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| 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.
