Tag: UFC 168

Anderson Silva Should Not Receive an Immediate Rematch at UFC 168

Dana White made the Weidman vs. Silva rematch official, announcing it will take place at UFC 168, according to Bloody Elbow. While Anderson fans are clamoring for a quick return to glory for their fallen hero, the move is questionable for more than one…

Dana White made the Weidman vs. Silva rematch official, announcing it will take place at UFC 168, according to Bloody Elbow. While Anderson fans are clamoring for a quick return to glory for their fallen hero, the move is questionable for more than one reason.

“The Spider” is not the end-all-be-all contender in the division. He is a champion dethroned via finish, and there is little precedent for a dethroned king receiving an immediate rematch. The fact is that Silva did not lose via competitive decision. Weidman knocked out and bludgeoned Silva in the second round of UFC 162 and had been controlling the entirety of the bout up to that point.

An immediate title rematch makes sense when Frankie Edgar suffers a hard-fought loss that has fans arguing over which competitor won the bout. If Edgar had been knocked out by Gray Maynard in the first round of UFC 125: Resolution, no one would clamor for an immediate rematch. Even the ever-shallow heavyweight division forced Cain Velasquez to earn one contender victory after being knocked out by Junior dos Santos at UFC on Fox 1.

Rich Franklin had to win two bouts prior to gaining a rematch after being dethroned by Silva. Chael Sonnen, even after coming so close to defeating Silva in their first bout, had to win two bouts before a second opportunity. Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre took two bouts before a rematch with Matt Serra after being knocked out and losing his belt.

“The Spider” is leapfrogging the recent existing precedent. It is a shame for the rest of the division and fighters who have to work hard to make it back to a second title shot. More importantly, the middleweight division already has a contender in Vitor Belfort.

Belfort has won four straight middleweight bouts, finishing each of his opponents in spectacular fashion. Belfort is also 36 years old, which renders moot any argument that Silva ought be rushed to a title shot over his fellow Brazilian. Belfort needs that shot as much as “The Spider” and deserves it more.

Perhaps the strongest piece of the argument for Belfort is that he has been a gamer for the company. Belfort stepped up big to replace Lyoto Machida for UFC 152 in a division above his own. A good soldier should be given a tip of the hat by the higher-ups when the opportunity arises. This is especially true when said soldier is already statistically deserving, as Belfort is. The UFC seems to have turned their back on Belfort during what could be his last quality push for a title shot.

Finally, the financial and time-based logistics make sense on all levels for a Weidman vs. Belfort title bout. Silva said he needed to take time off after the loss. Meanwhile, the middleweight champion was practically untouched in his fight with Silva. With Belfort free and ready to vie for the title, there is no reason to avoid a bout with Weidman for the fall of 2013. That would mean Silva versus the winner of the Weidman/Belfort bout could be set for the late spring or early summer of 2014.

A Belfort victory over Weidman would mean a possible bout in Brazil. Both “The Phenom” and “The Spider” are two of the largest personas in Brazilian MMA. The UFC could make up for their missed opportunity at UFC 126 when the two fought in Las Vegas rather than their home country. A Weidman victory means an opportunity to nail down a spring or summer bout in Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Either option makes more financial sense than an immediate rematch with only the last bout as the lead up.

There is no doubt Silva is a special man with a special set of skills. But he lost his bout with Weidman. When you lose your title, especially when you are dominated, you fall down the ladder. Silva, playing the same game he always does, lost his title violently. An immediate rematch simply makes little sense, even when considering the money grab angle.

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Ronda Rousey ‘Super Stoked’ with Co-Main Event Billing at UFC 168

For one hot minute, it looked like the rematch between UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate was going to headline the UFC’s end-of-year pay-per-view event. That all changed late last week, when UFC president Dana W…

For one hot minute, it looked like the rematch between UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate was going to headline the UFC’s end-of-year pay-per-view event. That all changed late last week, when UFC president Dana White announced that the rematch between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva was going to be slotted in as the main event of UFC 168.

If you think that Rousey is going to grouse about being bumped to the co-main event status, you’d be wrong.

In fact, it seems that Rousey sees the change in the card’s lineup as a blessing in disguise. Rousey, speaking to John Morgan of USA Today, said, “I’m super stoked about being on the same card as Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman. It’ll alleviate some of the promotional stress and pressure because there’ll be more of us working to promote this big card.”

With two marquee grudge matches at the top of the card, there will be high expectations. In fact, UFC president Dana White set the bar himself when he announced the Weidman versus Silva rematch to ESPN and said, “This will be the biggest fight in UFC history. This is the biggest fight out there.”

Weidman took the UFC middleweight title from Silva at UFC 162. After enduring the taunts and showboating of Silva, Weidman caught him on the chin with a left, dropping Silva to the mat, where he finished him with strikes on the ground. The loss was the first of Silva’s UFC career.

Rousey and Tate recently finished their coaching stint on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, and there’s no doubt that the tension between the two will be high heading into their rematch. The first time the two met in March 2012, Rousey submitted Tate by first-round armbar, capturing the Strikeforce women’s title in the process. That title morphed into the UFC title when the UFC shuttered Strikeforce.

Stacking UFC 168 with two heavily anticipated title fights will have fans and pundits keeping a close eye on the fight card. The promotion will obviously be looking to put up huge pay-per-view numbers with the December 28 fight card.

The biggest fight in UFC history? We’ll find out in a few months if the fans agree with White’s assessment.

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Anderson Silva Says the Provocation Should Continue, It’s Part of the Show

The clowning worked, and then it didn’t.
Over time, we have become accustomed to Anderson Silva’s taunting ways. Almost all of Silva’s fights seem to follow the same pattern. He spends the first minute or so calculating time, distance…

The clowning worked, and then it didn’t.

Over time, we have become accustomed to Anderson Silva’s taunting ways. Almost all of Silva’s fights seem to follow the same pattern. He spends the first minute or so calculating time, distance and whatever else he needs to analyze, and then he goes to work. His hands drop, the jawing starts and his movement increases. Fans essentially know that at that point the fight is over. At that point Silva has decided he is going to win, and his opponents, whether they know it or not, agree with him.

Then he met Chris Weidman at UFC 162.

After getting taken down early in the fight, Silva dug deep into his bag of tricks and laid things on thicker than ever before. Silva put his back to the cage and waved Weidman in. He put his hands on his hips and waited for Weidman to wade in. He stuck his chin out and dared Weidman to try and hit him. He urged Weidman to try kicks. When the round ended, Silva patted Weidman on the side of the head and kissed him on the cheek.

Don’t think the over-the-top antics didn’t serve a purpose. Weidman was, without a doubt, the most confident opponent Silva had ever faced. Weidman had convinced himself, along with many fighters and fans, that Silva would not get into his head, that Silva would not be able to defeat him mentally with his antics. Silva had to know that, and in order to break the will of Weidman, he ramped things up to the next level.

The reasons for Silva’s behavior in the cage are twofold. First, it serves to put doubts into the mind of his opponent; second, it tends to make his opponents reckless, serving to set up Silva’s powerful and effective counter-striking game.

Some call Silva’s style disrespectful, but Silva disagrees with that talk. Speaking to Globo Tv (h/t MMAFighting.com), Silva said, “If Muhammad Ali came up saying I wasn’t humble, then I’d think if I was humble or not. There was no lack of respect. I respect everybody. All the provocation, hands down…It should continue, it’s part of the show.”

Silva’s words also seem to indicate that he has no plan to change his style when he faces Weidman on December 28 in the main event of UFC 168. Then again, it’s always hard to tell what goes on in the mind of Anderson Silva. Who’s to say the former champ isn’t already playing mind games with the current champ? 

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Anderson Silva Should Retire If Former Champion Loses Rematch to Chris Weidman

A second straight loss to Chris Weidman would be catastrophic for Anderson Silva’s career, and it should be enough to force the former champion to retire immediately after the two square for the second time in 2013.
Silva took on Weidman earlier …

A second straight loss to Chris Weidman would be catastrophic for Anderson Silva’s career, and it should be enough to force the former champion to retire immediately after the two square for the second time in 2013.

Silva took on Weidman earlier this month for the UFC Middleweight Championship, only to get knocked out in the second round of the fight. It didn’t appear that the Spider wanted to anything to do with a potential rematch in the future after the historic loss.

“I won’t fight [again] for the belt,” Silva told Franklin McNeil of ESPN after losing the belt he hung on to for 16 straight fights. “I had the belt for a long time.”

Silva, however, is still under contract for nine more fights, as he signed a 10-fight deal back in December, according to MMA Weekly. UFC president Dana White said that the Spider wanted a 10-fight deal instead of a contract that would’ve had him taking on eight opponents.

It appears that Silva has changed his mind about fighting for the title again. A.J. Perez of Fox Sports reports that Silva will look to take back what used to be his on December 28 at UFC 168. White told Perez that he believes Silva got fired up once he got home and that it would tough to imagine him not wanting a rematch.

But what will happen after Silva tries to defeat Weidman?

Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, says that the former champion will take on Weidman and then continue to fulfill his contractual obligations, per Inside MMA:

Should Silva continue to fight after the rematch, though?

Only if he wins.

Silva’s legacy as one of the best fighters to ever enter the Octagon is still intact after losing to Weidman at UFC 162. But it will start to take a hit if the Spider doesn’t come out victorious for the second consecutive bout. Fighting Weidman again before anyone else is extremely dangerous for that lone reason.

If the Spider were to fight a few other opponents and enter the rematch with some wins under his belt after the loss, he’d be in better shape for the future. But there’s no doubting that Silva can still top Weidman in the rematch at UFC 168.

A win would do wonders for Silva, as he desperately needs a victory.

Back-to-back losses would wreck everything that Silva has built since he started fighting in UFC. The first loss was just a chip in the armor. A potential second loss would take Silva out for good. He must seriously consider retiring should he fall to Weidman when the two enter the Octagon in December.

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Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman II Set for UFC 168 on Dec. 28; Rousey vs. Tate II Added as Co-Main Event

(Video via ESPN)

Never put too much stock in the words of a man who has just been knocked out. Anderson Silva seemed to insist to interviewer Joe Rogan immediately after getting KO’d by Chris Weidman at UFC 162 a week ago that he was not interested in a rematch.

But there was the language barrier thing and the typical Anderson Silva cryptic speech thing to take into account but perhaps more than anything — we were listening to the stream of consciousness reactions of a freshly concussed man. Maybe that’s why UFC President Dana White has spent almost every minute since insisting to the media that the mega-rematch between “The Spider” and “The All-American” would definitely happen.

And, it will. The middleweight title clash is now scheduled to take place December 28th as the main event for UFC 168. The organization’s big New Year’s Eve show will also feature the women’s UFC bantamweight title rematch between Ronda Rousey and Meisha Tate II as its co-main event.

White told Yahoo! Sports that he believes the Weidman/Silva rematch will be the biggest fight in the organization’s history. “White several times Saturday said he thought the bout would be the biggest in UFC history and said he thought it could do between 1.2 million and 1.4 million on pay-per-view,” they reported.

“The UFC does not release its pay-per-view figures, but it is believed that UFC 100, at 1.25 million, is the best-selling pay-per-view the promotion has done.”

Anderson Silva released a short taped statement to ESPN telling fans, “I back. Trust me. I back.” Of course, that was followed by a wink.

Oh, Anderson. We can’t quit you.

– Elias Cepeda


(Video via ESPN)

Never put too much stock in the words of a man who has just been knocked out. Anderson Silva seemed to insist to interviewer Joe Rogan immediately after getting KO’d by Chris Weidman at UFC 162 a week ago that he was not interested in a rematch.

But there was the language barrier thing and the typical Anderson Silva cryptic speech thing to take into account but perhaps more than anything — we were listening to the stream of consciousness reactions of a freshly concussed man. Maybe that’s why UFC President Dana White has spent almost every minute since insisting to the media that the mega-rematch between “The Spider” and “The All-American” would definitely happen.

And, it will. The middleweight title clash is now scheduled to take place December 28th as the main event for UFC 168. The organization’s big New Year’s Eve show will also feature the women’s UFC bantamweight title rematch between Ronda Rousey and Meisha Tate II as its co-main event.

White told Yahoo! Sports that he believes the Weidman/Silva rematch will be the biggest fight in the organization’s history. “White several times Saturday said he thought the bout would be the biggest in UFC history and said he thought it could do between 1.2 million and 1.4 million on pay-per-view,” they reported.

“The UFC does not release its pay-per-view figures, but it is believed that UFC 100, at 1.25 million, is the best-selling pay-per-view the promotion has done.”

Anderson Silva released a short taped statement to ESPN telling fans, “I back. Trust me. I back.” Of course, that was followed by a wink.

Oh, Anderson. We can’t quit you.

– Elias Cepeda

Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman Rematch Announced for UFC 168

UFC 168 just became one of the most highly anticipated cards in history with the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman serving as the main event.  
On SportsCenter, UFC president Dana White announced the decision to have the high-profil…

UFC 168 just became one of the most highly anticipated cards in history with the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman serving as the main event.  

On SportsCenter, UFC president Dana White announced the decision to have the high-profile grudge match headline the Dec. 28 show, according to Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles. 

As if the rematch between the newly crowned middleweight champion and former pound-for-pound kingpin weren’t enough, a women’s bantamweight title match between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate will serve as the co-main event, per Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. 

The UFC couldn’t end 2013 with a bigger, better card. Fresh off Weidman‘s shocking win over “The Spider” at UFC 162, White was quick to say that the rematch would be the biggest fight in UFC history. 

Paired with a championship bout between Rousey and Tate, who will be coaching against each other in the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter, the card could outperform the most successful UFC pay-per-view of all time, UFC 100. 

According to MMA Payout Blue Book, UFC 100 reached 1.6 million buys thanks in large part to two championship defenses from Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre. 

The bout between Rousey and Tate will also be a grudge match. Rousey won the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title against Tate before they joined the UFC. Rousey beat Tate by first-round armbar, the same way that she has defeated all of her opponents en route to a perfect 7-0 record. 

With a full season of The Ultimate Fighter to hype up the co-main, one of the sport’s biggest stars attempting to come back from his first ever knockout loss and a nice end-of-the-year date, there’s no doubt that this card won’t fail to generate plenty of buzz. 

 

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