UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the greatest Mixed Martial Artist ever, bar none, according to many in the MMA world—including UFC President Dana White—and even with the many Mixed Martial Artists that you could arg…
UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the greatest Mixed Martial Artist ever, bar none, according to many in the MMA world—including UFC President Dana White—and even with the many Mixed Martial Artists that you could argue for in retaliation to Silva being pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport, the argument for “The Spider” is a difficult one to ignore.
He made a name for himself in the UFC by facing Chris Leben at the fifth UFC Fight Night event, and the shockingly thorough destruction of The Crippler is where it really all began for him.
From there, The Brazilian Ballet of Violence dethroned Rich Franklin at UFC 64, and the majority of us know the road he’s traveled to get to the HSBC Arena as he return home to Brazil for his UFC 134 vie for vengeance against Yushin “Thuder” Okami in Rio.
This rematch from Rumble On The Rock 8 has all the tools needed for another possible Fight of The Year candidate from The Spider, who hopes to go 9-0 in his UFC Middleweight title run while maintaining an unblemished 13-0 UFC record and improving to 31-4 in his MMA career, but Okami has other plans.
Speaking of other plans, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions Forrest Griffin and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua have plans for the other, as Forrest wants to defeat the critics that chalked up his UFC 76 win over Rua to Rua’s notorious knee injuries, while Rua wants to avenge the loss in front of his countrymen in what might be one of the most enthralling co-headliners of the UFC’s 2011.
Also on this card is arguably one of the UFC’s top Heavyweight prospects taking on one of MMA’s most revered Heavyweights.
Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira knows that Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub claimed a common foe at UFC 128 in Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and Schaub wants to score the biggest win of his young career in Rio de Janeiro with a knockout of Nogueira.
However, only Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez have found success in doing so, and Nogueira has no intent in allowing Schaub to be the third man to knock him out.
In addition, Edson Barboza’s undefeated tenure faces its hardest-hitting test to date in TUF 9 Winner Ross Pearson in a battle of fast-rising Lightweight standouts that is sure to electrify, and Luis Cane looks to carry the momentum of a crushing UFC 128 win over Eliot Marshall over in a successful taking of the “0” of undefeated 11-0 Bulgarian grappling wizard Stanislav Nedkov.
You wanted a highly stacked “Card of The Year” type event for your friends at Bleacher Report to cover with live, up-to-the-minute updates, commentary and analysis?
Well, MMA World, you asked for it, and now you have it!
Here we go folks! It’s time for the main event.
Can Yushin Okami pull off one of the biggest upsets in MMA history?
Without Chael Sonnen, Yushin Okami comes out, and he gets more boos than any fighter yet. He weighs in at an extremely lean 183-pounds.
…
Here we go folks! It’s time for the main event.
Can Yushin Okami pull off one of the biggest upsets in MMA history?
Without Chael Sonnen, Yushin Okami comes out, and he gets more boos than any fighter yet. He weighs in at an extremely lean 183-pounds.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva comes out with his son, and as expected, he’s a major crowd favorite. It looks like he left his white mask at home for this bout.
“I’m going to do my best, and I’m going to take home the belt,” contender Yushin Okami told UFC commentator Mike Goldberg at the weigh-ins. “Don’t miss it. I’m going to be here with my all, and I’m going to win.”
Goldberg makes his way over to Silva, and the champ seems confident and thankful for the opportunity to fight in his native land.
“Thank you everyone for coming. I hope everyone comes here and watches this great event because it’s Brazil versus the rest of the world.”
Stanislav Nedkov isn’t getting any love in his UFC debut. He’s enemy No. 1 against Brazilian Luis Cane, who is a standout light heavyweight.
He weighs in at a considerably light 203-pounds.
Cane comes out to a loud pop and hits his mark at 204-pounds. …
Stanislav Nedkov isn’t getting any love in his UFC debut. He’s enemy No. 1 against Brazilian Luis Cane, who is a standout light heavyweight.
He weighs in at a considerably light 203-pounds.
Cane comes out to a loud pop and hits his mark at 204-pounds. Despite a multitude of experience, Cane hasn’t really fought a solid wrestler, and it’ll be interesting to see how he handles the powerful takedowns of Nedkov.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The good news for the Americans on the UFC 134 fight card is that at least one of them got through the pre-fight weigh-ins on Friday without getting booed. That would be Ian Loveland, who fights Canadian Yves Jabouin in the first bout of the night, also known as the only fight on the card that doesn’t feature at least one Brazilian.
When Loveland and Jabouin stepped on the scales, the crowd at the HSBC Arena could hardly be bothered to pay attention, which, in a way, let both fighters off the hook. The other foreigners on the card weren’t so lucky.
Not that this reception should surprise any of the non-Brazilian fighters. When you’re fighting someone like Mauricio “Shogun” Rua or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Rio, and you’re a gringo from the USA, you can’t exactly expect a warm reception.
As Griffin put it at Thursday’s press conference when it was suggested that he, Schaub, and Yushin Okami would have the entire world against them on Saturday night: “It’s not the whole world; it’s just Brazil.”
But for many of the Brazilian fighters, facing off against a series of foreigners in their own backyard in the first UFC event in Rio is a little like taking on the rest of the world, or at least taking on the responsibility for an entire nation, as Anderson Silva explained.
“It’s like Brazil vs. Argentina in Macarana Stadium,” he said, putting it in soccer terms any Brazilian would understand. As he added later, “A lot of idols come and go, but we’re fighting to reach our place.”
The Brazilians on the card certainly had the fans at the weigh-ins firmly behind them, even if the loudest boos were saved for Chael Sonnen, who only appeared via the giant video screen during one of the pre-fight promo packages.
The most half-hearted boos? Those were aimed at Bulgarian Stanislov Nedkov and Englishman Ross Pearson, who are slated to take on Brazilians Luiz Cane and Edson Barboza, respectively.
But even then, it felt more like a perfunctory habit than anything else. Pearson very nearly managed to turn the crowd around by stepping off the scale and rehydrating with help from a coconut and a straw. At least to some degree, it worked. The boos died down, and the crowd lost the urge to inform him of his impending death.
Well played, Mr. Pearson. It might take slightly more to bring about a change of heart toward Sonnen, however.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The good news for the Americans on the UFC 134 fight card is that at least one of them got through the pre-fight weigh-ins on Friday without getting booed. That would be Ian Loveland, who fights Canadian Yves Jabouin in the first bout of the night, also known as the only fight on the card that doesn’t feature at least one Brazilian.
When Loveland and Jabouin stepped on the scales, the crowd at the HSBC Arena could hardly be bothered to pay attention, which, in a way, let both fighters off the hook. The other foreigners on the card weren’t so lucky.
Not that this reception should surprise any of the non-Brazilian fighters. When you’re fighting someone like Mauricio “Shogun” Rua or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Rio, and you’re a gringo from the USA, you can’t exactly expect a warm reception.
As Griffin put it at Thursday’s press conference when it was suggested that he, Schaub, and Yushin Okami would have the entire world against them on Saturday night: “It’s not the whole world; it’s just Brazil.”
But for many of the Brazilian fighters, facing off against a series of foreigners in their own backyard in the first UFC event in Rio is a little like taking on the rest of the world, or at least taking on the responsibility for an entire nation, as Anderson Silva explained.
“It’s like Brazil vs. Argentina in Macarana Stadium,” he said, putting it in soccer terms any Brazilian would understand. As he added later, “A lot of idols come and go, but we’re fighting to reach our place.”
The Brazilians on the card certainly had the fans at the weigh-ins firmly behind them, even if the loudest boos were saved for Chael Sonnen, who only appeared via the giant video screen during one of the pre-fight promo packages.
The most half-hearted boos? Those were aimed at Bulgarian Stanislov Nedkov and Englishman Ross Pearson, who are slated to take on Brazilians Luiz Cane and Edson Barboza, respectively.
But even then, it felt more like a perfunctory habit than anything else. Pearson very nearly managed to turn the crowd around by stepping off the scale and rehydrating with help from a coconut and a straw. At least to some degree, it worked. The boos died down, and the crowd lost the urge to inform him of his impending death.
Well played, Mr. Pearson. It might take slightly more to bring about a change of heart toward Sonnen, however.
UFC 134 weigh-ins are scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. today at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. You can watch all the staredowns (and potential scale-fails) live in the video player after the jump, and we’ll update the numbers below when they’re official. And remember to swing by CagePotato.com tomorrow night for our “Silva vs. Okami” liveblog!
UFC 134 weigh-ins are scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. today at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. You can watch all the staredowns (and potential scale-fails) live in the video player after the jump, and we’ll update the numbers below when they’re official. And remember to swing by CagePotato.com tomorrow night for our “Silva vs. Okami” liveblog!
Main Card (PPV, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)
Anderson Silva ( ) vs. Yushin Okami ( )
Maurício Rua ( ) vs. Forrest Griffin ( )
Brendan Schaub ( ) vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira ( )
Edson Barboza ( ) vs. Ross Pearson ( )
Luis Cane ( ) vs. Stanislav Nedkov ( )
Spike TV Prelims Live (8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT)
Thiago Tavares ( ) vs. Spencer Fisher ( )
Rousimar Palhares ( ) vs. Dan Miller ( )
Facebook Prelims (6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT)
Paulo Thiago ( ) vs. David Mitchell ( )
Raphael Assunção ( ) vs. Johnny Eduardo ( )
Erick Silva ( ) vs. Luis Ramos ( )
Yuri Alcantara ( ) vs. Felipe Arantes ( )
Ian Loveland ( ) vs. Yves Jabouin ( )
The longest-reigning champion in UFC history, Anderson Silva will look to extend his streak as he takes on Japanese top contender Yushin Okami this weekend at UFC 134.Throughout his reign, Silva has put on some of the most exciting shows, whether domin…
The longest-reigning champion in UFC history, Anderson Silva will look to extend his streak as he takes on Japanese top contender Yushin Okami this weekend at UFC 134.
Throughout his reign, Silva has put on some of the most exciting shows, whether dominating his opponent and quickly knocking them out or pulling out submissions in the waning seconds of the bout.
Although criticized in some fights for not taking his opponent seriously, there is no questioning Silva’s motivation any more as an inspired Silva looks to leave a mark on the MMA world as the greatest fighter of all time.
Let’s look back at Silva’s past title defenses and they rank up.
UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the greatest Mixed Martial Artist ever, bar none, according to many in the MMA world—including UFC President Dana White—and even with the many Mixed Martial Artists that you could argue for in retaliation to Silva being pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport, the argument for “The Spider” is a difficult one to ignore.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The good news for the Americans on the 