The thought of Stephan Bonnar pulling off the biggest upset in UFC history over Anderson Silva was nothing more than a passing daydream.At UFC 153, Silva gave Bonnar a hard reality check in the form of a vicious knee that forced the referee to call a h…
The thought of Stephan Bonnar pulling off the biggest upset in UFC history over Anderson Silva was nothing more than a passing daydream.
At UFC 153, Silva gave Bonnar a hard reality check in the form of a vicious knee that forced the referee to call a halt to the action at 4:39 in the first round.
“Thanks to everyone for the support, I’m so sorry I lost. I feel so bad for letting my fans down, but I promise to make it up to you,” Bonnarposted on Twitter after the fight.
Before his bout with Silva, Bonnar had never been knocked out or submitted in his MMA career. Obviously, there’s a first time for everything, especially when you’re going toe to toe with arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history.
Still, Bonnar doesn’t have anything to be ashamed of in his defeat.
Coming in as a 13-to-1 underdog, no one really expected Bonnar to pull off the upset. There was no pressure heading into the fight. After accepting the fight on short notice, the only thing expected of Bonnar was to come out and fight like he always does.
Even though he didn’t get the desired outcome, Bonnar can find solace in the fact that he fought his fight. He didn’t mess around on the outside and wait for Silva to react.
As soon the fight started, he pressed the action and forced Silva to fight. Unfortunately, he ended up getting caught with a knee in the process.
When the curtain closes on Bonnar‘s career, there won’t be any world titles or broken records, but he will always be remembered as a fighter who fought with his heart and never shied away from any opponent.
Someday, he’ll be able to tell his grandchildren that he traveled to Brazil to headline a major UFC card against the greatest fighter in MMA history.
Like in his epic fight with Forrest Griffin, Bonnar was once again a part of history, and no one can ever take that away from him.
After his UFC 153 bout with Stephan Bonnar, it’s apparent that Anderson Silva prefers to play with his food before eating.The UFC middleweight champion bobbed and weaved his way to another masterful performance against Bonnar, a 13-to-1 underdog.Regard…
After his UFC 153 bout with Stephan Bonnar, it’s apparent that Anderson Silva prefers to play with his food before eating.
The UFC middleweight champion bobbed and weaved his way to another masterful performance against Bonnar, a 13-to-1 underdog.
Regardless of the odds, Bonnar was a respectable light heavyweight who had never been finished in his professional career. He has competed valiantly in unanimous decision losses to Jon Jones, Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin.
Against Silva, Bonnar couldn’t even make it out of the first round.
After dropping his hands and giving Bonnar a chance to take free swipes at him, Silva stopped messing around and delivered a well-placed knee to Bonnar‘s solar plexus that ended the fight.
Bonnar, who is easily one of the most durable fighters at 205 pounds, was left crumpled in the fetal position clutching at his insides.
“Not injured, just caught with a perfect knee to the solar plexus and it paralyzed me, was just getting movement back when fight was stopped,” Bonnar said in a post on Twitter after the fight.
Silva’s greatness comes from his impeccable timing and accuracy. Every strike he throws seems to be perfectly placed.
In the UFC, Silva has a plethora of incredible first round finishes.
His bouts against Griffin, Rich Franklin and VitorBelfort stand out the most. It’s nearly impossible to choose Silva’s best overall finish, but his performance against Bonnar deserves recognition as one of the best.
Even though Bonnar was twisted at an awkward angle, Silva still threw the knee with perfect precision.
It was reminiscent of the front kick that had Belfort napping at UFC 126.
Back in the days, Muhammad Ali used to predict the round he was going to defeat his opponents in. Silva has shown the same ability to finish opponents whenever he wants.
On Sunday morning, MMA fans came to the realization that snubbing UFC 153 for its “lackluster main event” was a big mistake.The promotion leading up to the lopsided light heavyweight bout between Anderson Silva and Stephan Bonnar was that there would e…
On Sunday morning, MMA fans came to the realization that snubbing UFC 153 for its “lackluster main event” was a big mistake.
The promotion leading up to the lopsided light heavyweight bout between Anderson Silva and Stephan Bonnar was that there would either be a “spectacular knockout” or a “historic upset.”
Every MMA fan on the planet knew the chances of the latter happening were astronomical.
Silva delivered on his end with a spectacular knee to the body in the first round that left Bonnar in the fetal position.
While the main event lived up to the bill, it was the rest of the fight card that surprised naysayers. There were six fights attached to the main card, and nearly every one of them ended in a knockout or submission.
The only fight that went the distance was the welterweight tilt between Jon Fitch and Erick Silva, which was awarded “Fight of the Night” honors.
In a sport as unpredictable as MMA, it’s never a good idea to write off an entire fight card. UFC 153 didn’t boast the most significant main event, but it was stacked with great stylistic matchups.
Here are five reasons to go back and watch UFC 153 again.
So here’s the story. While UFC 153 was being shown live on ESPN my part of merry old England was hit by an unexpected thunder storm. It was unexpected because such things don’t normally happen at this time of year. For a few brief seconds w…
So here’s the story. While UFC 153 was being shown live on ESPN my part of merry old England was hit by an unexpected thunder storm. It was unexpected because such things don’t normally happen at this time of year.
For a few brief seconds we were hit by a power cut, which meant that my DVD recorder and satellite TV box stopped working. It also meant that I’d lost the preliminary fights and that I’d have to record the repeat showing the following night.
So here, a little bit later than planned, is my look (sans prelims) at UFC 153.
The show began with welterweight action as Demian Maia took on Rick Story.
Story began the fight by swinging for the fences, but within seconds Maia took the fight to the ground. Story managed to get back to his feet a couple of times but Maia managed to keep a hold of him as he powered him back down to the mat.
Maia simply overwhelmed him, and it wasn’t long before he took Story’s back and cranked his man’s neck for the very impressive submission win.
With the Phil Davis/Wagner Prado fight cut from the repeat, more welterweight action followed as Jon Fitch went up against Erick Silva.
Now this was a fight. For three rounds these two put on a great contest in what proved to be a hard test for the young Brazilian.
Fitch basically took Silva to school. There wasn’t much in the way of stand up fighting but when they went to the ground Fitch dominated in all three rounds. From his takedowns through to his submissions and ground and pound, it was a joy to watch.
Silva had his moments, particularly in the second round when he took Fitch’s back and went for a rear naked choke. But the man with the best submission escape record in UFC history added to his number and moments later he went for a submission of his own, although Silva managed to spin out of the armbar attempt.
Fitch cemented his domination in the third round with his brutal ground and pound. There were times when it looked like the referee would stop the action, but Silva managed to survive.
So after three great rounds it came down to the judges as all three scored in favour of Fitch.
Then it was up to light heavyweight as Glover Teixeira faced Fabio Maldonado.
This was one of those fights that was brutal and compelling at the same time.
Teixeira put on a dominating display for the majority of the first round. A left hook sent Maldonado crashing, and it wasn’t long before Teixeira went to work with the ground and pound.
Teixeira’s attack was brutal. It looked like he wanted to obliterate his opponent before he went for an arm triangle.
Then, to the surprise of just about everyone, Maldonado managed to get back to his feet, and moments later, as he staggered around the cage with the fence basically holding him up, he connected with a couple of left hooks that rocked his man.
The second round was pretty much the same, although not as brutal. Teixeira put in some more stellar work on the ground as Maldonado began to look like Rocky Balboa after his first fight with Apollo Creed.
The referee called for a timeout as the round entered its last minute so the doctor could check Maldonado out, and just when it looked like he was going to call the fight he allowed Maldonado to continue.
Maldonado managed to survive the round, but as soon as the doctor saw him, he told the referee to wave the fight off, ending his brave resistance and giving Teixeira the TKO win.
The co-main event featured heavyweight action as Minotauro Nogueira took on Dave Herman.
This was good, and while many thought that Big Nog would take control early on, it was Herman who scored with the early takedown. Nog managed to escape eventually, setting up what became an intriguing first round.
The fight really came alive in the second. Big Nog connected with a big left early on that sent Herman to the ground. Nogueira followed him down for some stellar ground work, and although Herman showed some sound defensive skills at times, especially when he got back to his feet, Nogueira soon took the fight back down.
The end came a few moments later when Big Nog went for an armbar. Herman, who had never been submitted before, tried to fight it for as long as he could, rolling at one point. Nevertheless, it wasn’t long before the inevitable happened as Herman tapped to give Big Nog the more than welcome submission win.
The main event featured light heavyweight action as Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva went up against Stephan Bonnar.
Was there really any doubt about who would win this one?
What we had here was a somewhat eccentric performance from the best in the world. Bonnar came forward early, and after trying for a couple of combinations, he engaged in a long clinch against the cage as he went for the takedown.
It would be a tactic Bonnar would try later on in the round, but when they weren’t clinching Silva stood with his back to the cage, showboating a little and basically calling for Bonnar to hit him. Bonnar managed to get in a few good shots, but it wasn’t long before Silva had the American Psycho back peddling with some crisp striking.
Silva then connected with a knee to the chest that doubled Bonnar over as he slumped to the mat. Silva followed him down for a spot of ground and pound before the referee stepped in to give Silva the TKO win.
I normally like listening to thunder storms. For some reason they help me sleep, and for an insomnia sufferer like me, that’s quite helpful.
But let’s get back to the matter at hand. Did UFC 153 deliver?
It certainly did. I may have missed the prelims and one of the main fights, but overall this was a pretty enjoyable show.
Demian Maia looks like a completely different fight since he moved down to welterweight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he manages to get into the title picture soon, especially if he continues with his great performances.
It was great to see Big Nog back in the cage and doing what he does best. Just thinking of Frank Mir braking his arm makes me shudder, and it was great to see the big man getting back to winning ways with some nice Brazilian jiu-jitsu. (Slight dig at Dave Herman there!)
As for Anderson Silva, to me it looked like he was treating this like an overexposed sparring session. Don’t get me wrong, it was a pretty good performance, but he’s just a class above everyone else in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Well, there could be one man who could give him a run for his money. Two if you count a certain welterweight.
“But you haven’t mentioned your fight of the night yet,” I hear you cry. That’s because I’m giving this no-prize to the Jon Fitch/Erick Silva welterweight encounter. Much was expected of Silva going into that fight, but Fitch took him to the proverbial wood shed and taught him a few lessons. Silva is definitely one for the future, and hopefully he’ll learn a great deal from this defeat.
With all that out of the way, let’s wrap this thing up by giving UFC 153 the big thumbs up, and let’s hope that we don’t get an out of season November thunder storm when Rich Franklin takes on Cung Le next month!
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!
UFC 153 has come and gone, and the hometown fans in Rio de Janeiro couldn’t be more pleased. With big wins from Anderson Silva, Minotauro Nogueira and Demian Maia bringing the Brazilian audience to their feet, it was certainly an electric atmosphere fo…
UFC 153 has come and gone, and the hometown fans in Rio de Janeiro couldn’t be more pleased. With big wins from Anderson Silva, Minotauro Nogueira and Demian Maia bringing the Brazilian audience to their feet, it was certainly an electric atmosphere for anyone lucky enough to be in attendance.
Now that we have a few weeks until our next UFC event, let’s have a quick look at UFC 153 and how it stacked up to other events this year.
This analysis does not look at the caliber of fighters on the event as much as the quality of fights that fans were treated to. Think of this as a “was it worth your money” sort of read.
Since a picture is said to be worth a thousand words, what better way to recap the weekend’s UFC 153 action than by revisiting some of the most stimulating images produced by the event?Since there was no shortage of blistering action, spectacular finis…
Since a picture is said to be worth a thousand words, what better way to recap the weekend’s UFC 153 action than by revisiting some of the most stimulating images produced by the event?
Since there was no shortage of blistering action, spectacular finishes or meaningful performances, the images presented here are limiting.
Still, the following 10 illustrations do well to reanimate many of the defining moments of UFC 153.
So here’s the story. While