Tag: UFC 153

Not all the dudes named “Silva” had a great time at UFC 153. While Anderson Silva kneed out Stephan Bonnar’s sternum, Erick Silva was absolutely destroyed by UFC veteran Jon Fitch.

Silva was regarded by many as one of the hottest prospects in the UFC. He was absolutely dominant in Brazil’s local MMA circuit, compiling a 12-1 (1) record. He had a successful UFC debut, knocking out Luis Ramos in the first round and he later helped usher Charlie Brenneman out of the UFC.

Jon Fitch, a longtime top-tier welterweight, was supposed to be the coming out party for Silva. Fitch, after all, is aging, unhappy and close to retirement. Right?

Nope. Jon Fitch decided, at long last, it was time for him to flip the angry switch. Fitch had an absolutely absurd 13-2-1 record in the UFC that was predominantly made up of slow-paced grappling matches where he would take an opponent down and employ the much-maligned “lay and pray” strategy.

Fans hate this, and it is widely regarded as a huge factor in why Fitch, in spite of racking up win after win, has stayed far away from the welterweight title picture. At long last, Fitch took this criticism to heart and wrecked Erick Silva. Badly.

Fitch, rather than contentedly staying positioned atop his opponent, forcefully took Silva around the cage and employed angry, frantic ground-and-pound. He dominated Silva from on top and skillfully avoided several strong submission attempts. After squirming out of a guillotine choke in the second round, Fitch landed punch after punch from top position. It was at this exact point that Erick Silva quit the fight.

Even though Erick Silva only has four UFC fights to this point, he is no kid. He is 28 years old and has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo. He is an established fighter with a refined style that just got thoroughly beaten at his own game. Wherever people thought Erick Silva was in his career, and no matter how good people thought he was, he is very clearly not as good as Jon Fitch.

So who can he fight next?

Well, that is difficult to say. What we just saw certainly suggests that he is nowhere near competing with top welterweights, so it ultimately depends on what the UFC thinks of his long-term value.

If the UFC wants to build the Erick Silva brand, there are loads of anonymous, interchangeable welterweights fighting on any given preliminary card to choose from. TJ Waldburger, Amir Sadollah and Kenny Robertson are all very beatable. On the flip side, he could very easily find himself being fed to an established fighter needing to get back on the winning track, in particular Yoshihiro Akiyama or Rick Story.

Either way, the amount of damage done to Erick Silva’s rep here in this fight is enormous. This is a profound setback that may keep him off any given main card for the next year or two. Whether or not he will be able to climb out of the hole Jon Fitch just threw him into, it will be an interesting thing to watch.

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The main event of UFC 153 in Rio de Janeiro Saturday featured a light heavyweight match between MMA journeyman Stephan Bonnar and pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva.

The fight was billed as having two possible outcomes—a spectacular knockout, or a gargantuan upset. It didn’t take Silva long to produce the knockout.

It took him 4:40 to be exact, and it might not have taken him that long had he shown more of an interest in the fight during its early stages.

Bonnar spent the first half of Round 1 pinning Silva against the cage, a tactic that Silva recognized and willfully indulged. After gaining separation with Bonnar about halfway through the frame, Silva strolled back to the fence, leaned against it and waited for Bonnar to return.

When “The American Psycho” overcame his confusion and accepted the generous offer, Silva became belligerent and decided he’d had enough.

In a string of maneuvers that came in a flash, Silva tripped Bonnar, pursued him as he attempted to get back up, landed a knee to Bonnar‘s chest and followed his crumpled body to the mat, where he ended the fight with a flurry of follow-up punches.

It all looked pretty easy, and watching it you couldn’t help but get the sense Silva could have done what he did four minutes earlier had he chosen to. Maybe that’s naive to think, but he really did make it look that simple.

Silva’s takedown defense and strength against the perimeter of the Octagon kept him out of danger when Bonnar attempted to take the bout to the ground, and his ability to create separation allowed him to launch the little offense he needed to secure victory.

Beyond those factors, hand speed favored Silva to a ridiculous degree, and he used his superior striking skills to make Bonnar look silly before punishing him and stopping the action.

To Silva, the contest seemed like more of a game than a fight, and he seemed to be playing more than fighting. Yet, he looked better playing than most mixed martial artists do when they fight their heart out.

I guess that’s a product of Silva being the best fighter of all time. 

Another chapter of the Silva legend has been written.

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