Tag: UFC 153

Do I understand why Anderson Silva agreed to move up a weight class to fight Stephan Bonnar with no belt on the line for UFC 153?

Nope, not really.

Do I still think he’ll demolish Bonnar in the Octagon?

Absolutely.

With UFC 153 falling apart this week, after both Jose Aldo and Quinton Jackson pulled out of their fights, Silva basically saved the event by agreeing to fight Bonnar. Props go to him for putting on the “Company Man” t-shirt and bailing Dana White out of a disaster, even if the three-round fight offers all risk and no reward for Silva.

Well, risk if he loses, that is. And that seems pretty darn unlikely.

Bonnar is 14-7 in his career and has won his last three bouts, though, his last two have come as decisions. While he was a fun brawler to watch in his prime, he’s not in his prime any longer, and if he tries to simply mash away at the Spider, he’ll find himself in a precarious situation rather quickly.

Think of Bonnar as a 16-seed in the NCAA tournament and Silva is a one-seed. Oh, and this is a scrimmage with nothing technically on the line. Well, except for Silva’s undefeated UFC record and reputation as arguably the greatest UFC fighter ever, that is.

There is always the possibility that Bonnar will catch Silva and pull off a crazy upset. In the Octagon, anything can happen. But that’s the only way he can beat Silva.

Does he have an advantage standing up?

No.

Does he have an advantage on the mat?

No. 

Is he the more technically savvy fighter?

Not even close. 

Is Silva capable of still winning the fight even if it devolves into a straight brawl?

Yes, but it won’t.

I understand the pickle the UFC was in and why they scheduled this fight. I praise Silva for being game, even if I think he’s pretty crazy to risk so much with absolutely nothing to gain except a paycheck and some kind words from White.

But I don’t think this will be a very good fight. I think Silva will win this one fairly easily. He should, at least—in the UFC, you never know.

But if you ever wanted a safe bet, well, put the mortgage on Silva over Bonnar.

 

Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets always have a backup long snapper.

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After all the injuries and alternating, UFC 153 seems to be back on track and avoiding the termination that UFC 151 faced. Stepping up to help save the card is none other than UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Upon the turmoil of UFC 151 and the card slipping into nothing, Silva had offered to fight on little over a week’s notice to help keep the card afloat. His offer was to fight some undetermined Light Heavyweight as the main event, but an opponent for him was unclear. Now that Jose Aldo has succumbed to another injury, another card was in jeopardy.

Silva has risen to the occasion again, and will face TUF 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar. This is matchmaking that has the MMA world buzzing, and leaving many bewildered that a 14-7 LHW fighter is now facing the 32-4, undefeated in the UFC, 15-fight winning streak, best P4P fighter in the world.

So the question that lingers is just how will the UFC market this fight?

They certainly have more time than if this had occurred at UFC 151, but what are the selling points of this fight?

Of course, you have Silva, who sells cards by himself. His name and fame already sells him, but facing a guy like Bonnar, who many feel is extremely outmatched, is a different task.

The card takes place in Brazil, insuring that no seat will be left empty and PPVs will be high. This is “The American Psycho” going into Silva’s back yard. Silva has gotten to a point, like Mike Tyson, where people buy a card with him as a main event, still “knowing” that they will see Tyson win quickly.

Sometimes, it’s moreso buying a card for the chance that Silva might lose. Regardless of how “silly” this matchup is, people will still buy the card, or at least will watch it at some other point.

This only is possible because Silva has a track record for putting on amazing performances. While some might argue that this is a fight not worth watching, it still is a chance for MMA fans to witness something spectacular. While the odds are minimal for Bonnar on paper, it still means we could see an incredible finish.

So what can the UFC do to try to sell it though?

Well, you have the greatest fighter in the world and he’s taking on a man who put on the greatest fight. A weak selling point, but still worthy to note their influences. Also, Silva’s last venture up to 205 resulted in a disgraced and embarrassed Forrest Griffin, who was the man that put on the TUF finale epic battle with Bonnar. If Bonnar would agree, they could spin this in a revenge-esque manner for his fallen comrade inside the Octagon. 

A worthy aspect to take into account for UFC marketing, is that Stephan Bonnar has never been KO’d or submitted. He now will be facing a man who is known for spectacular finishes, with 25 of his 32 victories not going to a decision. Bonnar was able to survive Jon Jones to a decision; maybe he could do that and more with Silva.

For a fight that will inevitably have oddsmakers making a statistical gap the size of the Grand Canyon, the UFC will need to find those backstories to help sell this fight. You can promote Bonnar for being on a three-fight win streak, but he also fought almost a year ago as well and doesn’t have the 18-fight win streak that Silva is on (if you don’t include the Okami DQ).

Statistics won’t sell this fight, unless you consider the statistical chances that we will see Silva have an amazing performance and go three for three at LHW with first-round KO’s.

However, the UFC would never sell a fight leaning toward the presumed outcome of a fight. They must find a way to paint the picture that Bonnar has better chances than people think, or that this fight has great significance. The UFC has done great work with this in the past, but this one is going to be a challenge. 

 

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UFC 153 has undergone a figurative facelift over the past 48 hours. Indeed, one could say that it has also been subjected to a tummy tuck, rhinoplasty and a bit of liposuction for good measure. And what do you know? The MMA fan base sure ain’t happy about it.

MMA fans rarely find themselves without cause to complain. The UFC cancels a card? Mewl incessantly about it—perhaps with some justification in the aforementioned case. The UFC attempts to scrape together a main card in lieu of scrapping an entire event? Whine about the quality of the substitute show.

Much of the fans’ ire has been directed at UFC 153’s new main event, pitting P4P king Anderson Silva against perennial mid-carder Stephan Bonnar.

One can understand their point to some extent, but only until one realises that the UFC’s options were limited. More importantly, however, careful contemplation of the main event and what it offers is sufficient to catalyse a degree of intrigue.

As I argued some time ago, Stephan Bonnar is possibly the most robust fighter on the UFC roster. He has never been so much as rocked in a fight, let alone knocked out or forced into the dreaded “turtle” position.

Anderson Silva, on the other hand, is frequently hailed for his innumerable talents inside the cage, but rarely do we focus on the kind of bone-breaking power he so routinely exhibits. He may very well be the most explosive puncher, pound-for-pound, in MMA.

The drama in this fight will not centre on who comes out with the win—expect to see pigs flying over Rio if Bonnar somehow prevails. No, the main storyline here is of a fan-favourite, with legendary durability, attempting to go the distance with the champ.

It’s as though Joe Silva stepped aside and allowed Sylvester Stallone to put together the main event. Indeed, not since Rocky and Raging Bull has so much intrigue rested on whether a fighter can somehow manage to stay on his feet and/or go the distance.

This contest may not be competitive, but come on, folks—we all love an underdog story. And is there a more durable, lovable underdog than Stephan Bonnar?

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Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Stephan Bonnar will face off at UFC 153 on Oct. 13 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to John Morgan of USA Today.

I’m calling it now: Silva and Bonnar will deliver the Fight of the Year.

Why would I go that far? Have I lost my mind? Do I not know how Bonnar has looked in two of his past three bouts?

First of all, sanity is overrated, and it pays to go bold, prediction-wise. Second of all, nobody denies that Bonnar looked less than what some spectators consider his “normal self” in unanimous decision victories against Igor Pokrajac and Kyle Kingsbury, but consider where Bonnar and Silva both stand right now.

Recent wins over Igor Pokrajac and Kyle Kingsbury left a different taste in fans’ mouths when it came to Bonnar, who exhibited a tendency to brawl in his early UFC tilts, but nonetheless, left fans wanting to see more of him in action, regardless of the outcome of his fights.

For whatever reason, the mentality he appeared to carry with him into fights appeared to leave Bonnar, who seemed ready to retire not too long ago. Give the man his due for hinting at wanting one big fight, as opposed to rolling down the welcome mat for prospects and re-surging legends, because Bonnar did want a big fight.

However, a trilogy fight with Forrest Griffin never surfaced, and the drama surrounding Quinton “Rampage” Jackson eventually led to the former UFC 153 co-main event of Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira.

When that co-main event fell through due to an injury to Jackson, it only took an hour for the UFC 153 card to lose UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo to injury as well. With no other opponents deemed fitting for Frankie Edgar, who himself replaced Erik Koch against Aldo, Edgar found himself removed from the card altogether.

Enter Silva, who fought at UFC 148 a couple of months ago against Chael Sonnen and scored a TKO victory over his bitter arch-rival.

After the event, many fell under the impression that Silva would stay on the sidelines for the rest of the year and await a long-overdue-and-still-possible superfight with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, provided GSP defeated interim UFC welterweight champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in Montreal.

However, when Aldo and Jackson were forced from the card, Silva took time out of shooting a commercial in Brazil to take a call from UFC president Dana White, offering him the chance to fight on his home turf once again, and the champ accepted.

Bonnar did his part to accept a spot on the Rio card, thus giving the main event a new headliner. Prematurely, this headliner already has attracted confusion from fans who still don’t understand how Bonnar ever makes sense for Silva on any given day. In the same breath, fans anticipate Silva destroying Bonnar quickly and making it look easier than any first Silva ever took in his career.

Contrary to popular delusions, those premature misconceptions spawn from blind assumptions about what should happen based on the way both men have prevailed in recent outings.

These misconceptions overlook many aspects of the fight, but they especially overlook what will drive both fighters to bring out the best that we’ve seen out of either man in both of their respective careers, thus providing a true “Fight of the Year” candidate.

For Bonnar, he gets a chance to fight the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA today and arguably one of the undisputed greatest combat sports athletes of this or any other generation, and he gets the fight in his opponent’s notably passionate backyard. To put it in perspective, Bonnar finds himself in a similar position to what Brandon Vera found himself in against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC on Fox 4.

How so? Well, if you recall, Vera’s best chance to beat Rua on paper came by way of a terrible decision. Come fight night, however, Vera looked more competitive than he was supposed to look and nearly finished a healthy Rua.

Likewise, nobody is giving Bonnar the chance to give Silva some competition, but Bonnar wants to score the upset of the millennium against Silva while proving that he never lost a step. What better way to do it than to come into Silva’s home country and defeat the champion after the champion came up to 205 when Bonnar could’ve requested a catchweight or a trip down to 185?

Silva’s motivation became public once the MMA world came to grips with the fact that superfights against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and St-Pierre were Silva’s only real challenges to tackle, outside of a bout with middleweight contender Chris Weidman.

Now, Silva faces another TUF 1 veteran and also puts his legacy on the line in his own backyard, which takes “fighting at home” to a new level of intensity. That intensity is conspicuous by the passion with which Brazilian MMA fighters exhibit when fighting on their home soil, as can be expected by anyone who fights in their own backyard, so to speak

Stylistically, this fight has the potential to go everywhere before it even happens. Bonnar does know how to lure good fighters into brawls when the time comes, in addition to his arsenal of takedowns and his ground game.

Silva will have to contend with the possibility of brawling with Bonnar as much as he will have to contend with the notion of Bonnar looking to finish Silva on the ground because it seems evident that Bonnar’s skills are progressing somewhat in the latter.

That said, Silva presents the biggest threat to Bonnar’s streak of having never been truly stopped in a fight. The Brazilian is a smart fighter who uses his movement and his length to his advantage in the majority of his bouts, and his pinpoint striking proves second to none in accuracy.

Also, he possesses an underrated ground game, which Bonnar may not defend for very long if Silva gets his way, as many touted grapplers will attest to.

At the same time, though, what if he could fend off Silva’s submission attempts? What if Silva looks for the knockout and cannot get it? Silva himself must prepare for these possibilities, but on the flip side, Bonnar must look at it from his own perspective as well.

If Bonnar also cannot find the tap or the knockout against Silva, he could find himself in for a quicker night than he hoped and not in the way he would prefer.

So many questions must be answered on fight night, but rest assured, we will get those answers one way or another. Although Bonnar is unlikely to prevail, it is certain that he will aim to show the world that he can compete with the best in the world of MMA, just as Silva will aim to remind us all that he is one of the best athletes to have ever graced the combat sports world.

Plenty can change between now and fight night, but it holds immense importance to not write this fight off as a mismatch before it goes live.

In front of a noticeably pro-Silva crowd and millions watching at home, Silva will show why he has not faced defeat in his UFC career, thus far, as he tries to become the first man to finish Bonnar without controversy.

Just the same, Bonnar will fight like a man who wants to go down in history as a man who gave Silva everything he could handle and then some. The only real downside to this fight is that one man must face an official defeat inside the Octagon on Oct. 13.

If I were any of you, I’d kick back, relax and enjoy this fight until its closing moments as the two fight fire with fire in search of victory, validation and vindication. Why? Because I guarantee you, MMA world, that this affair will turn in the best fight that you will ever see this year in the sport of MMA, and you all will know this as the truth because none of you dared to see it coming before it happened.

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