Silva and Shogun score wins at UFC 97

Anderson Silva was extended the five round limit for the first time in his UFC career yesterday as Thales Leites basically adapted the butt-scoot technique in order to survive. Leites offered very little offence during the fight as Silva toyed with him waiting for something to counter off. The fight would probably have been the worse in UFC history had Silva not been so creative with his striking, throwing side kicks to Leites’ knee as well as jabbing at his thigh. The fight was painful to watch at times as Silva was standing within range for Thales to do whatever he pleased to him yet Thales was that reluctant to engage that he didn’t throw anything. The fight was only worstened by one of the judges who somehow thought the fight was up for grabs going into the last round and gave Leites two of the rounds. I was hard pressed to give Leites the 2nd round despite him scoring a takedown and ‘working’ from on top for a good portion of the round.

The question remains, when are the UFC going to give Silva a decent challenge. His last three fights he’s faced guys so clearly out of his league that it’s starting to damage his reputation. We know what he’s capable when he’s put in with a guy who he feels threatened by. He destroyed Rich Franklin twice as well as Dan Henderson and Nate Marquadt in performances that would make most contenders think about changing weight divisions. Actually that’s not a bad idea for Silva, maybe a forced move to 205lbs is what’s needed for his career as he’ll likely find guys in his own league up there. Or maybe should St Pierre defeat Thiago Alves they’ll make that super fight for their end of year show. There’s no one for Silva to fight at 185lbs who makes me think will bring any better a performance out of him. Maia has a chance of pulling off a victory as he’s much more aggressive with his Jiu Jitsu game, but I think we’d see Silva toy with him as he pleased as well. It’s got to be 205lbs or Georges St Pierre for Anderson Silva as far as I’m concerned.

In the co feature, Mauricio Shogun returned to form with an entertaining first round knockout of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell. The fight was entertaining with both men landing hard shots and scoring takedowns in what was a wild first round. At one stage Shogun dropped down for a leg lock on Liddell who showed (for me anyway) surprising knowledge of how to escape the position. Then in the final minute, Shogun landed a leaping left hook that dropped Liddell and finished him with some of his famous ground and pound. Liddell rose shortly after the stoppage but was unaware of his surroundings or what had just happened.

The fight answered some questions, but left one big one unanswered. Is Shoguns conditioning there yet? He didn’t appear to gas which suggests that it’s definately better then it has been, but we didn’t see him in the 2nd and 3rd rounds where it was painful to watch him against Coleman. The questions it did answer is that Shogun has a world class skill set and it was probably his leg kicks that set up the victory. His ground game is also awesome for those of you who think on that performance that he is a striker. The other question it answered was that this has to be the end of the line for Liddell. It’s three times in his last five fights that he’s been laid out and while they were to three of the best guys in the game, you don’t want to see the guy become a punching bag. I’ve always been a big Liddell fan and while I’m also a big Shogun fan and was happy to see the guy back in form, part of me felt bad for Liddell that he went out like this. Hopefully the guy makes the right decision and retires with his health.

Also on the card, Kryzstof Soszynski scored a first round submission victory with a kimura over Brian Stann. Cheick Kongo battered Antoni Hardonk despite breaking his hand in the first round, finishing the fight with ground and pound in the 2nd round. Luiz Cane and Steve Cantwell engaged in a rather boring striking match that makes me wonder if these guys know that they’re allowed to wrestle? In a bonus fight on the PPV card, Sam Stout and Matt Wiman went to war and fought three very close rounds with Wiman getting the best of the positions and Stout doing more damage. In the end, Stout scored a close but unanimous decision (I thought Wiman won) in front of his home crowd.

On the preliminaries, TUF8 veterans Elliot Marshall and Vinny Magalhaes went the distance in a fight many people thought Vinny should of won (according to a few reports he had Marshall mounted and eating punches in two rounds while Marshall did shit) yet Marshall scored a 30-27 victory on two cards and 29-28 on the third. Canadians Denis Kang, TJ Grant and Mark Bocek all scored much needed wins, while David Loiseau copped a beating from Ed Herman and Jason MacDonald was stopped in the first round by Nate Quarry.

Full Results
Anderson Silva UD5 (50-46, 49-46, 48-47) Thales Leites
Mauricio Shogun TKO1 (punches) Chuck Liddell
San Stout UD3 (29-28) Matt Wiman
Kryzstof Soszynski Sub1 (kimura) Brian Stann
Cheick Kongo TKO2 (punches) Antoni Hardonk
Luiz Cane UD3 (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) Steve Cantwell
Denis Kang UD3 (30-27) Xavier Foupa Pokam
Nate Quarry TKO1 (punches) Jason MacDonald
Ed Herman UD3 (30-27, 30-26, 30-27) David Loiseau
TJ Grant SD3 (29-28, 28-29, 30-27) Ryo Chonan
Mark Bocek Sub1 (Rear Naked Choke) David Bielkheden
Elliot Marshall UD3 (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) Vinny Magalhaes

UFC 97 Weigh-ins

All fighters made weight for the weigh in bar David Bielkheden who had two hours to drop an extra pound (not sure if he did or not). Shogun looked in as good a shape as I’ve seen him since he went to the UFC. Anderson Silva looked to have a good size advantage over Leites despite coming in at 182lbs. The weigh ins went off without any incidents with Liddell getting by far the biggest reception followed closely by returning Canadian star David Loiseau who challenged Rich Franklin for the UFC Middleweight Championship at UFC 58.
The full list of weights:

Thales Leites 185
Anderson Silva 182lbs

Chuck Liddell 206lbs
Mauricio Shogun 206lbs

Antoni Hardonk 249lbs
Cheick Kongo 232lbs

Luiz Cane 206lbs
Steve Cantwell 205lbs

Krzysztof Soszynski 204lbs
Brian Stann 206lbs

Vinicius Magalhaes 204lbs
Elliot Marshall 205lbs

Xavier Foupa-Pokam 185lbs
Denis Kang 185lbs

Jason MacDonald 186lbs
Nate Quarry 186lbs

Ed Herman 186lbs
David Loiseau 185lbs

David Bielkheden 157lbs
Mark Bocek 154lbs

Ryo Chonan 171lbs
TJ Grant 169lbs

Sam Stout 155lbs
Matt Wiman 155lbs

UFC 97 (Silva-Leites, Liddell-Shogun) Predictions

 

I left these a little later then I wanted to and I apologise to all of you who want to look good to your friends by stealing my in form predictions, but the De La Hoya retirement put it back a few days. There’s only really two fights on this card worth going into, actually there’s only one but the other is for a title so this won’t be as in depth as some of my other predictions articles. Basically this card consists of a mismatch title fight between one of the best (if not the best) pound for pound fighters in MMA against a guy who hasn’t really proven himself against top competition. Thales Leites is an excellent fighter, but he quite simply isn;t ready for a title shot against a dominant champion like Silva. Why Okami didn’t get his shot this time around I have no idea as Leites hasn’t been that much more marketed. The real fight on this card is the Chuck Liddell vs Mauricio Shogun battle in the co-feature which sees the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion against the PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Champion. The rest of the card will be entertaining for sure, but nothing with any major implications.

Main Card
Anderson Silva vs Thales Leites
(UFC Middleweight Championship)
Prediction- Silva by 1st round KO
Anderson Silva didn’t look that motivated in his last title defence against Patrick Cote and seemed to cruise through the bout until Cote busted his knee. With another soft touch (compared to Silva anyway) I think Silva needs to and will make an example of Leites to basically say that he needs a challenge and it’s not safe letting these guys anywhere near him. Leites is a solid ground fighter with good power standing up and a good chin, but his stand-up is technically retarded, his wrestling is pretty average and his stamina is questionable. His top game is as good as anyones in MMA. He transitions to the back with ease, his ground and pound is world class and he has very strong submission abilities. In saying that, I really think his stand-up is that bad that if Silva opens with a barrage he’ll take Leites out.

Chuck Liddell vs Mauricio Shogun
Prediction- Liddell by 2nd round KO
I want to try and educate some of those who haven’t seen much of Shogun. The man is a ground and pound fighter. He is not and never will be a Muay Thai gun like so many claim. His hands are awful as evidenced by the fact that Coleman repeatedly caught him with his Great Grandpa jab. Shogun’s strength has always been his knees in the clinch, his striking from on top and his escapes from the bottom. We all know what Liddell’s strengths are; he avoids clinches and takedowns like they’re AIDS and he knocks mother fuckers out. I think this fight is a bad matchup for Shogun stylistically. I’m definately not one of those people who think Shogun was always overrated because the Shogun that brutalised Alistair Overeem and Ricardo Arona at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 would stand a chance with any man. Shogun I don’t think trains as hard as he used to when he was fighting out of Chute Boxe and his physical strength doesn’t match up to Liddell’s. ‘The Iceman’ should wear him down while avoiding the clinch where Shogun is most dangerous and finish him off in the 2nd round. I’d love to see Shogun return to form and retire Liddell (not because I don’t like Liddell, not at all) so all those Shogun haters can be silenced but this fight is a bad matchup for him.

Kryzstof Soszynski vs Brian Stann
Prediction- Stann on points

Antoni Hardonk vs Cheick Kongo
Prediction- Hardonk by 2nd round KO

Luiz Cane vs Steve Cantwell
Prediction- Cane by 1st round KO

Preliminaries
Vinny Magalhaes vs Elliot Marshall
Prediction- Magalhaes by 1st round submission

Xavier Foupa-Pokam vs Denis Kang
Prediction- Kang by 2nd round submission

Jason MacDonald vs Nate Quarry
Prediction- Quarry by 2nd round KO

Ed Herman vs David Loiseau
Prediction- Herman on points

David Bielkheden vs Mark Bocek
Prediction- Bocek on points

Ryo Chonan vs TJ Grant
Prediction- Grant on points

Sam Stout vs Matt Wiman
Prediction- Wiman on points

Post UFC 93 Thoughts

Dan Henderson SD Rich Franklin
I thought Henderson won and I’m glad he did. The winner was always going to move down to Middleweight to fight Michael Bisping and the winner of that was likely going to get a crack at Anderson Silva at the end of the year or early next year. Franklin’s been spanked by Silva twice in extremely one sided bouts while Henderson gave a good account for himself until he pulled guard in his challenge for Silva’s belt. A rematch with Henderson on the back of him beating Bisping (assuming he wins) and Franklin would be much for interesting then watching Franklin’s nose get rearranged by the Spider again.
On the judging, 30-27 for Franklin was retarded. The first two rounds were kind of close, but Franklin definately didn’t win both of them. I thought the 2nd round could have gone either way but the first was definately Henderson’s with the damage he did at the start of the round. Franklin definately won the 3rd but throughout the fight I thought Henderson did better work when he was in a better position then Franklin did when he had the fight where he wanted it. Franklin seemed pissed after the fight (we didn’t get an interview with him because the PPV had no time left) but you would be having not lost a decision before. Losing by close decision sucks and you don’t know how much it sucks until it happens to you. ‘Decision Dan’ strikes again with his 8th split decision won of his career.

Mauricio Shogun KO3 Mark Coleman
I have to say I was extremely impressed with Colemans effort and extremely dissappointed in Shogun. First of all on Coleman, as much as I like to rip on the guy because of his old school approach to a fast evolving sport, I’ll always be a fan of his. He showed an iron chin and an almost unmatched determination in there and it’s great that he got a chance to fight on a big show like this and put in a performance like that. His stamina still sucks (which is part of the reason why I like watching him fight as sick as it does sound) and it’ll always restrict him from beating anyone any good but he continued to fight and it wasn’t over until it was over and you always have to respect that no matter how old school his fighting approach is. That’s not to say I thought it was a great fight because it wasn’t but it would have been a hell of a lot worse had Coleman just lay down in the first round when he got tired.
I really thought the stoppage was bullshit. He was on all fours and he was hurt, but it isn’t boxing; Shogun has to finish him. Let Shogun follow-up and stop it if Coleman doesn’t defend himself from there. Coleman probably would have taken Shogun down again from that position which brings me to Shogun. What the fuck happened to the Shogun who dominated the 2005 Grand Prix? Anyone who says he was always this bad is a fucking moron. The Shogun of 2005 had stamina to fight for 20 minutes at full speed (see his fight with Little Nogueira) and a ground game as good as any Light Heavyweight (again see his fight with Little Nogueira as well as his fights with Randleman, Arona and Overeem).
Shogun’s weak area has always been his boxing and it showed again tonight even though he finished the fight with punches. His strengths have always been his top game and the clinch. After the card it was announced that Shogun will meet Chuck Liddell in the main event at UFC 97. Shogun is going to have to make some serious improvements in his form if he wants to last a round with Liddell. He’s not going to get the fight to the ground and, like Wanderlei Silva, he’ll have a hard time getting a clinch with Liddell where he can deliver his knees. I really hope Shogun can get his old form back because Shogun vs Liddell in 2006 was an MMA fans wet dream.

Alan Belcher Sub2 Denis Kang
What can be said about Denis Kang that hasn’t been said before? The guy has a seriously bad habbit of losing fights he’s dominating by giving his opponents submissions. He’s one of those top grapplers like Jeremy Horn who seem to get submitted a lot by guys they should rape on the ground. Credit to Belcher for finishing with the choke though even if he was getting dominated by a BJJ fighter in his preferred Muay Thai style.

Rampage vs Jardine
It was announced during the broadcast that Rampage will indeed headline the UFC 96 card, but against Keith Jardine and not Rashad Evans. I was skeptical that the title fight would come off so close to the last one, but they’ve come up with a decent main event which tops off the card nicely. Gabriel Gonzaga vs Shane Carwin was never going to sell and Rampage is one of the UFC’s biggest stars. I won’t be looking forward to it as much as I’m looking forward to UFC 94, but it’s a lot better then UFC 95.

Angry Match Maker
New Feature. It might not last but what the hell. After every UFC I’m going to do a list of matchups that could be made based off the results.

Henderson vs Bisping- Makes sense if both guys are coaching on TUF9.
Franklin vs Luiz Cane- A good way for Franklin to bounce back from a loss and a good chance for Cane to prove he belongs in the big time.
Shogun vs Liddell- Already made, it makes sense as both guys were scheduled to fight last year but were both injured. With Liddell coming off a loss a win over Shogun would be a good bounce back for him.
Coleman vs Wanderlei Silva- No one wants to see a repeat of Coleman-Cro Cop or Coleman-Fedor II. He has to fight a 205lber who can be taken down easily and who is still marketable. Wanderlei Silva would be this fighter. There’s bad blood there with the Hammer House vs Chute Boxe rivalry and both guys need a win. Put it on the UFC 97 undercard and then match the winners (hopefully Liddell vs Wanderlei) in a main event later in the year or as a feature attraction on the year end card.
Belcher vs Palhares- Both of these guys are up and comers in the UFC and it’d be a good way to see which one of them belongs in the upper end of the 185lb division.
Lytle vs Davis II- Watch the first fight, these guys could fight three times every year and I wouldn’t care.