I only made this thread to say this. Anderson Silva. Holy crap. His last two fights were great but this just stunned me. When he dropped his gloves and just dodged, hell, the way he moved through the entire fight. Just seeing him move around the cage was exciting. So controlled, so balanced, such grace.
Some friends and I usually make a night of every PPV UFC event. We’ll all make food and bring booze and congregate at someone’s house and just be “dudes”. However, life got in the way and we couldn’t meet for UFC 77, so I was hoping it would be an uneventful dud.
Damnit.
Holy crap indeed. That was the first fight of his I’ve seen; the guys I watched it with assured me it was no fluke. He’s just THAT good.
(Also, quite the gentleman after victory; even more so than most UFCers. I really think that says a lot about this league how most competitors seem to genuinely embrace that part of martial arts, respect for your opponent, and don’t resort to lowbrow trash-talking for the most part. Obviously there are exceptions; which is fine; a sport should have its villans.)
Fortunately for you, it was pretty much a dud except for Silva’s fight. But really… I’d pay 40 bucks every couple months just to watch that guy fight. Especially if he fought Rich Franklin.
Also, am I the only one who thinks that Tim Silvia’s rub your mohawk on the opponent while he’s on the cage and punch… sometimes deal is getting pretty old? Sure he’s Goliath, but he’s about as exciting as Arlofsky leg-kicking to victory.
He really is on an entirely different level – Rich Franklin is actually a great MMA fighter, who dominated his division for a couple of years and was a worthy champion (he does have a suspect chin though). Anderson Silva is easily the most effective striker I’ve ever seen in MMA - he’s so versatile, creative, and pinpoint accurate in his striking. And he’s pretty good on the ground if you manage to get him there.
Rich Franklin looked much better than in his first fight, and still got absolutely destroyed. Where the hell does he go from here? Change weight classes? Accept perpetual challenger status?
The rest of the card wasn’t great:
- I barely watched the lame decision fight
- Pleased to see Stephan Bonnar actually seeming to make an effort at this MMA thing, by moving to Vegas and training with more serious competition and not just buddies - he looked fitter than ever, and while he’s a mediocre talent at best, he proved again that he’s a tough guy, and I can’t help but root for my namesake;
- Kalib Starnes continues to be one of the more talented Ultimate Fighter guys, but he just can’t get the job done, and seems psychologically weak. Can’t blame him for being affected by that crazy cut though, and he made a decent effort to finish it after that.
-Tiny Tim is just a freakshow that I’m tired of. He just looks unhealthy, and lately his fights are tenative and lame – his barrage of combos when they were on their feet were impressive though.
Pretty much. He’s not a very talented fighter and seems to win matches by appearing to control the fight by simply using his size and weight to lean on his opponent while against the fence. I’m the glad the ref kept breaking them up, but I was still rooting for Vera to knock the loser’s head off. Too bad he broke his hand/wrist the first round.
Yup, this card proved once again that Rich Franklin just can’t compare with Silva. Anderson’s just so skilled in pretty much every aspect of the game… unless Henderson drops weight, I don’t think anyone is going to challenge Silva for quite a long time. Franklin looked to be constantly watching the clock in the first round, praying for the punishment to end… especially in the clinch.
And building deep inside me is a fear that Tim Sylvia may end up becoming heavyweight champ again with his jab-jab-decision fighting style. Can Crocop , Kongo or Nogueira PLLLLEEEEEASE kick his ass soon to put him out of contention?
Worst part of Couture resigning is that now Tim Sylvia is a heavyweight contender again. It’s enough to make me wish for a season of The Ultimate Fighter aimed at proper heavyweights just so there the field could be a bit wider.
I want the old, pre-Sylvia fights, Arlovski back. But he maybe doesn’t exist anymore.
I agee with giving him his wish and pitting Kongo against him – Kongo has been gradually improving, to the point where he looked good in his match against Crocop, and he’s one of the few guys who shouldn’t have too much of a problem with sylvia’s size. Could be an entertaining fight.
Rich Franklin is really, really good.
Which just shows me how much better Anderson Silva is. The guy is on a completely different level of fighting than anyone else in MMA. It’s like he was toying with Franklin the whole fight. He let Franklin waste a lot of energy in the first round, scared him with those roundhouses, and then he went all out in the second. When he started simply dancing around punches my jaw dropped.
The beatdown was so bad I began feeling sick on behalf of Franklin, and I wasn’t cheering for either fighter. There was just this sense of inevitability, and the look of despondency in Franklin’s eyes after that roundhouse kick was infectious.
Rogan was spot-on with the Roy Jones Jr. comparison though. Once Silva loses his speed, he’s toast.
I think Kongo would CRUSH Silvia at about 1:30.
Good to see Bonnar fight again, I like him. And man, that guy in the first? fight?
“You can see my skull, what do you want me to do! FUCK YOU!” to his corner.
Heh heh. Awesome.
I’m hoping they match up Brock Lesnar and Tim Sylvia. Don’t discount Brock as some freak show, he can wrestle (real wrestling, mot WWF).
I’ve seen his one MMA fight. As long as he sticks to what he does best (umm, wrestle!), he’ll be very hard to do well against. Think of a bigger, stronger version of Mark Coleman, the old Lay and Pray master.