UFC 148: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II, the most hyped and anticipated fight in the history of the Zuffa-based promotion, has thus far drawn 19 million viewers in Brazil. The overall interest generated by the 148 event was in no small part due to …
UFC 148: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II, the most hyped and anticipated fight in the history of the Zuffa-based promotion, has thus far drawn 19 million viewers in Brazil.
The overall interest generated by the 148 event was in no small part due to the ongoing feud between Silva and Sonnen—a grudge that was settled via second-round TKO courtesy of “The Spider.”
With MMAWeekly reporting these pay-per-view figures, it’s a surefire bet that had the event taken place in its original setting of Brazil (UFC 147 on June 23), the numbers could’ve been much higher.
However, the Silva vs. Sonnen rematch was scrapped due to a conflict of interest, as a UN conference, Rio+20, was also scheduled for that day.
Add to the equation the 47,000 capacity of Rio de Janeiro’s Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, and the attendance figures could have surpassed the promotion’s record gate turnout of 55,724 set at UFC 129.
At present, pay-per-view figures for the U.S have yet to be verified, but according to President Dana White, those numbers could easily match UFC 100: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir II, which at the time amassed a record 1.6 million buys.
With that in mind, only five other events have gone over the million pay-per-view mark. The last one to do so was UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, back in October of 2010.
That said, the assumed buyrate for UFC 148 stands at 1.4 million.
Chael Sonnen may have saved Anderson Silva from serious trouble with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.The NSAC is mulling over the possibility of disciplining Silva for his actions at the UFC 148 weigh-ins.After weighing in for the fight, Silva thr…
Chael Sonnen may have saved Anderson Silva from serious trouble with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The NSAC is mulling over the possibility of disciplining Silva for his actions at the UFC 148 weigh-ins.
After weighing in for the fight, Silva threw a shoulder at Sonnen during an intense staredown. There wasn’t any serious damage done, but the shoulder did hit Sonnen in the mouth.
After the incident, NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer told Silva and his camp that similar stunts won’t be tolerated in the future, and another such incident could result in the termination of Silva’s fighting license in the state of Nevada.
“Anderson had some very lame excuse initially about, ‘Oh, well, Chael put his head down at the beginning of that.’ I’m like, ‘C’mon, that’s silly.’ And then he said, ‘Well, I’m upset about what he said about my wife.’ I said, ‘Look, I understand that, but that’s not an excuse for doing what you did. It’s inexcusable what you did.’
[Silva] wasn’t very happy with us pointing that out to him, but he understood. I finally had to say to him, ‘Look, if you ever, despite your previous record with us as a good licensee, if you ever do anything like this again, that’s it for you in Nevada. You’ll be fighting your fights elsewhere.'”
Before speaking with Silva, Kizer asked for Sonnen’s opinion on what type of discipline should be handed down. Since Sonnen was the one attacked, Kizer thought it was only fair to give him an opportunity to have some input on the punishment.
Kizer continues:
“I wanted to respect Chael’s opinion. He definitely doesn’t need me to fight his battles. Hopefully, we’ll never see anything like that again from Mr. Silva. I talked to [Sonnen] and said look, ‘What’s your view? What’s your level of outrage, so to speak?’ And he was very forgiving.
I’ve got to give him a lot of credit. He basically said to me that he wasn’t looking for any kind of serious discipline against Anderson, that he’d forgiven him. He wasn’t even sure if it was premeditated by Anderson. He was very gracious, very forgiving.
But I wanted to let him know. I said, ‘You’re the aggrieved party here. I want your input before the chairman makes a decision, here.’ His viewpoint was, ‘I’m not looking for you to discipline him or anything. If you want to do a small fine, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t even do any kind of fine.’ I said, ‘I appreciate your input, but it’s the chairman’s call. Your input is the most important of all.'”
It was the re-match we’d been waiting nearly two years for as Chael Sonnen challenged Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in the main event of UFC 148, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain. The b…
It was the re-match we’d been waiting nearly two years for as Chael Sonnen challenged Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in the main event of UFC 148, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain.
The broadcast began in the bantamweight division as Ivan Menjivar faced Mike Easton.
While this may not go down as one of the most memorable fights in UFC history, it certainly was entertaining.
Easton put in a very solid performance. His striking was crisp and he often met his target, his main success coming with a left high kick in the first and a flying knee in the second.
Menjivar just didn’t seem able to get into this fight at all. It was as if he couldn’t get out of first gear. He managed to get off a few good strikes but these were nothing compared to Easton’s work.
The only ground work came in the third when Easton countered Menjivar’s spin kick attempt with a takedown. There was a little work there until Menjivar kicked his man off and got back to his feet.
With neither man able to get the finish, the judges were called into action—with all three giving the fight to Easton.
It was up to featherweight for the next fight as Chad Mendes took on Cody McKenzie.
The first blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair of the evening saw Mendes coming forward early. McKenzie went for a couple of high kicks, but when Mendes caught another kick and connected with a blow to the body, McKenzie fell to the mat.
Mendes followed him down for a brief moment of ground and pound until the referee stepped in to stop the fight, giving Mendes the TKO win after just 31 seconds.
Welterweight action followed as Dong Hyun Kim took on Demian Maia.
The second blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair of the evening saw Maia going for the takedown right off the bat. There was a bit of a struggle on the feet as Maia quickly took Kim’s back.
Maia scored with the takedown seconds later, but when he went for the mount Kim gave the “X” sign with his arms. The referee stepped in straight away as Maia took the TKO win after just 47 seconds.
It was on to the middleweight division for the next fight as Cung Le went up against Patrick Cote.
Le began his night’s work by throwing Cote down to the ground, and for the next few minutes these two engaged in a very entertaining striking battle.
Once again, Le’s kicks looked top notch and his unusual stance seemed to confuse Cote a little. It took the Canadian quite a while to figure him out.
Cote’s best moments came in the second round when he rolled off a couple of good combinations. Le re-established control in the third round though, when he scored with a couple of takedowns.
Once again the judges were called into action as they gave Le the unanimous decision.
The co-main event featured the light heavyweight rubber match between Forrest Griffin and new Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz.
This was a great way to end their trilogy. Griffin began with a series of kicks. Ortiz scored with the takedown a few seconds later and briefly went for some ground and pound until Griffin managed to get to his feet.
From there Griffin took control. Ortiz seemed helpless at times as Griffin began to pick him apart, until a big right hand in the second round put Griffin on his backside.
Griffin managed to recover though and once again re-established control, and although Ortiz had his moments, both in the striking department and on the ground, the former Ultimate Fighter came back time and time again.
After all of that they still couldn’t put each other away, so once again the judges came into the equation. No split decisions this time as they gave everything to Griffin.
The main event saw Chael Sonnen challenging Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title.
This one certainly lived up to the hype. Sonnen scored with the big takedown just six seconds into the fight, and from there he went on to dominate the first round, although Silva did a very good job in the defensive department as he held his challenger in the half guard.
Sonnen eventually managed to take the mount, but once again Silva did a good job of defending.
Sonnen tried for the takedown again in the second round, but this time Silva was having none of it as his defensive work got even better.
A few moments later Sonnen went for a spinning back fist and slipped. It was then that Silva pounced, connecting with a knee to the chest before delivering some ground and pound.
Sonnen managed to get back to his feet though, until another right hand sent him back down. Silva went in for the kill with some more ground and pound until the referee stepped in to give the Spider the title retaining TKO win.
Afterwards Silva showed that he held no grudges by inviting Sonnen to a barbecue!
The show rounded out with an hour’s worth of filler material, beginning with the lightweight encounter between Gleison Tibau and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
This was one of those fights that fit firmly into the very interesting category.
Nurmagomedov was relentless in his takedown attempts throughout the fight. The only problem was that Tibau’s defensive work was even better, and even though Khabib never scored with the takedown he went for it time and time again.
Tibau was more successful with his takedowns though, although there was very little ground work to speak off afterward.
The striking exchanges were certainly entertaining, with Nurmagomedov’s best work coming as the fight came to an end.
With no finish the judges were called into action as Nurmagomedov took the unanimous decision. Am I the only one who thought that this decision was a little bit strange?
The lightweight action continued as Melvin Guillard faced Fabricio Camoes.
This one was a little better action-wise. Camoes looked good with his takedowns, especially in the first round.
But when he went for further takedowns, Guillard managed to escape more often than not, often getting in his own brand of ground and pound.
In between this ground work, Guillard put on a good striking display. Camoes wasn’t far behind him in that respect, although neither man managed to get in that one big blow that would have made a difference.
Camoes went back to the ground game towards the end of the fight when he went for a leg lock, but Guillard managed to hold on as the time limit expired.
More work for the judges at the end of this one, and this time they got it right as Guillard took the unanimous decision.
The final fight of the broadcast featured middleweight action as Costa Philippou faced Riki Fukuda.
This one featured the story of the striker stuffing the takedowns. After a bit of a feeling out period at the beginning, Philippou began to find his range with some nice strikes. Fukuda tried to counter with a takedown, but Philippou easily managed to escape.
This was more or less how the rest of the fight played out: Philippou putting on a good display in the striking department and Fukuda failing with the takedowns.
That was until an unfortunate incident where Fukuda accidentally poked Philippou in the eyes before connecting with a body kick. Philippou cried out in pain as he went to the ground, clutching his face, and for a while it looked as if he wouldn’t be able to continue.
Thankfully he was given the all clear by the doctor, and a fired up Philippou returned to action like a house on fire, throwing some more great strikes and once again defending against Fukuda’s takedown.
No surprise with the decision in this one as all three judges gave the fight to Philippou.
In conclusion, this was touted as the biggest UFC event ever, and it certainly delivered it’s fair share of excitement.
There were some great fights throughout this marathon show, and while there are many that would have earned my “fight of the night” award if they’d been on other shows, it’s kind of easy for me to give that particular honour to the Silva/Sonnen encounter.
It remains to be seen though if our Chael will accept that barbecue invitation offer. Who knows, maybe he’ll take a bottle of good ol’ JR’s good stuff with him!
So with all of that out of the way there’s only one thing left to do. Yep, you guessed it. UFC 148 gets the big thumbs up from me.
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!
Upon seeing Anderson Silva’s weigh-in shoulder strike, Keith Kizer had a Dana White moment.
Even though it doesn’t appear that Anderson Silva will be punished for striking Chael Sonnen with his shoulder at the UFC 148 weigh-in, Nevada State Athletic Commission Head Keith Kizer made it clear that he is very disappointed with the UFC middleweight champion. In fact, he’s so disappointed that he told “The Spider” that another such incident would get him banned from competing in Nevada. According to MMAJunkie.com, these were Kizer’s exact words to Anderson Silva:
“Look, if you ever, despite your previous record with us as a good licensee, if you ever do anything like this again, that’s it for you in Nevada. You’ll be fighting your fights elsewhere.”
So if the NSAC is so upset with Silva, then why isn’t he getting fined for his actions? Ironically – or perhaps fittingly – it was Chael Sonnen playing The Voice of Reason.
Upon seeing Anderson Silva’s weigh-in shoulder strike, Keith Kizer had a Dana White moment.
Even though it doesn’t appear that Anderson Silva will be punished for striking Chael Sonnen with his shoulder at the UFC 148 weigh-in, Nevada State Athletic Commission Head Keith Kizer made it clear that he is very disappointed with the UFC middleweight champion. In fact, he’s so disappointed that he told “The Spider” that another such incident would get him banned from competing in Nevada. According to MMAJunkie.com, these were Kizer’s exact words to Anderson Silva:
“Look, if you ever, despite your previous record with us as a good licensee, if you ever do anything like this again, that’s it for you in Nevada. You’ll be fighting your fights elsewhere.”
So if the NSAC is so upset with Silva, then why isn’t he getting fined for his actions? Ironically – or perhaps fittingly – it was Chael Sonnen playing The Voice of Reason.
When Keith Kizer met with Chael Sonnen to discuss the incident, Chael was “very forgiving” towards the champion, and didn’t call for any type of serious disciplinary action. According to Kizer, the most that Chael Sonnen suggested was a small fine, but made it clear that he personally wouldn’t even fine Anderson for the incident.
Keith Kizer and NSAC chairman Raymond “Skip” Avansino, who had the final authority in what actions would be taken against Anderson Silva, had a far different encounter with Anderson Silva. While Sonnen was reasonable, Silva flat-out refused to acknowledge that his actions were uncalled for when he was initially confronted about the incident. As Kizer recalls:
“Anderson had some very lame excuse initially about, ‘Oh, well, Chael put his head down at the beginning of that,’” Kizer recounted. “I’m like, ‘C’mon, that’s silly.’ And then he said, ‘Well, I’m upset about what he said about my wife.’ I said, ‘Look, I understand that, but that’s not an excuse for doing what you did. It’s inexcusable what you did.’
Keith Kizer has also addressed how Anderson Silva rubbed Vaseline off of his face and onto his body before the fight. While Kizer admits that he’s noticed Anderson Silva do that before, he pointed out that on Saturday night, it was “more blatant that we expected.” He pointed out that UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta also noticed the incident on Saturday night, and praised referee Yves Lavigne for being quick to wipe Silva off before the fight.
So, does this tarnish your view of Anderson Silva at all? Is he alone in this, or do you think he just managed to get caught? And how serious do you think Keith Kizer actually is about banning the UFC’s most dominant champion? Let the debate resume. Keep it clean – No Vaseline, no grabbing your keyboards. This isn’t a cage fight, you guys.
(Then again, it seems to be working out pretty well for Clay Guida so far.)
Hell must have frozen over, because for once, we are in agreement with Dana White.
We’re not going to waste your time by recounting all of the endless press the issue of testosterone replacement therapy has received as of late, which would take us no less than twenty pages to complete. But needless to say, guys like Frank Mir are proving that damn near anyone can receive a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for TRT if they are willing to fill out the proper paperwork, and we’ve only begun to see the amount of fighters who will likely begin to hop on that bandwagon as time goes on.
But with his win at UFC 148, Anderson Silva basically proved that a vicious knee trumps TRT nearly 100 percent of the time, a notion that the UFC President really wishes he could drive home in one way or another. White recently sat down with ESPN’s Todd Grisham to discuss everything from fighter pay rates to the absolute sack of horseshit that was the Manny Pacquiao/Timothy Bradley decision. Being the polarizing subject that TRT is, Grisham brought up the possibility of the UFC having two fighters currently using testosterone as champions, were Chael Sonnen to defeat Silva and Dan Henderson to defeat Jon Jones, and what White would think of that. And we gotta say, we were rather impressed with Dana’s level-headed response. It was almost as if he had considered both sides of the story, rather than lashing out with personal attacks at the first person to speak up about a slightly sensitive issue. Like we said, the sky must be falling.
A full video interview is below.
(Then again, it seems to be working out pretty well for Clay Guida so far.)
Hell must have frozen over, because for once, we are in agreement with Dana White.
We’re not going to waste your time by recounting all of the endless press the issue of testosterone replacement therapy has received as of late, which would take us no less than twenty pages to complete. But needless to say, guys like Frank Mir are proving that damn near anyone can receive a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for TRT if they are willing to fill out the proper paperwork, and we’ve only begun to see the amount of fighters who will likely begin to hop on that bandwagon as time goes on.
But with his win at UFC 148, Anderson Silva basically proved that a vicious knee trumps TRT nearly 100 percent of the time, a notion that the UFC President really wishes he could drive home in one way or another. White recently sat down with ESPN’s Todd Grisham to discuss everything from fighter pay rates to the absolute sack of horseshit that was the Manny Pacquiao/Timothy Bradley decision. Being the polarizing subject that TRT is, Grisham brought up the possibility of the UFC having two fighters currently using testosterone as champions, were Chael Sonnen to defeat Silva and Dan Henderson to defeat Jon Jones, and what White would think of that. And we gotta say, we were rather impressed with Dana’s level-headed response. It was almost as if he had considered both sides of the story, rather than lashing out with personal attacks at the first person to speak up about a slightly sensitive issue. Like we said, the sky must be falling.
White’s response to the question, which comes at the 8:55 mark, went like this:
The bottom line is, the way that this TRT works, it’s absolutely 100 percent legal with the – let me explain one more thing. We’re regulated by the government. We’re really the only sport that’s actually regulated by the government and the government allows these guys to do this TRT. And basically over the next 10 years, sports science keeps getting better and better and better and the way that TRT works is as we get older your testosterone level drops, and this (TRT) is to replace it. The problem with it is, you got guys going ‘well if this much is good, this (more) must be great. That’s the problem and you will find guys that cheat even with the stuff that’s legal.
White continued that if you need to find a case against TRT usage, look no further than middleweight champ and pound for pound GOAT Anderson Silva:
That’s what we’re trying to – you make a good point and Anderson Silva said it at the press conference the other day. Anderson Silva, the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world has broke every record in the UFC and is the greatest fighter ever in mixed martial arts. He’s 38 years old, people don’t realize that, he’s not 28, he’s 38, and he’s not doing testosterone replacement therapy. This guy comes in 100 percent natural and he beats everybody. And something should be said for that, I don’t disagree. You know the guys who are using testosterone replacement therapy going up against a guy who isn’t, and this guy’s still the greatest in the world. So to me, the bottom line is you don’t need that junk. If you don’t abuse stuff earlier in your career, you’ll never need to use that kind of junk.
When asked if the decision were up to him regarding the legality of TRT in MMA (or at least the UFC), White stated that it would in fact be illegal.
As we’ve already heard from guys like former Heavy/Light Heavyweight champion Randy Couture, the potential pitfalls of TRT by far outweigh the benefits, and are becoming popular not out of necessity, but out of a desire to feel young again. Then again, Sonnen has shown that TRT can have a hell of an effect on the decision-making process, so maybe the natural fighters of the world would actually prefer to fight guys who are so confident in themselves as a result of “therapy” that they throw techniques well beyond their abilities. But what do you think, Potato Nation?
Forrest Griffin came away from his UFC 148 clash with Tito Ortiz on Saturday victorious, with a unanimous decision going in his favour. It was a fight which retired Ortiz and saw him enter the UFC Hall of Fame. With that inauguration, questions are now…
Forrest Griffin came away from his UFC 148 clash with Tito Ortiz on Saturday victorious, with a unanimous decision going in his favour.
It was a fight which retired Ortiz and saw him enter the UFC Hall of Fame. With that inauguration, questions are now also being asked of the 34-year-old Griffin and his place in the UFC’s pantheon of stars.
He has credentials, such as winning the UFC light heavyweight championship, defeating fighters of the calibre of Mauricio Rua, Quintin Jackson and Rich Franklin, and he took part in one of the most watched The Ultimate Fighter finales ever.
In the promotions recent history, he has been a big player. However, take the longer view, and the arguments in favour of his inclusion in the Hall of Fame are diminished.
While Dana White said at the time that the Griffin/Stephan Bonnar fight in 2005 was one of the most important in the UFC’s history, it may have been up to that point, but its significance has quickly faded from memory. The real torch bearers for the organisation were Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Brock Lesnar and George St. Pierre, who came shortly afterwards.
And even though Forrest Griffin won that match, he won it against a fighter that quickly faded into obscurity.
His title reign was also a short lived one. He failed to defend it even once, and with that loss to Rashad Evans, he’s gone 3-3 in his last six. Particularly embarrassing for him was the first round knockouts at the hands of Anderson Silva and Rua.
All his victories in that period, against Ortiz and Rich Franklin, were extremely closely run matches that could have gone either way. Against Ortiz twice, who has long been a spent force in MMA, and against Franklin once, who was fighting way out of his natural weight division of 185 lbs.
This is the record of a journey man fighter, not a Hall of Famer. For however fondly people like to remember Griffin’s time in the cage, his impact on the sport and the promotion has been mediocre. And for that reason, he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame.
UFC 148: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II, the most hyped and anticipated fight in the history of the Zuffa-based promotion, has thus far drawn 19 million viewers in Brazil.
