UFC 134 from Brazil 8/27/11

For the record, I am picking Okami in the upset tonight. His wrestling is very solid. His sub defense is good. And his stand up is improved. He's not much of a finisher and it's always scary to go 25 minutes with Silva, but I think Yushin out-physicals him and wins via a 5th round stoppage. Brazilians (and TLC) weep tonight.

Main Card

• Light Heavyweight bout: Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov

• Lightweight bout: Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza

• Heavyweight bout: Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub

• Light Heavyweight bout: Maurício Rua vs. Forrest Griffin

Middleweight Championship: Anderson Silva (c) vs. Yushin Okam

 

War Minotauro!

 

good to see big nog finally win. haha. this erik silva kid was lightening fast.

 

And that myth is finally dispelled.

Shogun did indeed absolutely trash Forrest without the bum knee. Funny thing is he still didn't look that good physically. He probably would've gassed in a long fight.

 

let's go okami!

 

damn, that was another great performance. silva's the best ever.

 

Nice pick Trplsec.

Okami couldn't even do shit to Silva when had him on the fence for more than half the round...so much for that...ate some knees to the liver, got stuffed on a takedown then became a petrified statue.

 

Trpl, do you even follow cage fighting?

You take trend whoring to a new level, picking the underdog every time.

 

:atu:

 

I've picked wrong before and I'll pick wrong again.

But what I love more than anything is Steve_Dave in the MMA section within seconds of a big fight. And he calls me a trend whore. As many times as I've handed him his ass in this section, I thought he was gone for good. Oh well.

By the way, I think this should put the GSP-Silva pound for pound debate to rest. As good as GSP is, he doesn't dominate the top guys anywhere like Silva does. No matter what you think about Okami, he's a durable guy. Okami was clearly the top challenger in the UFC other than Sonnen. The way Silva toyed with him and knocked him down with a jab is beyond impressive.

.

 

Silva looked much stronger in that single clinch they had against the cage. I think Okami sensed it as well.

 

:atu:

 

A few interesting things from the card tonight:

1) 11 Brazilians on the card, 10 of which are BJJ Black Belts and 1 purple, and there were NO submission victories.

2) Luis Cane was the only Brazilian that lost tonight.

3) Big Nog won KO of the Night with his stoppage of Schaub. It was his first KO win since 2002.

4) This was the first time in his 40 fight career that Big Nog has fought in Brazil. Meanwhile, it was Forrest Griffin's 3rd fight in Brazil

 

i saw griffin's interview while he was in brazil before the fight. it almost seemed like he was disinterested in being in brazil and also in the fight itself.

 

Is Silva going to step up and fight Bones, or he gunna keep duckin him?

 

He landed an odd shot. Nothing about this proves that the fight 4 years is anything other than what it was.

It's 4 years later and Forrest seems like a shell of the fighter he was before being humiliated by Silva and knocked out by Rashad in back-to-back fights. Those fights ruined Griffin who was always an over achiever anyway. He looked like total horse crap in his narrow wins over Ortiz and Franklin since. It is time for Forrest to retire. His confidence is shot.

Bottom line is that a rematch, 4 years later, does nothing to prove Rua's excuses from the first fight. He lost. And it's funny because leading up to this rematch Rua didn't blame the knee for the first fight loss. He blames poor training because he didn't take the fight seriously.

 

This isn't boxing. Silva is fighting the top contenders in his division each and every time out.

Is Cruz ducking Edgar?

Is Aldo ducking GSP?

Is GSP ducking Silva?

Is Jones ducking Cain?

Silva has 185 on absolute lock down. I hope he stays right there for 3 or 4 more years and then retires. His legacy as the greatest fighter in MMA history is secure. And as he destroys the next up and coming contenders like Brian Stann or even Jacare, the legacy will be further cemented.

 

Silva vs Jones isn't that enticing of a fight and it's not one that makes any semblance of sense considering the extremely long palette of challengers Jones has to beat yet.

The clamoring for Jones-Silva reminds me greatly of what some MMA journalists were talking about with that sub-conscious racism. Something about the average white MMA fans just loves to see two explosive black guys go at it. I remember the same thing coming up with the incredibly inappropriate Phil Davis-Jon Jones clamorings(yes, because it's totally appropriate for an MMA neophyte of at the time, 6 fights to fight a top 5 guy in title contention(at the time)...Phil Davis and the interviewer even addressed how little sense that fight made and addressed the whole desire for two "athletic and explosive" guys to pair off.

I even heard some absurd Guillard-Anthony Johnson clamoring on another forum....I just thought they were being funny at that point.

Right now there seems to be a contingent of people who seem to want to protect the super white man GSP from fighting Silva in what would be the biggest fight in MMA history, and pass off Jones-Silva as something that would be even remotely comparable when it isn't. GSP-Silva is a fight that people who don't even watch MMA want to see. I've had guys that talked MMA with me who have never even seen Shogun Rua or Lyoto Machida fight but say they want to see Silva-GSP. It's a transcendent fight for the sport. The casual fan barely knows who the hell Jon Jones is right now. His star will get bigger obviously if he continues to win, but as Anderson has shown himself, it's not an overnight process. It took Anderson himself years to build his brand.

Jon Jones hasn't even defended his fucking title yet. Jon Jones is not an Anderson Silva, Brock, or GSP like star. Jon Jones has not cleaned out his division. In fact, he's in MMA's "glamour division" and he's got a long palette of challenger literally lining up at this point.

He's got Rampage, and immediately after he's got Rashad. Then he's probably got Machida, then he's probably got another bout with Shogun or possibly Phil Davis WILL actually be an appropriate fight between those two "athletic and explosive". Silva does not fit in anywhere in this equation. Nor should he. He's on an entire different level in terms of popularity and significance in MMA history as of 2011 than Jon Jones. Shut the fuck up about it.

Now if and after a Silva-GSP megafight is made, and Jones runs the gauntlet and becomes an MMA icon like many expect, he will find himself in a similar position with a guy many expect to do the same at HW in Cain Valasquez.

These two seem to be the next generations GSPs and Silvas out of the upcoming batch of fighters(Aldo and Cruz are good, but not on that top 5 ATG level, and Edgar will probably lose soon)

With Jones eventually moving up to HW, and Cain probably dominating his contemporaries. Cain-Jones will be a megafight that can possibly even surpass Silva-GSP. But now is not the time to be dumping Jones into megafights. It doesn't make any sense.

 

Okami did just fine until he got kicked in the back of the head at the end of R1. I don't think he recovered from that blow and round 2 was just Silva sensing that he was hurt and finishing him off. Well done, Silva.

Jon Jones is a freak stud and he doesn't have to beat anyone else to make a Silva fight enticing. Jones' resume already warrants a shot at Silva. In fact, I would say that so long as Jones remains undefeated (you know what I mean), he might be Silva's greatest win even if it happened in their next respective fight.

It's true that this sentiment may change depending on how Jones comes back from an imagined loss to Silva (the same thing could have been said about Silva beating an undefeated Machida, for example), but right now I think Jones is one of the best fighters I've ever seen. He's just lacking the resume to back it up.

Not sure what the odds would be, but I would pick Jones over Silva if they fought.

 

Jones doesn't have a resume, he's beaten Ryan Bader and a Shogun who looked like shit.

 

The Anderson Silva Loss was PARTICULARLY Damaging to Forrest's PSYCHE...Dude was Sooooo EMBARRASSED After the Fact, he SPRINTED to his Dressing Room in Shame...The SMALLER Silva Defiantly Held his Hands @ his SIDES, CLOWNED Forrest & KO'ed him w/a JAB, Basically...

Like Roy-Tarver II or Hatton-Pacquiao, Forrest was FOREVER Scarred by the Loss to Anderson Silva...

It's Defintely Time for Forrest to Do Something Else...w/his PERSONALITY, he's Got QUITE a Future in MMA Broadcasting or Some Other MMA Related PUBLIC Role...



REED:mj:

 

how is he ducking him? the fight was hardly mentioned. if anything, his fight vs. gsp is bigger and more attractive should st. pierre gets past diaz in october.

 

Jones MADE Shogun Look like Shit, but Other than That, REED agrees that Silva-Jones is PREMATURE...It's @ LEAST a Year or 2 from Being as Meaningful as it COULD B...

Like U Said, Let Jones Attempt to CLEAN OUT Lightheavy, which IS UFC's Glamour Division...GSP vs. Silva Approaches (& Possibly SURPASSES) Dela vs. Floyd, as THE HIGHEST Grossing PPV Fight of All Time...After that, Silva Can Officially Move Up to 205, Beat a Ranked Guy or 2 & THEN Fight Jones...



REED:Lok:

 

The BEST Thing Bones Jones Could Do Right Now is CLEAN OUT 205...There's More SUBSTANCE in Doing that, than Beating Anderson Silva...Silva's ALREADY Shown Signs of Slippage Here & There & that'd B the OBVIOUS Angle, if Jones were to Beat him (Which he Probably WOULD, in REED's Opinion)...

Beating a "FADED" Anderson Silva OR Cleaning Out the PREMIERE Division in the UFC???...



REED:Lok:

 

Shogun always looks like shit when he gets dominated or struggles. Yet he beats a complete shell of an average fighter in Forrest Griffin and the fans scream "He's back"...

Jones beats any version of Shogun EVER with relative ease. Shogun has absolutely nothing in his arsenal, aside from a lucky punch, to beat Jones.

 

WOW!!!...

Sounds like Shogun is the "Roberto Duran" of MMA...



REEDointlaugh:

 

Ok.

 

Well unlike Duran, Shogun's problems have been related to catastrophic knee problems. Not just partying too much or stomach cramps. To be honest, he still looked pretty mediocre yesterday, he just was still good enough to waste Forrest.

 

No way Anderson has that many fights left in him. He's already 36 and has fights lined up with possibly Henderson and then Sonnen and THEN GSP. By the time all that gets done, Anderson will be near 38 years old.

Besides in 2-3 years, Jones-Cain will be a far more enticing superfight with two superstars in their primes.

 

DAN Henderson or is there Some Other Henderson that REED Doesn't Know about???...If So, WHAT Intrigue is there in Silva-Henderson II???...Silva Made him Tap w/Out Much Fuss, when they Fought...

A RE w/Sonnen is Obviously Intriguing, but Other than That & GSP, there's Really NO Meaningful Fights for Silva, BELOW 205...REED Thinks Silva's Got 3-5 Fights Left in him...Sonnen, GSP, 1-2 Fights @ 205, THEN Bones Jones...