I get what he’s trying to say, but it’s a stretch to call his tilt with Okami a “date”
Perhaps it’s pointless to write an aftermath article for an Anderson Silva fight anymore. Not necessarily because he hasn’t lost since 2006, but rather, because Anderson Silva summed up his dominance of the middleweight division perfectly himself. After his victory over Yushin Okami last night, Kenny Florian asked Anderson Silva if there’s anyone out there he would like to fight next. His response? “My clone”.
If the idea of multiple Anderson Silvas wasn’t somehow reminiscent of the plot of Terminator, I’d agree with him. Other than a rematch with Dan Henderson (if the money is right) or a rematch with Chael Sonnen (if he can get past Brian Stann), who else is out there for him? Or rather, who else at middleweight?
This doesn’t mean that Yushin Okami doesn’t deserve credit for his performance. If Yushin Okami had any chance of beating Anderson Silva, it was going to involve getting Silva on his back and avoiding submissions. Okami started out well enough, pushing Silva into the cage and clinching with the far superior striker. The only problem was that Okami was completely unable to take Silva down. After eating a head kick at the end of the first round, it was only a matter of time before the gun-shy challenger got caught again.
It took Mauricio “Shogun” Rua just under two minutes to prove that he still belongs in the mix at light-heavyweight. Fighting in Brazil for the first time since 2003, Shogun capitalized on Griffin’s attempt to push the pace and avenged his loss to Griffin from 2007. Aside from knocking Griffin out last night, Shogun may have permanently knocked Griffin out of contention for another light-heavyweight title shot. It’s been fun while it lasted, but perhaps it’s time for Griffin to be relegated to the proverbial old guy division.
In other action, Edson Barboza predictably defeated Ross Pearson, though the fight was far closer than most anticipated it being. Barboza may have gotten the victory, but it’s hard to imagine his stock rising after barely getting by a handpicked opponent. Meanwhile, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who essentially made a career out of coming back from early damage to win fights, showed us more of the same in his comeback victory over Brendan Schaub. Perhaps Schuab, who was in trouble early against Cro Cop in his last fight, wasn’t as ready for the step up in competition as we were led to believe. Likewise, Big Nog looked slow and vulnerable for most of the fight. While it’s still an impressive victory for Nogueira, it’s also premature to declare that he is back in the mix at heavyweight.
For the record, Luiz Cane is the only Brazilian on the card to lose to a foreign opponent, getting knocked out by Stanislay Nedkov. Cane has now lost three of his last four. Luis Ramos, who fought fellow Brazilian Erick Silva, was the only other Brazilian to lose last night.
Full results, courtesy of MMAFighting.com:
Main Card
Anderson Silva def. Yushin Okami via second-round TKO
Mauricio Rua def. Forrest Griffin via first-round KO
Edson Barboza def. Ross Pearson via split decision
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Brendan Schaub via first-round KO
Stanislav Nedkov def. Luiz Cane via first-round TKO
Preliminary Bouts
Thiago Tavares def. Spencer Fisher via second-round TKO
Rousimar Palhares def. Dan Miller via unanimous decision
Paulo Thiago def. David Mitchell via unanimous decision
Raphael Assuncao def. Johnny Eduardo by unanimous decision
Erick Silva def. Luis Ramos via first-round TKO
Yuri Alcantara def. Felipe Arantes via unanimous decision
Yves Jabouin def. Ian Loveland via split decision
