This Saturday at UFC 153, all eyes will be on Anderson Silva.He’s a legend. He’s a true phenom, light years beyond his peers.By acclamation, Silva is the greatest mixed martial artist to ever grace a ring or a cage. To root for him is to root for the s…
He’s a legend. He’s a true phenom, light years beyond his peers.
By acclamation, Silva is the greatest mixed martial artist to ever grace a ring or a cage. To root for him is to root for the sport of MMA itself.
But what does it really mean for the sport if “The Spider” continues his streak? Does Silva’s success really affect mixed martial arts more than anyone else?
Once he faces Stephan Bonnar, why should you cheer him on?
It’s actually quite simple. From superfights to the true meaning of greatness, let’s break down five important reasons why any MMA fan should root for Silva.
MMA fans seem divided on Saturday’s UFC 153 fight card. Some see the main event of Anderson Silva versus Stephan Bonnar as a huge mismatch. The oddsmakers seem to agree with those fans, listing Silva as a 93 percent favorite to win.Others, and I …
MMA fans seem divided on Saturday’s UFC 153 fight card. Some see the main event of Anderson Silva versus Stephan Bonnar as a huge mismatch. The oddsmakers seem to agree with those fans, listing Silva as a 93 percent favorite to win.
Others, and I include myself in this group, will tell you that you should pony up the scratch to watch this event as you never know how many more chances you will get to see Silva work his magic inside the Octagon.
While the card is anchored by the bout between Silva and Bonnar, there are some other intriguing matchups that fans should care about. Light heavyweight prospect Glover Teixeira will look to extend his 16-fight winning streak when he faces Fabio Maldonado. Jon Fitch will look to stop surging young welterweight Erick Silva. Phil Davis faces Wagner Prado, while Demain Maia and Rick Story look to throw their names in the mix in the welterweight division.
In all the, card will feature 12 bouts with six being shown on pay per view, four on FX and two streaming on the UFC’s Facebook page.
While the fighters will compete on Saturday, they’ll step on the scale on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
Full UFC 153 Fight Card
Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar
Dave Herman vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Fabio Maldonado vs. Glover Teixeira
Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva
Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado
Demian Maia vs. Rick Story
Rony “Jason” Mariano Bezerra vs. Sam Sicilia
GleisonTibau vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Diego Brandao vs. Joey Gambino
Renee Forte vs. Sergio Moraes
Chris Camozzi vs. Luiz Cane
RezaMadadi vs. Cristiano Marcello
Bleacher Report will have results and reaction as the weigh-ins take place, make sure you check back on Friday afternoon for full coverage.
Sometimes a man makes a mistake. When it happens, there are two options. You can attempt to bury your head in the sand, even lash out at the people who call you on it, just hoping it all goes away. Or, you can stand up and admit your error.I’m choosing…
Sometimes a man makes a mistake. When it happens, there are two options. You can attempt to bury your head in the sand, even lash out at the people who call you on it, just hoping it all goes away. Or, you can stand up and admit your error.
I’m choosing the latter path. I was wrong.
When I started a series of articles called “Hater Aid,” I was starting down a path that I should have recognized wasn’t right. While the stories hold up factually, the very idea of them is in bad taste.
I missed the mark. No matter how many times I said that my articles weren’t personal, they were, whether I liked it or not. Whether I intended it that way or not. Because I wasn’t writing about a team. I was writing about an individual, a person with feelings, flesh and bone. With families who my words might greet like a slap to the face.
Words can hurt.
For that, I apologize. To Stephan Bonnar and Vitor Belfort. To their families. And, just as importantly, to my readers.
I love the sport of mixed martial arts. The fighters who compete in the cage have provided me hours of entertainment at great personal cost. I owe them better than that. I owe you better than that. I don’t intend to continue the series.
Instead, I look forward to joining you here in the days to come, sharing the stories of the men and women who make up this sport. Our sport.
These “Quick Breaks” are short breakdowns of upcoming fights. In a summed up focus of strengths, weaknesses and variables; this will analyze what could happen in the fight, and end with this writer’s prediction. The UFC will return on…
These “Quick Breaks” are short breakdowns of upcoming fights. In a summed up focus of strengths, weaknesses and variables; this will analyze what could happen in the fight, and end with this writer’s prediction.
The UFC will return once again to Brazil to put on UFC 153 in Rio deJaneiro. After all the injuries and the lingering shadow of UFC 151, two men have stepped up to save the card and put on what could be one of the most historic events of UFC.
One Brazilian Spider and an American Psycho will face-off in the headliner, and a victory for either would be yet another huge landmark in their careers. UFC 153 goes down Live on PPV this Saturday, October 13th at 10PM EST, with prelims earlier on FX and Facebook.
In the blue corner you have Stephan Bonnar. The “American Psycho” is one of the most well-known fighters in MMA, and was part of the historic inaugural TUF reality show that led to the famous Griffin vs Bonnar fight that arguably saved the sport and took MMA mainstream. While Bonnar is a huge underdog in this Rocky-esque fight, he has never been KO’d or submitted. Since his opponent is a Middleweight, Bonnar will have size and reach advantage as well.
In the red corner you have Anderson Silva. “The Spider” is widely known as the best fighter alive and arguably the greatest of all time. It has only been a month since vanquishing his rival, ChaelSonnen, but the Brazilian superstar stepped up to save the card. This will be his third venture into the Light Heavyweight division, and a rare occasion of seeing him in fights so close to each other. As always, his striking, head movement, timing, and unorthodox style will be his tools to try to stay undefeated in the UFC.
While oddsmakers and general consensus believe this is already another victory for Silva, there is no counting out anyone in this sport, especially a guy like Bonnar.
Bonnar has the heart and durability that many fighters lack, and they will be his biggest assets in this fight. Mentally, the fact there is no pressure is a huge plus; and if anything, a loss is expected, so actually losing wouldn’t be bad for a guy who is on a winning streak, and is facing the man who is considered the greatest fighter alive.
While Bonnar has no pressure either way, Silva has good and bad pressure. The good is that his belt isn’t on the line, and if he lost, it would be to a bigger guy. He is two for two in first-round knockouts at LHW, so he knows the feeling of competing at that weight. The bad pressure is his undefeated record is on the line. Also, losing to a guy who was speaking of retiring recently isn’t exactly a great thing to hand the media.
Silva will use his analytical skills and precision to dictate the fight, and Bonnar must push the pace and look to get it to the ground. This is where his best chances are, but if he can weather shots from Silva, he could get in close enough to land strikes of his own.
His ferocity and lack of fear to trade with Silva will aide him in this fight, but if you look back on Silva’s career, his greatest moments have mostly been from guys who try to have a standup war with him. This is a moment for Bonnar to have his fairytale ending to his career, or for Silva to show why he carries the monikers and superlatives he does.
Prediction: Anderson Silva wins via KO or TKO late in the first round.
Last year Rick Story’s name was on the watch list of surging contenders in the UFC welterweight division. The Vancouver, WA native had put together an impressive six-fight win streak, and with his victory over Johny Hendricks and next Thiago Alves at U…
Last year Rick Story‘s name was on the watch list of surging contenders in the UFC welterweight division. The Vancouver, WA native had put together an impressive six-fight win streak, and with his victory over Johny Hendricks and next ThiagoAlves at UFC 130, positioned himself in the Top 10 of his weight class.
Story was ready to square off with the division’s best, and when the opportunity to step up on short notice to fight Nate Marquardt arose, he attempted to seize it. But it was a fight he would never see, and following a storm of circumstance which resulted in a loss to last minute replacement Charlie Brenneman, Story suddenly found himself once again on the outside looking in.
“It still bugs me to this day,” Story told Bleacher Report. “I hadn’t experienced that before and didn’t know how to deal with the situation. I still lost and I have to accept it. I have to prove myself. Everyone almost remembers me for that fight. They don’t realize I’ve had two fights since. Every conversation I hear people are saying they saw my last fight with Brenneman. I get haunted by it quite a bit.”
The 28 year old attempted to get back on track as quickly as possible, but a unanimous decision loss in his next outing against Martin Kampmann kept that from happening. It was the first time in his career Story had tasted defeat in back to back outings. The Brave Legion fighter refused to focus on the negatives and channeled that energy into his training. He returned to the gym and locked his sights on making his way back to where he feels he belongs—amongst the divisional elite.
After getting back to the win column at the expense of Brock Jardine at UFC on FX 4, Story is focused on the next task in Demian Maia at UFC 153 this Saturday night in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil.
“When the fight with Jardine was over it was a sense of mission accomplished,” Story said. “I accomplished what I wanted to. I didn’t get it done up to my expectations because when I go out to fight I want to lay a beating on my opponent and make everyone watching happy that watches me fight. I don’t want to be one of those people where fans don’t want to see me fight. I don’t want to be in that category. I want to be an exciting fighter everyone looks forward to seeing fight.
“This fight with Maia is going to be a dang fight. It’s not going to be a fight like my last fight with Brock Jardine—I can tell you that much. This going to be way more action packed.”
The bout between Story and Maia is the classic “wrestler vs. jiu-jitsu” matchup. While both fighters have shown a willingness to stand and exchange in recent years, Story isn’t sugar-coating what he will be dealing with on Saturday night. Story knows the threats Maia brings to the table, and is looking forward to testing the Brazilian’s heart in his home country.
“I probably won’t feel anything different until I hear my name announced,” Story said about fighting in Brazil. “I’ll probably get booed but as of right now it doesn’t feel different. I’m not really paying attention to any of that. I am paying attention to whether I’m the underdog in this fight or not. That is motivation for me because it seems the underdog angle is where I have been coming from my entire life. It is a place of comfort for me and gives me more motivation.
“All the facts are out there about this fight. It is what it is. Everyone knows my strengths and everyone knows Demian‘s strengths as well. I believe wrestling is better than jiu-jitsu as far as fighting is concerned. High level wrestling is far more adaptable to MMA than jiu-jitsu is in my opinion, especially where striking is concerned. If it gets slowed down and turns into a grappling match, I’m going to have my hands full, but everyone knows the facts in this fight. There aren’t any secrets here.”
The fight will only be the second appearance for Maia at 170 pounds. A freak injury to Dong Hyun Kim halted his welterweight debut inside of the first minute and didn’t reveal much about Maia’s skill set in his new weight class.
“Making the weight is always an issue for anyone fighting,” Story said. “Him coming down and having a 47 second fight with Dong Hyun Kim doesn’t really show anything. Anyone can be strong for the first minute of any fight. This is going to be new ground for him and I’ll be happy to take him there.”
While his immediate focus rests on Maia, Story’s ultimate goal is to become a UFC champion. It was a road he was traveling at a steady pace, and while the path has taken some twists and turns, he is confident he can not only regain the position, but take himself to the top.
It will all come down to Saturday night at UFC 153. Story is aware of where he currently stands in the division and believes he belongs in the next tier of the weight class. With that being said, he is excited and ready to prove it inside the Octagon.
“A win over Maia will definitely sling shot me back in the direction I want to go,” Story said. “I am not going to make any predictions about where it is going to put me. I know who I have beaten, who I can hang with, and where I belong. I just have to prove it. I have to get it done and then wait for the next call from the UFC to see where they want me to go.
“I’d like to say thanks to my team at Brave Legion and my coach Pat White. I’d also like to say thank you to my teammates Luis Iniguez, Tommy Takemoto, Hamza Salim, and my brother Tyler Story for helping me prepare for this fight. I’d also like to thank my sponsor Hayabusa.”
To learn more about Rick Story follow him on Twitter @Rick_Story and his Brave Legion Gym at www.infernoclubs.com.
No one can really afford to lose during a UFC fight card.From the prelim fighters getting their first shot in the promotion to the main carders struggling to stay relevant, everyone has something on the line when they step into the Octagon.But this Sat…
No one can really afford to lose during a UFC fight card.
From the prelim fighters getting their first shot in the promotion to the main carders struggling to stay relevant, everyone has something on the line when they step into the Octagon.
But this Saturday, nine men in particular have a lot more to lose than everyone else.
Some of them will fall out of a title hunt. Others could lose their jobs. Several can propel themselves into title contention, and one of those men is facing the hardest test of his career.
So, who has the most to lose in Rio de Janeiro this weekend?
Here’s a look at the fighters who must win at all costs during UFC 153—and what happens if they fail.
Sometimes a man makes a mistake. When it happens, there are two options. You can attempt to bury your head in the sand, even lash out at the people who call you on it, just hoping it all goes away. Or, you can stand up and admit your error.