, despite being just 3-3 in the UFC coming into his bout with David Mitchell, is one of the top welterweights in the division, having faced the likes of Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez. His experience showed at UFC 134, easily winning the stand-up exchanges and threatening with submissions on the ground. Thiago showed just how well-rounded he is, dominating Mitchell and taking a unanimous 30-27 decision.

On the first bout of the Spike TV portion of the prelims, Rousimar Palhares and Dan Miller put on one of the craziest bouts I’ve ever witnessed in the UFC.

Palhares had Miller badly hurt with a head kick in the first round and subsequently swarmed him with punches. For some reason, “Toquinho” thought the fight was stopped when it clearly wasn’t, and walked away, began celebrating and actually jumped on top of the cage. Herb Dean took a second, probably to confirm that Miller hadn’t tapped, and informed Palhares that the fight hadn’t been stopped. As soon as the fight began again, Miller dropped Palhares and nearly finished the fight himself.

The second round was an absolutely dominant one for Palhares. He controlled Miller and nearly ended the fight with his vicious ground-and-pound. He did not, however, help his reputation as a dirty fighter by repeatedly grabbing the cage despite multiple warnings. Herb Dean even had to rip his hand off from the fence at one point. He should have been deducted a point, but it also should have been a 10-8 round.

The last round I scored for Dan Miller. Both fighters were clearly exhausted and Miller barely got the edge in the stand-up exchanges. Still, the fight was a dominant victory for Rousimar Palhares, despite his embarrassing error in the first and grabbing of the cage in the second.

Dan Miller has more heart than anyone I’ve ever seen and it’s a pleasure to watch him fight, but he’s just 2-5 in his last seven bouts. Palhares, on the other hand, is 6-2, with his only losses coming to Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt.

In the last preliminary bout, Thiago Tavares came out with something to prove after his devastating knockout loss to Shane Roller in a fight he was easily winning up until that point. He played it safe against Fisher, controlling “The King” on the ground and peppering him with punches.

Fisher was unable to mount any sort of offense and seemed very listless in the fight. Tavares landed enough unanswered blows in the second round for the referee to stop it. Fisher, despite being in the UFC for nearly six years, is now 1-4 in his last five bouts and risks being cut after another lackluster performance.

In the first bout of the main card, Luiz Cane took on UFC newcomer Stanislav Nedkov. Despite controlling the stand-up exchanges throughout most of the first round, Nedkov continuously landed his overhand-right and was able to wobble Cane. Cane lost his footing, stumbled toward the cage and was finished with strikes in the first.

It was the first fight in which a Brazilian lost to a foreigner and the crowd went silent. Cane was quite emotional following the loss. Despite being very talented, Cane’s suspect chin cost him another fight. He’s 1-3 in his last four, with every bout ending by TKO in the first.

In one of the most highly anticipated bouts of the evening, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira put on an unexpected and emotional performance in front of his hometown, knocking out Brendan Schaub.

As much as people wanted to believe Nogueira still had it, his last few bouts didn’t really make that belief possible. His wars caught up to him and his historic career appears to be coming to an end. Someone forgot to mention that to Minotauro; he walked through several huge punches from Schaub that rocked him, using great head movement to stay in the bout, and was able to land a one-two combination of his own that spelled the beginning of the end.

As Kenny Florian put it, “The crowd is going bananas.” One of the greatest fighter to ever come out of Brazil—one of the greatest fighters ever—just shocked everyone. Nogueira’s knockout earned him “Knockout of the Night” and $100,000. It was his first knockout victory in six years.

While it was nearly impossible to follow up such a performance, Ross Pearson and Edson Barboza certainly tried, putting on a “Fight of the Night” performance that earned them each an additional $100,000. This was an extremely close bout that Barboza took by split decision, but I personally felt it deserved to go to Ross Pearson in a 29-28 decision.

While both Pearson and Barboza showcased their amazing striking abilities, it was Pearson’s aggressiveness and “Octagon control” that should have earned him the victory. According to FightMetric, Pearson out landed Barboza, 62-55, in total strikes. Either way, both fighters are very much deserving of their additional paycheck.

In a rematch of their 2007 bout, Shogun Rua took on Forrest Griffin in a battle of former light heavyweight champions. Shogun more than compensated for his disappointing performance against Forrest the first time around by knocking him out at 1:53 into the first round.

Yes, yes, Shogun is back.

I get that.

He looked great and completely outclassed Griffin, but I’m more concerned for Forrest. I used the word “listless” to describe Spencer Fisher, but that’s even more fitting for Griffin. He didn’t even appear to care at all. He couldn’t be bothered to put his hands up at the weigh-ins and has completely lost all the spirit and heart that made him one of the most popular fighters in the sport.

Forrest has been successful. He’s been light heavyweight champion and that’s ruined his career. He doesn’t appear hungry any more and it’s not nearly as fun to watch him fight these days.

Shogun didn’t necessarily answer all the questions regarding his knee and stamina issues, but he finished a very worthy opponent quickly. It’s not clear if he’s capable of competing with Jon Jones, despite his history of doing well in rematches, but it was a huge victory in front of the Brazilian crowd.

In the main event of the evening, Anderson Silva successfully defended his title for the ninth-consecutive time. He made Yushin Okami look scared and helpless, despite being one of the best middleweights in the world.

Similar to the Forrest Griffin fight, “The Spider” kept his hands at his sides and showed just show dominant he is. After a round of gauging Okami’s abilities, he finished him effortlessly in the second. Click here for a more in-depth analysis on this fight.

Overall, it was an extremely entertaining card, top to bottom, in Rio de Janeiro.

Anderson Silva proved he is the greatest fighter in the history of mixed martial arts, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira proved that he still has some fight left in him and Shogun Rua proved that he is still one of the top light heavyweights in the world. 

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