The most anticipated MMA fight in recent history will open
fire. Anderson Silva has been UFC’s
best, taking out every single fighter Dana
White orders him to face. Vitor
Belfort was a young kid from the pre-rules UFC days and his comeback has
been heavily-favored by fight fans around the globe.
Basically,
Vitor Belfort is the best fighter Anderson Silva hasn’t faced.
But
those days are over.
GAME
STARTS NOW!
MIGUEL TORRES
VERSUS ANTONIO BANUELOS
Bantamweight
Bout
I woke
up late and never saw this bout. I could catch it on the Encore presentation.
Torres defeated Banuelos via unanimous decision.
WINNER: MIGUEL
TORRES
JAKE
ELLENBERGER VERSUS CARLOS EDUARDO ROCHA
Welterweight
Bout
Backstory: Jake was expecting a main
event-like match as he really wanted to face Jon Fitch. However, Fitch was pulled out of the fight because Fitch
will headline the next UFC PPV against “The
Prodigy” BJ Penn. Rocha is a heavy welterweight but is nothing compared to Fitch.
ROUND 1:
Rocha
showed Ellenberger that he should forget think about the missed Fitch fight
because he is right there. Rocha exposed his superb grappling skills and his
ability to raise the stakes down the mat. His high level jiu-jitsu skills were
on here! He showcased a lot of moves quickly and effortlessly and Ellenberger
was in red alert mode. However, Rocha couldn’t finish off Ellenberger. Perhaps there
was a reason why most of Rocha’s fights never go to distance.
ROUND 2:
The action
mellowed at this point as Ellenberger served up his stand up game and while
knees were flying everywhere, Rocha couldn’t apply the locks he made in the
first round. In the closing minutes, Ellenberger went for a takedown and if
Rocha had time to deliver a move, he would have done it. Ellenberger wins this
round!
ROUND 3:
This
round featured a lot of kicks. Lots of. Ellenberger tags Rocha but when Rocha fell
he merely pushes Rocha and doesn’t want to commit on a ground and pound battle.
That was actually smart for Ellenberger since Rocha can’t capitalize on his
strengths. Rocha gets up and then they again engaged on a stand-up battle.
Ellenberger lands another hovering punch but Rocha answers with a kick. That
kick might have been the reason why Ellenberger had a cut near his right
temple. Ellenberger finishes the fight by scoring a takedown.
WINNER: JAKE
ELLENBERGER VIA SPLIT DECISION
Postmatch,
Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg wonders who in the blue hell scored it 30-27 in
favor of Carlos Rocha.
JON JONES
VERSUS RYAN BADER
Light
Heavyweight Bout
I
predicted Jon “Bones” Jones would lose to Ryan Bader but dammit, I forgot about
his 10.5 reach advantage. Bader looks rock-hard but I wished he didn’t have
geeky nickname. Who believes this guy was a geek in high school???
ROUND 1:
An
action-packed started resulted to a takedown by Jones. At this point, Jones’
reach advantage is making things in his favor. At 6’4 and 84.5 inches, it seems
as if he’s poised to join a Slam Dunk competition. Anyway, down the mat Bader
applies a guillotine on Jones but he gives it up quickly after Jon Jones
unleashed a barrage of elbows he’s been famous for. Then in a north-south
position he tries to apply a choke. Bader escapes it and fans erupted when they
stood face to face again. Bader tries a takedown but it was stopped by Jones
which left Bader face down on the mat. Jones gets on the back of Bader by leapfrogging
Bader. Jones takes down Bader again as the round close.
ROUND 2:
Jones
continues to utilize his massive reach. Not only are his arms long, his legs
are lengthy as well. Jones unleashes a combo of leg kicks and punches. Another
takedown on Bader made Jones to control the match again. And in some instance
Jones placed Bader in a bad spot and this poised Jones to lock in the
guillotine. Jones wins!
WINNER: JON
JONES VIA SUBMISSION
CO-MAIN EVENT –
FORREST GRIFFIN VERSUS RICH FRANKLIN
Light
Heavyweight Bout
The 14-month
layoff doesn’t make Forrest rusty. But looking at Forrest, he looks like a
heavyweight because Franklin gives up a lot of size to Griffin. Both guys tap
fists before the ref could even say it.
ROUND 1:
Both
guys test the other’s mettle. Griffin scores a takedown. We then saw an all-out
brawl from down the mat but in the course of the ground and pound, Forrest, the
one on top, was controlling the action! The rest of the round continued and
ended with Forrest unleashing a series of punches and elbows while Griffin was
busy not attacking but defending against Forrest and maybe he’s controlling Forrest
by blocking his left arm.
ROUND 2:
Franklin
looks significant tired after escaping the wrath of Forrest’s ground and pound.
After a series of punches, Griffin takes down Rich. Now we see Griffin hugging
Rich and Franklin is defending it via wrist control. Ace was trying to rid
Franklin of Griffin and he succeeds. Forrest tags Rich and his feet wobble but
Rich recovers. Big kick from Franklin! Good combination thrown by both guys. A
great kick from Forrest closes the round.
ROUND 3:
Rich starts
the round on fire. Forrest gives him his kick and fist combo. Forrest tries to
take him down to no avail. Both fighters are connecting with their kicks. They
are like mirror images of each other! Forrest gets the take down but Rich
escapes it and takes a takedown of his own. Both fighters stand up and Forrest
reverses it. Back and forth action from both fighters makes the fight fun! Still
in the last moments of the fight both fighters are pressing the action!
WINNER:
FORREST GRIFFIN VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION
All
three judges score it 29-28 in favor of Griffin. Postfight, Forrest tells Joe
Rogan that he was rusty. He doesn’t look like one... I called this fact earlier
in my writeup. Joe then makes Forrest
happy by plugging his books. I will buy that book... once I saw a price down
version of it in National Bookstore.
MAIN EVENT:
ANDERSON SILVA (CHAMPION) VERSUS VITOR BELFORT
For the UFC Middleweight
Championship
Anderson
Silva is said to be offended by Vitor Belfort wanting to challenge him for his belt.
The crowd isn’t in Anderson’s side. Belfort literally grew up in front of the
fans’ eyes.
ROUND 1:
Southpaw
against southpaw means it would be a boring start. Both fighters size up the
other. Actually they are just circling the other and the crowd hates this.
Vitor looks scared. Anderson was caught jogging and Vitor kicked him to the
face. Anderson was again goofing around when Vitor exploded! Then the brawl
begins! Vitor seems to be the busier among the two. But then again, maybe what
Belfort did was a bad idea. Silva front kicks Belfort to the face and Belfort
goes down! DEFEATED BY A FRONT KICK TO THE FACE! Vitor’s head bounced and he
just fell down. Worst, Vitor’s hands were up top! It was like a kick straight
from the Kung-Pow movie but unlike in that movie, the kick wasn’t supposed to
be funny! Vitor for the first time in his career was knocked down! This was
definitely the KNOCKOUT OF THE NIGHT!
WINNER:
ANDERSON SILVA VIA KNOCKOUT
Postmatch,
Silva wanted to tell everyone that Vitor Belfort is no fluke and Belfort wanted
to tell everyone he wil be back to bring back the fire.
He
should.
The
match was unable to bring the awesome but fortunately the undercards impressed
a lot of people. I want to see Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin in a
five-round match. I also want to see Belfort return to glory but I don’t think
he needs to Silva right now.
Come February 28 (March 1 US Time), expect a
technical brawl of that proportions as BJ Penn faces off against Jon Fitch, Michael Bisping versus Jorge Rivera, Carlos Condit versus Chris “Lights
Out” Lytle, and Dennis Siver
versus George Sotiropoulos!
Game
over!
Anderson Silva WAS UFC's best. It's GSP's time now. GSP can beat Silva. At 170! The Spider can't defend against the double leg take downs of The Rush.
ReplyDeleteFraklin vs. Griffin in a five-round fight? Boring behemoths.
Interesting KO history for UFC 126:
Franklin was KOed by Belfort (at 205 lbs). Griffin was KOed by Silva (at 205 lbs). Silva also KOed Franklin (at 185 lbs). Now, Belfort gets KOed by Silva (at 185 lbs).
hehe, to each his own I guess. franklin and griffin are great brawlers. i actually like their match. maybe they need to learn new skill sets to make things interesting but in order for them to score a 5-round match, one of them must secure a title.
ReplyDeleteyeah, I believe GSP is the best right now especially when he hooked up with roach. on a catchweight match, GSP should deal Silva a loss because GSP has more or less destroyed the top guys in his division.
the knockout history tidbits looked cool although it seems as if franklin is on the poor end of most of the matchups.
You're right. Georges St. Pierre's boxing improved when he hooked up with Freddie Roach.
ReplyDeleteBut did you know that Anderson Silva once fought as a professional boxer? In fact, he has a 1-1 record. Also, Silva has a Boxing for MMA instructional DVD.
With his Muay Thai skill set, slight advantage in the stand up goes to Silva; GSP's striking base is Kyokushin Karate. But GSP's ground game is better than Silva's. Both are jiujitsu black belts. But Georges' wrestling is far superior than Anderson's, or any other MMA fighter in the UFC.
i agree. GSP has a better ground game.
ReplyDeletei want to see him fight rather than silva who merely stops an attack rather than ignite it.
i like to see both guys hammer each other.