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Monday, October 15, 2012

UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar Main Card Recap



Silva finishing Bonnar (photo by MMA Fighting)

This event that was almost a weak catastrophe went on to become one of the best events in MMA history. From beginning to end this event held fantastic submissions, slugfests, and several “Fight of the Night” performances. The undercard and PPV main card were packed with them. We can only hope that every event is like this.
We also learned two things: Anderson Silva is not a human and Fernando Yamasaki is the worst referee in MMA not named Kim Winslow.

Demian Maia vs. Rick Story: Ladies and gentleman, a new title contender at 170 pounds has arrived. Before his drop down to welterweight, Maia was trying way too hard to try and prove his striking improvement. It started to lose him a lot of fights. But since his drop down to 170, Maia has gone back to what earned him a middleweight title shot: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He ran out at Story and took him down instantly. Story tried his best to not be taken down but it was futile, Maia took him back down about three different times. After another attempt at getting to his feet, Maia took his back and sunk in a rear naked choke. Story started to defend well so Maia changed it to a neck crank. Possibly the most painful neck crank that I have ever seen, and that’s saying a lot considering that the neck crank is one of the most painful submissions. He even seemed to make Story’s brains shoot out his nose. Seriously, blood squirted out his nose right before he tapped.

Possible matchups for Maia: As I just said, Maia has become a new title contender at 170. He just easily submitted the guy who beat both Johny Hendricks and Thiago Alves. That surely adds a lot to his stock. Another fighter that also became a new contender in this card after some adversity beforehand is Jon Fitch. The guy looked fantastic at UFC 153 against the extremely hyped Erick Silva. It would show how Fitch could do against one of the best pure grapplers in MMA. It would also show if Maia can take down one of the best wrestlers in the UFC.

Possible matchups for Rick Story: This was a devastating loss for Story. He once had an enormous hype train going but was derailed by both Martin Kampann and Charlie Brenneman. If he wants to stay in the UFC, he desperately needs a win but he still has the skills as a mid-tier welterweight. A man in a somewhat similar position as Story is Erick Silva. Silva’s hype train was thrown off the tracks by Jon Fitch in one of the best fights this year. This fight could definitely produce some fireworks.

Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado: This fight wasn't surprising in the least. Prado comes out to strike but Phil shuts him down with some amazing wrestling. His takedowns were brutal. They knocked the wind out of me just from watching. Eventually about midway through the second round, Phil locked up an ultra tight anaconda choke that made Prado almost instantly tap. Although it doesn't add to his stock, it was an extremely impressive performance and it made me happy to see Phil go back to his wrestling.

Possible matchups for Davis: Shortly after his win over Prado, Vinny Magalhaes tweeted that he would like to fight Phil next. And honestly, I love this fight. It would be an amazing grappling match between two of the best pure grapplers in the UFC. The winner of that fight would deserve a really good, top light heavyweight.

Possible matchups for Prado: With a bizarre UFC record of 0-1 1 NC, Prado is in desperate need of a win. I see potential so I want another difficult challenge for him. Fabio Maldonado is also a fighter who is in desperate need of a win following his loss on Saturday to Glover Teixeira. Also, Dana announced himself that Maldonado was NOT going to be released following this third straight loss.

Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva: Jon Fitch was in a FOTY candidate. And no, there are no typos there. This fight was pure awesome. Silva comes out strong like he does most fights and Fitch seemed ready. He almost took his back but Silva escaped. The first round was mostly Fitch grinding Silva out. The second round was awesome though. They were scrambling a lot in the beginning and Silva landed one of the sneakiest sweeps that I have ever seen. He took Fitch's back and locked in an extremely tight rear naked choke that was seemingly going to end the fight. Fitch is known as one of the guys with the best choke defense, and he showed why. He then turned into Silva's guard and almost locked in a really tight armbar in the closing seconds of the round. The third round was completely different from the two earlier rounds. Fitch took him down and just demolished Silva for five minutes. He completely broke Silva and ended up winning a very impressive unanimous decision win. This as an absolutely devastating loss for Silva but he still showed great promise. He is definitely going to be a future title contender.

Glover Teixeira vs. Fabio Maldonado: The first round of this fight is quite possibly the most one sided beating that I have ever seen in a fight that wasn’t stopped. Teixeira rocked Maldonado almost instantly and mounted him. What followed soon after almost seemed like a live murder. Teixeira landed so much ground and pound that there was probably about five different times that I was yelling at the ref to stop the fight. But with about 30 seconds to go, Maldonado actually rocked Teixeira himself. He landed a solid left hook that stiffened up Teixeira's legs and wobbled him. The second was much of the same as the first but not as brutal. The doctor wisely stopped the fight in between rounds. Maldonado didn't even want the fight stopped. The guy should be nicknamed "The Brazilian Zombie". I think it's pretty fitting.

Possible matchups for Teixeira: Before this fight, Glover was going to fight Rampage. But Rampage got injured a few weeks before hand. Both guys still want the fight and so do the fans.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I can't even tell you how happy I was that Nogueira submitted Dave Herman. The guy always talks about how BJJ doesn't work, but fortunately, it does. Nog even almost knocked out Herman in the second round. Nog did try multiple submission attempts that didn't work but I believe that he was just simply trying to submit him too quickly. But the weirdest part of this whole fight was how Herman seemingly didn’t even know how to fight. He just stood there for a solid five seconds with his arm out on multiple occasions. It was almost annoying to watch. He just simply isn't UFC caliber. Off to Bellator for him.

Possible matchups for Nogueira: Now, The larger of the Nogueira brothers is clearly on his way to retirement. But he just simply won't lose twice in a row. Now one fight that I really want to see, but it's kind of a stretch, is the third installment of his series of fights with Josh Barnett. Two legends fighting is always fun.

Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar: Bizarre is the perfect word to sum up the four minutes and forty seconds that took place in the main event. Bonnar fought smart and instantly engaged with the middleweight champ. Once they broke, Silva just stood in the same spot with his arms down. Bonnar landed a few punches but Anderson almost dodged them all. Anderson was clearly not trying at all. Bonnar was winning the fight because of this. But the second that Anderson started to "try", he instantly landed a knee to Bonnar's solar plexus and the fight was over. Truly incredible.

Possible matchups for Silva: Near the end of the year at UFC 155, Tim Boestch vs. Chris Weidman will take place. If Michael Bisping doesn't get a title shot after his Brian Stann win, then he should fight the winner of Boestch and Weidman. And the winner of that fight should challenge Anderson.

Possible matchups for Bonnar: Please, PLEASE make Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar 3 as a TUF season Dana and Joe. It's all I want.

Main Card Recap here

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