After his UFC 153 bout with Stephan Bonnar, it’s apparent that Anderson Silva prefers to play with his food before eating.The UFC middleweight champion bobbed and weaved his way to another masterful performance against Bonnar, a 13-to-1 underdog.Regard…
After his UFC 153 bout with Stephan Bonnar, it’s apparent that Anderson Silva prefers to play with his food before eating.
The UFC middleweight champion bobbed and weaved his way to another masterful performance against Bonnar, a 13-to-1 underdog.
Regardless of the odds, Bonnar was a respectable light heavyweight who had never been finished in his professional career. He has competed valiantly in unanimous decision losses to Jon Jones, Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin.
Against Silva, Bonnar couldn’t even make it out of the first round.
After dropping his hands and giving Bonnar a chance to take free swipes at him, Silva stopped messing around and delivered a well-placed knee to Bonnar‘s solar plexus that ended the fight.
Bonnar, who is easily one of the most durable fighters at 205 pounds, was left crumpled in the fetal position clutching at his insides.
“Not injured, just caught with a perfect knee to the solar plexus and it paralyzed me, was just getting movement back when fight was stopped,” Bonnar said in a post on Twitter after the fight.
Silva’s greatness comes from his impeccable timing and accuracy. Every strike he throws seems to be perfectly placed.
In the UFC, Silva has a plethora of incredible first round finishes.
His bouts against Griffin, Rich Franklin and VitorBelfort stand out the most. It’s nearly impossible to choose Silva’s best overall finish, but his performance against Bonnar deserves recognition as one of the best.
Even though Bonnar was twisted at an awkward angle, Silva still threw the knee with perfect precision.
It was reminiscent of the front kick that had Belfort napping at UFC 126.
Back in the days, Muhammad Ali used to predict the round he was going to defeat his opponents in. Silva has shown the same ability to finish opponents whenever he wants.
So here’s the story. While UFC 153 was being shown live on ESPN my part of merry old England was hit by an unexpected thunder storm. It was unexpected because such things don’t normally happen at this time of year. For a few brief seconds w…
So here’s the story. While UFC 153 was being shown live on ESPN my part of merry old England was hit by an unexpected thunder storm. It was unexpected because such things don’t normally happen at this time of year.
For a few brief seconds we were hit by a power cut, which meant that my DVD recorder and satellite TV box stopped working. It also meant that I’d lost the preliminary fights and that I’d have to record the repeat showing the following night.
So here, a little bit later than planned, is my look (sans prelims) at UFC 153.
The show began with welterweight action as Demian Maia took on Rick Story.
Story began the fight by swinging for the fences, but within seconds Maia took the fight to the ground. Story managed to get back to his feet a couple of times but Maia managed to keep a hold of him as he powered him back down to the mat.
Maia simply overwhelmed him, and it wasn’t long before he took Story’s back and cranked his man’s neck for the very impressive submission win.
With the Phil Davis/Wagner Prado fight cut from the repeat, more welterweight action followed as Jon Fitch went up against Erick Silva.
Now this was a fight. For three rounds these two put on a great contest in what proved to be a hard test for the young Brazilian.
Fitch basically took Silva to school. There wasn’t much in the way of stand up fighting but when they went to the ground Fitch dominated in all three rounds. From his takedowns through to his submissions and ground and pound, it was a joy to watch.
Silva had his moments, particularly in the second round when he took Fitch’s back and went for a rear naked choke. But the man with the best submission escape record in UFC history added to his number and moments later he went for a submission of his own, although Silva managed to spin out of the armbar attempt.
Fitch cemented his domination in the third round with his brutal ground and pound. There were times when it looked like the referee would stop the action, but Silva managed to survive.
So after three great rounds it came down to the judges as all three scored in favour of Fitch.
Then it was up to light heavyweight as Glover Teixeira faced Fabio Maldonado.
This was one of those fights that was brutal and compelling at the same time.
Teixeira put on a dominating display for the majority of the first round. A left hook sent Maldonado crashing, and it wasn’t long before Teixeira went to work with the ground and pound.
Teixeira’s attack was brutal. It looked like he wanted to obliterate his opponent before he went for an arm triangle.
Then, to the surprise of just about everyone, Maldonado managed to get back to his feet, and moments later, as he staggered around the cage with the fence basically holding him up, he connected with a couple of left hooks that rocked his man.
The second round was pretty much the same, although not as brutal. Teixeira put in some more stellar work on the ground as Maldonado began to look like Rocky Balboa after his first fight with Apollo Creed.
The referee called for a timeout as the round entered its last minute so the doctor could check Maldonado out, and just when it looked like he was going to call the fight he allowed Maldonado to continue.
Maldonado managed to survive the round, but as soon as the doctor saw him, he told the referee to wave the fight off, ending his brave resistance and giving Teixeira the TKO win.
The co-main event featured heavyweight action as Minotauro Nogueira took on Dave Herman.
This was good, and while many thought that Big Nog would take control early on, it was Herman who scored with the early takedown. Nog managed to escape eventually, setting up what became an intriguing first round.
The fight really came alive in the second. Big Nog connected with a big left early on that sent Herman to the ground. Nogueira followed him down for some stellar ground work, and although Herman showed some sound defensive skills at times, especially when he got back to his feet, Nogueira soon took the fight back down.
The end came a few moments later when Big Nog went for an armbar. Herman, who had never been submitted before, tried to fight it for as long as he could, rolling at one point. Nevertheless, it wasn’t long before the inevitable happened as Herman tapped to give Big Nog the more than welcome submission win.
The main event featured light heavyweight action as Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva went up against Stephan Bonnar.
Was there really any doubt about who would win this one?
What we had here was a somewhat eccentric performance from the best in the world. Bonnar came forward early, and after trying for a couple of combinations, he engaged in a long clinch against the cage as he went for the takedown.
It would be a tactic Bonnar would try later on in the round, but when they weren’t clinching Silva stood with his back to the cage, showboating a little and basically calling for Bonnar to hit him. Bonnar managed to get in a few good shots, but it wasn’t long before Silva had the American Psycho back peddling with some crisp striking.
Silva then connected with a knee to the chest that doubled Bonnar over as he slumped to the mat. Silva followed him down for a spot of ground and pound before the referee stepped in to give Silva the TKO win.
I normally like listening to thunder storms. For some reason they help me sleep, and for an insomnia sufferer like me, that’s quite helpful.
But let’s get back to the matter at hand. Did UFC 153 deliver?
It certainly did. I may have missed the prelims and one of the main fights, but overall this was a pretty enjoyable show.
Demian Maia looks like a completely different fight since he moved down to welterweight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he manages to get into the title picture soon, especially if he continues with his great performances.
It was great to see Big Nog back in the cage and doing what he does best. Just thinking of Frank Mir braking his arm makes me shudder, and it was great to see the big man getting back to winning ways with some nice Brazilian jiu-jitsu. (Slight dig at Dave Herman there!)
As for Anderson Silva, to me it looked like he was treating this like an overexposed sparring session. Don’t get me wrong, it was a pretty good performance, but he’s just a class above everyone else in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Well, there could be one man who could give him a run for his money. Two if you count a certain welterweight.
“But you haven’t mentioned your fight of the night yet,” I hear you cry. That’s because I’m giving this no-prize to the Jon Fitch/Erick Silva welterweight encounter. Much was expected of Silva going into that fight, but Fitch took him to the proverbial wood shed and taught him a few lessons. Silva is definitely one for the future, and hopefully he’ll learn a great deal from this defeat.
With all that out of the way, let’s wrap this thing up by giving UFC 153 the big thumbs up, and let’s hope that we don’t get an out of season November thunder storm when Rich Franklin takes on Cung Le next month!
Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. It’s been online in one form or another for over 12 years now!
I’m not a fan of Stephan Bonnar—nor are most people, if Twitter is anything to go by. According to our own Twitter rankings from last August, Bonnar is nowhere in the top 40 most-followed UFC fighters currently signed with the promotion. Wh…
I’m not a fan of Stephan Bonnar—nor are most people, if Twitter is anything to go by.
According to our own Twitter rankings from last August, Bonnar is nowhere in the top 40 most-followed UFC fighters currently signed with the promotion.
Which means that Bonnar’s insistence after his fight against Kyle Kingsbury last year that he’ll only come out of semi-retirement if the UFC lines up a fight against someone with more Twitter followers than himdidn’t actually mean much. Any number of fighters could be chosen.
However, with the strange way that the universe works, and after campaigning hard for months to be given a big name opponent to end his career, Bonnar was given the man with more Twitter followers than any other in the world of MMA—Anderson Silva.
Bonnar’s Twitter obsession comes from an inconsistent career which has seen this little-more-than-average fighter finish with a 15-8 record after what could be his last fight on Saturday. As far as Bonnar sees it, the UFC has lined up too many unknown opponents who went on to become superstars following their victory over him, rather than the other way round.
He’s talking about Jon Jones.
Bonnar was Jones’ second opponent in the UFC and was a fighter the TUF alumni was meant to beat comfortably. But instead, Jones broke him apart over three rounds and has gone on to become the most dominant light heavyweight since Tito Ortiz.
Bonnar was left far in the distance, fading to further losses after that fight and becoming little more than a journeyman before Silva was offered to him.
However, when we’re talking about “legacy” and Bonnar, we are obliged to mention his performance on the first finale of TUF and his fight against Forrest Griffin, which Dana White once referred to as the most important fight in the promotion’s history.
It’s hardly that.
That fight went down in 2005, the UFC’s middle years, and its importance has long been superseded by endless turning points that have seen MMA become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.
Few MMA fans, who joined the sport post-Brock Lesnar—and that includes the vast majority of followers of the sport—will remember that fight.
Nor are they likely to remember many of his other fights. All his subsequent decision losses to Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin (again) or Mark Coleman are instantly forgettable. So too are his occasional wins against obsolete fighters such as Mike Nickels, Eric Schafer or KrzysztofSoszynski.
In the end, his two losses to two greats of the sport, Jones and Silva, will linger much longer in the memory.
Against Silva, he gave us an opportunity to see the Brazilian’s sublime brilliance in the cage against a completely inadequate opponent—and for that, we thank you, Bonnar.
(Anderson Silva dodges a turning side-kick from Stephan Bonnar, then calmly walks back to the spot where he was just standing. Jesus, that’s humiliating.)
We’ve rounded up a few of the shocking, hilarious, and just-plain-memorable moments from this weekend’s action-packed UFC 153 card in Rio. Use the links below to navigate through the gallery. All GIFs courtesy of BloodyElbow and MMA-Core.
(Anderson Silva dodges a turning side-kick from Stephan Bonnar, then calmly walks back to the spot where he was just standing. Jesus, that’s humiliating.)
We’ve rounded up a few of the shocking, hilarious, and just-plain-memorable moments from this weekend’s action-packed UFC 153 card in Rio. Use the links below to navigate through the gallery. All GIFs courtesy of BloodyElbow and MMA-Core.
Stephan Bonnar may not have been the toughest opponent middleweight champion Anderson Silva has had to face, but his beguiling performance on Saturday night, finishing Bonnar with such contempt inside the first round, has just confirmed that Silva is t…
Stephan Bonnar may not have been the toughest opponent middleweight champion Anderson Silva has had to face, but his beguiling performance on Saturday night, finishing Bonnar with such contempt inside the first round, has just confirmed that Silva is the greatest of all time.
To Silva, his win in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, at UFC 153 on Saturday, was just one more on an incomparable 16-fight undefeated run. But to his admiring fans across the word, it provided clearer evidence that there has never been a fighter like him, and we may never see the likes of him again.
Of course the fight was not as important as his title-defence in July against ChaelSonnen. There was no title at stake. And even though the champion was fighting at 205 lbs, above his weight class for one night only, no one expected that Bonnar would provide any sort of challenge.
But that doesn’t matter when we have the privilege to witness what we saw on Saturday.
With little preparation for the fight, taking it at short notice to replace the injured Jose Aldo, Silva toyed with his opponent mercilessly. Like no other fighter ever could, Silva finished Bonnar with the same knee deftly and viciously aimed at the sternum—followed by a barrage of punches—which ended Sonnen’s knight.
It’s like Dana White said after the fight, “[Silva’s] like [Michael] Jordan—even the games he played that didn’t mean a lot—he still did a lot of great s**t.”
If Anderson Silva’s brutal knee to Stephan Bonnar’s body wasn’t proof enough of “The Spider’s” dominance at UFC 153, we got the FightMetric numbers to back it up.Despite spending the majority of the time with his back against the Octagon, Silva absolut…
If Anderson Silva‘s brutal knee to Stephan Bonnar‘s body wasn’t proof enough of “The Spider’s” dominance at UFC 153, we got the FightMetric numbers to back it up.
Despite spending the majority of the time with his back against the Octagon, Silva absolutely dominated Bonnar in every significant category during their short bout and showed once again why he’s the pound-for-pound MMA king.
Let’s break down the numbers from the exciting main event in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil.
So here’s the story. While 