This weekend, Thiago Silva steps back into the UFC cage, but this time he will be repping a different team.Silva, a longtime member of American Top Team, recently switched camp and is now part of the Blackzilian team. He joins such members as Rashad Ev…
This weekend, Thiago Silva steps back into the UFC cage, but this time he will be repping a different team.
Silva, a longtime member of American Top Team, recently switched camp and is now part of the Blackzilian team. He joins such members as Rashad Evans, Tyrone Spong and Anthony Johnson in the Florida-based camp.
According to mmajunkie.com, the three years Silva spent with American Top Team were “a waste.”
“Once I moved to American Top Team, my life started going the wrong way,” Silva said of the super camp, which has produced some of MMA‘s biggest names. “It wasn’t a good team. I think I lost three years of my life training the wrong way. Their coaches didn’t have much to teach the athletes. I’m glad I found a real team now and I now have the ability to get back on track.”
Silva has had storied troubles as of late. In his last five fights, the man formerly a fight away from a title shot has gone 1-3 with a no-contest.
He was knocked out by LyotoMachida at UFC 94, but recovered with a knockout win of his own against Keith Jardine at UFC 102. He was then defeated by Rashad Evans in the main event at UFC 108.
He would come back and destroy Brandon Vera at UFC 125, but the decision was turned to a no-contest when he failed his drug test. He was subsequently suspended for a year.
Upon his return, Silva would lose to Alexander Gustafsson on short notice, though he claims to have injured his ribs just days before the event.
He now faces StanislavNedkov in China this weekend in a must-win situation. Hopefully, his move to the Blackzilian camp has revitalized him.
Every UFC fighter has a lot to gain and lose every time they step into the Octagon.That’s no different for the 20 men fighting in the promotion’s first China event, but the circumstances aren’t so dire for everyone on the card.Out of those fighters, on…
Every UFC fighter has a lot to gain and lose every time they step into the Octagon.
That’s no different for the 20 men fighting in the promotion’s first China event, but the circumstances aren’t so dire for everyone on the card.
Out of those fighters, one core group in particular has more at stake than everyone else due to the paths their respective MMA careers have taken.
Some are fighting for relevance. Some are teetering on the cut list, fighting for their jobs. Others are fighting to gain momentum in stacked divisions. Only two are riding undefeated streaks, and one of them just might be a future title contender further down the road.
But who’s got the biggest prize dangling in front of them this Saturday?
Fortunately, that part’s easy to answer—here’s a look at eight fighters with the most to gain at UFC: Macau, and what they’ll each achieve with a victory.
There’s little question to the intrigue of Saturday night’s main event bout between Rich Franklin and Cung Le. Fans are eyeing two completely different, yet highly effective strikers, who both need an impressive win to remind the MMA commun…
There’s little question to the intrigue of Saturday night’s main event bout between Rich Franklin and Cung Le. Fans are eyeing two completely different, yet highly effective strikers, who both need an impressive win to remind the MMA community that they still stand as relevant fixtures of the middleweight division.
For Cung Le, a win over former champion Rich “Ace” Franklin means a mixed martial landmark, for Franklin, a return to serious top ten contention looms should he dispose of the San Shou practitioner.
Who’s got more to lose, you ask? The answer is Cung Le. If Le drops this fight, it, in the mind of many, proves the “hype” was never justified. Unfortunately for Le, he’s not going to exit the octagon victorious.
While Le has a superb kickboxing track record, his prime days have come and gone, and to enter into professional mixed martial arts in the mid-30’s after already accumulating plenty of fight mileage on the body sounds like a recipe for disaster. All the same, Le has picked up a few impressive wins, and he’s made it a known fact that even now, at 40, he’s a dangerous foe.
Dangerous or not, he won’t be throttling Rich Franklin with flashy kicks.
Rich himself may be on the downside of his career. With 13 years and 36 bouts invested in MMA, the man is anything but a spring chicken. Just the same, his experience, where it counts (within the confines of a cage), trumps just about everything Cung can hurl in his direction.
Franklin has tangled with the best the sport has to offer. He battled Anderson Silva twice (UFC 64 and UFC 77), faced the feared puncher VitorBelfort at UFC 103, fought a vicious Dan Henderson back at UFC 93 (and quite arguably won, although the books read different), and even met LyotoMachida early in his career at InokiBom-Ba-Ye 2003 – Inoki Festival in 2003.
You’ll note every fight I just mentioned resulted in a loss for Franklin. Don’t take that to mean he can’t cut it with the key dangers of the division.
Franklin brutalized a still prime Evan Tanner back 2005, outworked top 10 contender YushinOkami at UFC 72, sent Chuck Liddell into retirement with a slumping counter at UFC 115, and twice defeated the legendary Wanderlei Silva (at UFC 99 and UFC 147). “Ace” has certainly made it common knowledge that any fight he engages in, is a fight he can win.
And win he will this weekend, I reiterate.
Franklin is a relatively lanky guy, enough so to keep Cung Le at bay. Le may land a sidekick or two in this fight, but he’s going to have significant issues closing the distance on Rich. Rich’s punches, while still often a bit looping have taken on a measure of refinement perfectly fit for MMA. He knows how to keep a fighter at the end of his strikes, and he knows how and when to mix up combinations.
Le must wade through treacherous trenches to land a significant strike in this bout, and though he may be willing to eat a few to deliver one of his own, and he may be a fairly agile guy, his mobility is vastly overshadowed by the footwork and octagon awareness of Rich. If Franklin sees a counter coming, he’s typically long gone from the pocket, that’s a quality picked up after years of competing for the grandest promotion in the world, and that’s going to be the story of this fight, for a round or so.
What may be an even more significant disparity between these two is conditioning. Rich Franklin has gone five rounds, achieved victory more than once, and he’s always in great shape; no two ways about it. “Ace” can apply pressure for 25 minutes without fading.
I’m not remotely near convinced Cung Le can manage the same feat.
Le has never competed in a cage for longer than 15 minutes, and we’ve seen his gas tank emptied after grueling affairs. At 40 years old, juggling a career as an active thespian, it’s not stunning to know that Cung isn’t exactly a cardio machine. The guy has a lot on his plate, and sometimes, well, a man gets more than his fill.
Cung Le could probably be given the nod in regards to overall striking versatility, but in truth that’s about the only advantage he brings to this fight. Maybe he can land a movie like combination, but chances of that are about as strong as me winning the lottery: it’s not happening.
Tough or not, Rich Franklin’s tactical offense and instinctual defense when mixed with his cage savvy and overall experience, will be far too much for Cung Le.
These two will play it relatively safe for about half of a round before the real fireworks start. When they do, prepare to see the fading Le broken down methodically before forcing the referee to intervene and prevent further damage. The end of this wreckage comes as the third round approaches closure.
UFC on Fuel 6 presents an interesting experiment by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It’s an initial push into the vaunted Chinese market, the one place where every major corporation in the word wants to establish a foothold simply because of its gi…
UFC on Fuel 6 presents an interesting experiment by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It’s an initial push into the vaunted Chinese market, the one place where every major corporation in the word wants to establish a foothold simply because of its gigantic population.
Few sporting brands have been able to fully establish themselves in mainland China; Spanish footballing outfit Real Madrid is a mainstay there, but other sports have mostly missed the mark. Which is why it’s important to note that, for its first foray into mainland China, the UFC actually is not running in mainland China, but rather Macao, the Vegas-made-to-order island that sits off the coast.
Running Macao represents very little in the way of risk for the UFC as a whole, but there are plenty of fighters whose UFC careers are at risk on the card.
Believe it or not, there was a time—not that long ago, either—when Thiago Silva was one fight away from a crack at 205-pound gold.He ended up getting knocked out by Lyoto Machida that night, before battling injury and suspension on the way …
Believe it or not, there was a time—not that long ago, either—when Thiago Silva was one fight away from a crack at 205-pound gold.
He ended up getting knocked out by Lyoto Machida that night, before battling injury and suspension on the way to missing a bunch of time over the subsequent couple of years.
He is now fighting Stanislav Nedkov on FUEL TV.
That’s not exactly how it should have played out for the savage Brazilian, who remains among the nastiest and most entertaining men in his division.
That layoff, coupled with a winless run that started after he thrashed Keith Jardine in 2009, has left people with questions. Here are four such questions.
The UFC and Fuel TV released a 22-minute video for the upcoming main event fight between Rich Franklin and Cung Le. The fight takes places on Fuel TV in Macau, China.The video showcases the process from which the fight was announced and goes through th…
The UFC and Fuel TV released a 22-minute video for the upcoming main event fight between Rich Franklin and Cung Le. The fight takes places on Fuel TV in Macau, China.
The video showcases the process from which the fight was announced and goes through the training and thoughts of both Franklin and Le.
This event is going to go down in history, as it is the first time the UFC has made its way to China. Le is one of the biggest stars in Asian MMA, while Franklin is a legend of the UFC. Both are former champions.
Enough of my blabbering. Be sure to watch the video above, as it is an interesting view.
This weekend, Thiago Silva steps back into the UFC cage, but this time he will be repping a different team.