Tag: UFC 147

Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin in Same Elevator: What Happened Next? (Video)

Ahead of their UFC 147 encounter, PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva and erstwhile middleweight champion Rich Franklin came face-to-face in the same elevator and before you knew it… In combative sports such as MMA and boxing, the avoidance of your opponent…

Ahead of their UFC 147 encounter, PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva and erstwhile middleweight champion Rich Franklin came face-to-face in the same elevator and before you knew it…

In combative sports such as MMA and boxing, the avoidance of your opponent prior to engaging in what can only be termed as a war of attrition is and has always been par for the course.

The rationale behind this modus operandi is plain and simple—save for press junkets and promotions, the last thing a fighter wants to see is the guy they intend to decimate on fight night, especially in a closed vicinity and days before the event.

The training regime of a combatant more times than not is lonely and both mentally and physically taxing—they’re hurting, they miss their loved ones and something or someone is going to have pay for that pain when proceedings get underway.

With that in mind, the UFC has a policy of housing its fighters in the same hotel for several days leading up to a show.

That said, in the main event of UFC 147, “The Axe Murderer” and “Ace” were the consummate epitome of “wearing your heart on your sleeve” in a thrilling slugfest that garnered Fight of the Night honors. The two veterans of the sport knocked each other from pillar to post.

And albeit Franklin (29-6-1NC MMA, 14-5 UFC) took home the victory via unanimous decision, as was the case in their 2009 encounter, Silva (34-12-1-1NC MMA, 4-7 UFC) left the Octagon with his pride intact, knowing he’d given it his all and then some.

 

For additional information, follow Nedu Obi on Twitter.

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UFC 147 Results: Ranking the Matches from Best to Worst

Fresh off a successful UFC 147, MMA fans have been in massive discussions regarding the many thoughts and feelings about the fights.After several main-event changes that ended up seeing Wanderlei Silva take on Rich Franklin, UFC 147 can be considered a…

Fresh off a successful UFC 147, MMA fans have been in massive discussions regarding the many thoughts and feelings about the fights.

After several main-event changes that ended up seeing Wanderlei Silva take on Rich Franklin, UFC 147 can be considered a success as well as a failure, depending upon whom you ask.

This event will be considered a victory for UFC, as they garnered more than 20 million viewers in Brazil, even though they were offering free tickets due to the multiple card changes.

After the rather controversial card, here is a ranking of the matches on the main card.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 147: Why Wanderlei Silva Must Retire Following Loss to Rich Franklin

Wanderlei Silva was once one of the biggest stars in UFC and will always be remembered as such, but after losing to Rich Franklin for a second time at UFC 147 on Saturday, it is now time for the Brazilian to retire from mixed martial arts.Six years ago…

Wanderlei Silva was once one of the biggest stars in UFC and will always be remembered as such, but after losing to Rich Franklin for a second time at UFC 147 on Saturday, it is now time for the Brazilian to retire from mixed martial arts.

Six years ago, the now-35-year-old Silva held a career record of 31-5-1 and was still on top of his game. Since that point, however, things have gone downhill for him.

Silva is just 3-7 over his past 10 fights and he simply isn’t the same dominant fighter that he was for so many years. Silva continues to hang in there and put forth great effort, but it isn’t getting the job done anymore.

Rich Franklin is a solid fighter in his own right, but he is 37 years old and somebody who Silva should be able to beat. Franklin has defeated him twice in convincing fashion, though, and he looks like the younger fighter when that isn’t the case.

Silva has been fighting since 1996 and has been in nearly 50 bouts, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he is starting to slow down. Silva has more tread on his tires than most UFC fighters ever have, and it seems to have taken its toll on him.

As tough as it may be for long-time fans of the sport to hear, ultimate fighting is a young man’s game. In one respect, Silva’s experience is an asset as it can help him in the Octagon, but if his body can’t put his knowledge to work, then it’s simply counterproductive at this point.

Most fans still view Silva as an all-time great, but if he continues to fight and lose, then his legacy figures to be tarnished.

Watching an athlete attempt to relive his past glory when he doesn’t have anything left in the tank is always a sad thing to see. It seems to happen often in UFC, but Silva needs to make sure that he doesn’t become one of those guys.

Silva used to be one of the most vicious and dangerous fighters in the sport, and that is how he should be remembered.

Perhaps older fans of the sport won’t forget Silva’s early accomplishments, but all newer fans have seen over the past few years is Silva losing. He likely isn’t viewed as a legitimate contender by anyone who has picked up UFC in the past five years, so he isn’t receiving his due credit.

I’m sure fighting is something that Silva loves to do and the paychecks must be nice as well, but there are more important things to consider.

Not only has his reputation been damaged, but he is putting himself in harm’s way now more than ever. MMA always has and always will be a dangerous sport, but Silva used to be the hunter. Now he is the hunted, however, and it puts him at a much greater risk to be injured.

Silva has already proven all he needs to prove in UFC, but I get the feeling that pride is what makes him continue fighting. Silva should hold his head up high and retire with dignity now, though, rather than continuing down his current path.

Not only is Silva’s won-lost record being damaged, but he could be harmed significantly on a physical level as well if he doesn’t do the smart thing and walk away.

 

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter

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Mind = Blown: UFC 147 Draws Over 20 Million Viewers and 16,000 Fans


(No, you can’t do that… you can’t triple jab a double jab, you can’t triple jab a double jab! Ace!)

Perhaps this news shouldn’t be all that shocking, considering that MMA is as popular in Brazil as, well, pornography is in Brazil. In either case, you might be surprised to learn that the incredibly weak lineup of UFC 147, which faced enough injury withdrawals to give Joe Silva a heart attack twice over, drew in over 20 million viewers, as reported by Tatame.com. That’s only three million less than UFC 142 brought in back in January, which featured Jose Aldo’s destruction of Chad Mendes, Edson Barboza’s destruction of Terry Etim, and Anthony Johnson’s destruction of a nearby Chima Steakhouse.


(No, you can’t do that… you can’t triple jab a double jab, you can’t triple jab a double jab! Ace!)

Perhaps this news shouldn’t be all that shocking, considering that MMA is as popular in Brazil as, well, pornography is in Brazil. In either case, you might be surprised to learn that the incredibly weak lineup of UFC 147, which faced enough injury withdrawals to give Joe Silva a heart attack twice over, drew in over 20 million viewers, as reported by Tatame.com. That’s only three million less than UFC 142 brought in back in January, which featured Jose Aldo’s destruction of Chad Mendes, Edson Barboza’s destruction of Terry Etim, and Anthony Johnson’s destruction of a nearby Chima Steakhouse.

Perhaps even more surprising than the amount of viewers who caught UFC 147 from home were those who actually attended the event live. If you recall, the UFC was giving out full refunds for the event to those who had purchased tickets prior to the aforementioned injury curse (something we later found out was simply in accordance with Brazilian law), which didn’t exactly lead us to believe that the event would draw in an astounding 16,643 fans. Now there’s some dedication that should be applauded.

Although we have yet to hear back on the PPV numbers from the event (which will likely be much, much lower than any in recent memory), it is great to hear, at least for the UFC, that an event as lackluster on paper as UFC 147 was can still reel in numbers as significant as those. But could you imagine how great UFC 147 would have been given the original lineup? It would be like if David Hasselhoff and Rammstein played a joint concert at a bratwurst and beer festival in Hamburg on Pfingstmontag, for Christ’s sake. This is just one of the many reasons we need to eliminate the UN, Potato Nation.

–J. Jones

Clay Guida ran from Gray Maynard and his fans at UFC on FX 4

Last weekend, the UFC completed another first for its promotion: hosting two events on consecutive days. UFC on FX 4 was held on Friday, June 22, while UFC 147 was held the following day, June.

Last weekend, the UFC completed another first for its promotion: hosting two events on consecutive days. UFC on FX 4 was held on Friday, June 22, while UFC 147 was held the following day, June 23. UFC 147 was combined with the first ever TUF Brazil finale as well. This made for one busy and historical weekend for the UFC.

As with all sporting events, controversy is bound to ensue. The main bout at UFC on FX 4 between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard was expected to be explosive, dynamic, and quite frankly, an all out war. Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite the opposite. The bout primarily consisted of an unusual game plan by Clay Guida, in which he practically ran away from Gray Maynard. UFC referee Dan Miragliotta even gave him a warning in the fifth round of the fight for running away and not engaging in the bout. During the fight, chants ringing out “GUIDA, GUIDA” progressively changed to “MAYNARD, MAYNARD” with the end of the fight leading to Clay Guida getting booed out of the octagon. Dana White even stated that the fight sucked, and he was booing Guida’s ridiculous game plan as well.

The first thing that came to mind after watching the fight was that someone obviously had to suggest this game plan to Guida. And shortly after, I realized someone did. I don’t know why no one has stated the connection, but the fact that Greg Jackson is Clay Guida’s coach is the only thing I could think about. Going back to another unsatisfied main event at UFC 143, a controversial win was handed to Carlos Condit after implementing a very similar game plan as Clay Guida. While Condit did a much better job of combining offense with his game plan of seemingly running away, the concept is the same. And Condit’s head coach is none other than Grag Jackson. After Condit’s win, he stated that the game plan was put together by his coaching staff and that he felt he had implemented and stuck to it throughout the fight. That he did, leading to many angry fans. Which leads to my burning question, does Greg Jackson tell his fighters to implement this type of a game plan when matched up with a notorious striker? I never thought I’d be comparing Gray Maynard to Nick Diaz, but beside the similar situation they found themselves in with their opponent, Maynard displayed some Diaz rage in the octagon during his frustration in the fight.

While the UFC has been reforming and improving the sport to become main stream, fights like these push new fan prospects away from the sport. New fans expect to see the all out brawls that MMA fans talk about when they watch the sport, and while lack luster performances like this do happen, it isn’t convincing to new viewers. Even avid MMA fans get disgusted with performances like this one.

Clay Guida’s performance also created a rather boring win for Gray Maynard, who simply won by chasing his opponent. Some fans argue, however, that while Guida had an extremely lackluster performance, that he deserved to walk out with the ‘W’ because Gray Maynard failed to do significant damage as well. Dissatisfaction aside, a fighter doesn’t necessarily deserve a win simply because his opponent isn’t fighting. However, I do feel that Maynard did deserve the decision in this case. While his frustration was quite obvious throughout the fight, he eventually found his range and began to decipher the puzzle of Clay Guida. In comparison, while I was upset by the way Condit fought at UFC 143, I felt he had complete octagon control by dodging in and out and landing strikes in the process. While I feel like a fighter shouldn’t perform as stated in a fight, his performance at least deserved a win. Clay Guida’s performance, on the other hand, in my opinion, had no element of getting the decision victory. He had no control of the octagon, displayed little aggressiveness, and failed to implement any significant damage. Whether you agree or disagree with the judge’s decision to crown Maynard the winner, you can’t argue that this fight was disappointing, and failed to live up to its hype. We can only hope that both fighters come back stronger, and Guida hopefully comes back with a better game plan.

By: Emily Kapala

Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin: Silva Must Keep Fighting Despite UFC 147 Loss

Yes, Wanderlei Silva lost via unanimous decision to Rich Franklin at UFC 147. No, the Axe Murderer should not hang up his gloves just yet.Despite his loss—and the fact that the image of Ace’s left fist connecting with Silva’s face to wobble …

Yes, Wanderlei Silva lost via unanimous decision to Rich Franklin at UFC 147. 

No, the Axe Murderer should not hang up his gloves just yet.

Despite his loss—and the fact that the image of Ace’s left fist connecting with Silva’s face to wobble his knees and send him halfway to the mat as the final horn sounded will be forever engraved in fans’ minds—it is not Silva’s time to go yet.

The downward trend is concerning for Silva, who has lost seven of his last 10 fights, but he has not been manhandled. Disregard his inexplicably embarrassing loss to Chris Leben and Silva has put on some of the most exciting shows in recent UFC history.

He’s 35 years old and is certainly on the verge of running the well dry in terms of his ability to compete, but he has one left in him. It wouldn’t be fitting for the UFC fans’ last memory of the Axe Murderer to be him heading towards the mat.

Silva has provided the sport with too much carnage and brutality for him not to go out with a victory. His loss to Franklin was named Fight of the Night. So was his last knockout victory against Cung Le. He beat Michael Bisping in a fight that went the distance. His first loss to Franklin was also named Fight of the Night.

Prior to that it was his Knockout of the Year against Keith Jardine and a Fight of the Night loss to Chuck Liddell. His losses have come against formidable opponents for the most part, and there’s no reason for him to pack it in after his loss to Franklin.

This is not the familiar situation that we have all witnessed when the washed up veteran thinks he still has something left in the tank and gets completely dominated in the last few fights of his career before he is too humiliated to come back out for another.

This is Silva—a great fighter—running into other great fighters.

He floored Franklin in Round 2 with a right but was not able to finish him off. That in itself is disheartening, as his ability to finish his opponents off once he smells blood has become his calling card since he burst onto the scene. But don’t forget that Franklin could not finish him off when he took Silva to the ground.

Silva had plenty of opportunities to win this fight, but he could not get it done against a fighter that so many have failed to do the same.

The Axe Murderer is surely on his way out, but we need to wait for another fight to decide exactly when he will be walking out of the octagon for the final time.

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