UFC 101 Preview: Silva vs Griffin

One of the most overlooked fights of the year is about to take place this Saturday at UFC 101: UFC 185 pound champ Anderson Silva will be moving up to 205 pounds to take on the original TUF winner, Forrest Griffin. The fight is more than just another toe in the light heavyweight waters for Silva. It’s also a match designed by the UFC to try and force him to actually fight, something he hasn’t really done in his last two fights.

Anderson Silva - Image: Zuma Press

Let’s go back a year to August 2008 for a second. Anderson Silva was one of the most feared strikers in the MMA game and he was already neck and neck with Fedor Emelianenko for the title of #1 pound for pound fighter in the world. He didn’t just defeat people, he annihilated them. He knocked Rich Franklin out three times in two fights, dispatched Dan Henderson in embarassing fashion, and also punk’d Chris Leben, Travis Lutter, James Irvin and Nate Marquardt. Basically, he was THE MAN.

Then something strange happened. In his last two fights he’s been more tentative than aggressive. His fights went from bombastic to boo-urns. Silva claims it is the evolution of his style and his goal is to finish his fights with the least amount of damage as possible. But many fans feel that his recent change has more to do with showboating than anything else.

In Forrest Griffin, Silva will be facing an aggressive fighter that the UFC hopes will force Anderson to return to his own pressure cooker pace. As for who wins, that really depends on which Anderson Silva shows up. If it’s the Silva that has refused to engage when the opportunity presents itself, the much larger Griffin could use that to control the fight and squeeze out a win. More likely though is the chance that Anderson ccatches Forrest Griffin on the chin and knocks him out. It makes me sad to say it, but Forrest tends to have some difficulty retaining consciousness when getting cracked – look no further than Rashad Evans knocking him out with ground and pound for an example of this.

Regardless, Forrest Griffin is kinda like the next-gen Randy Couture … he tends to win fights he’s supposed to lose, like the Mauricio Shogun and Quinton Jackson fights. And regardless of if he comes out on top or not, he’s rarely boring. All in all, this is the fight I’m actually most interested in watching this weekend because chances are we’ll be seeing A) a war B) a brutal knockout, C) a huge upset or D) all of the above.

For more information about watching UFC 101, check out UFC.com!