Anderson Silva - Image: Zuma Press

This is pretty crazy news, but Anderson has been chasing a challenge for the past two years and hasn’t been able to find one even after taking a few fights at light heavyweight. Not only should fights at heavyweight satisfy that need, but it will also set Silva up for some huge paydays.

So how did we end up here? The UFC’s middleweight division has been pretty anemic for a few years now, and the arrival of Anderson Silva as a world beater three years ago just made the rest of the guys at 185 look even worse. Now the division has built up a bit with solid names like Dan Henderson, Demian Maia, and Nate Marquardt, but for all their skills a fight with Anderson Silva seems like an exercise in pointlessness. Silva is just too good for them.

The UFC decided to bring Silva up to light heavyweight to see how he’d fare there. His two fights against James Irvin and Forrest Griffin lasted just under four and a half minutes combined. But his friendship with current light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida means he refuses to challenge for the belt. That means there’s not much point in having him fight other contenders, which stuck everyone in the same problem they had at 185 pounds: who does Silva fight now?

Moving to heavyweight seems pretty crazy, but it solves a lot of problems. Silva wants to set up a legacy and he wants to make as much money as possible before retiring. Fights against Frank Mir, Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, and Mirko Crocop would accomplish that easily. The UFC gets to free up the middleweight belt and let a more equally skilled group of fighters scrap for it in a suddenly relevant middleweight division. And Anderson Silva isn’t stuck fighting random light heavyweight odd ends so long as his pal Lyoto Machida is champ.

No dates, names, opponents, or anything else have been announced regarding this, but last week’s sudden game of heavyweight musical chairs points towards something interesting brewing. The moment we get more info from Dana White and the UFC regarding the situation, I’ll post it up here. For now, you’ll just have to wait and salivate like the rest of us.

Post from: EveryJoe

Anderson Silva moving to heavyweight?

Anderson Silva - Image: Zuma Press

Silva was taking his second dip into the light heavyweight division after starching everyone at middleweight, and many thought the crafty former light heavyweight champ Griffin would use his size to give him trouble. But Silva didn’t take one serious shot in the whole fight and finished things at 3:23 of the first round with a quick jab that put Griffin on his back where he waved for the fight to stop.

Forrest was actually knocked silly twice before this by Silva, who proved that his speed and striking power work just fine against larger opponents. The second time Griffin was knocked down, Silva started showboating and offered to help him back to his feet. Silva then pulled a matrix style bob and weave, ducking all of Forrest’s lunging punches easily before throwing a lazy jab that caught Forrest on the jaw and sent him to the canvas flailing.

Once he had regained his senses, Forrest bolted out of the cage and immediately ran backstage, something he did after getting knocked out by Keith Jardine at UFC 66. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back from such a total defeat.

As for what’s next for Anderson Silva, Dana White is still playing with the idea of a rematch against Dan Henderson but after seeing Silva’s total domination of Forrest Griffin, it’s hard to imagine anything but a repeat. Anderson’s manager also floated the idea of him giving up the middleweight strap and chasing the big fights at 205 – I imagine that means guys like Rampage Jackson, Tito Ortiz, and Shogun Rua.

Whatever happens, here’s hoping the UFC does it’s best to find some serious opposition for Silva because thus far he’s been able to dispatch everyone with contemptuous ease. And on that note, I’m kinda sick of his contemptuous attitude and it’d be nice if he faced someone who could punch him in the face at least a few times before losing.

Post from: EveryJoe

Silva crushes Griffin at UFC 101

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!

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 101 Preview: Silva vs Griffin

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Amir Sadollah will fight his first fight since winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 7. This is Amir first fight in over a year after his last two scheduled fights with Nick Catone were canceled, first time due to a leg infection and the second time was canceled due to a broken clavicle.

Matt Riddle , also of TUF Season 7 fame is still undefeated going in to his third professional fight in the UFC. This time around he’ll be fighting Dan Cramer , whom made his UFC debut at UFC 94 with a decision win over Matt Arroyo . Here is the complete card for UFC 101.

Main Card
Anderson Silva Vs. Forrest Griffin
Amir Sadollah Vs. Johny Hendricks
Kendall Grove Vs. Ricardo Almeida
Josh Neer Vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Under Card
Tamdan McCrory Vs. John Howard
Matt Riddle Vs. Dan Cramer
George Sotiropoulos Vs. Rob Emerson
Jesse Lennox Vs. Danillo Villefort

Post from: EveryJoe

More Fights Added To UFC 101

Image: Newscom

BJ Penn moves back down to the lightweight ranks to defend his lightweight title against Kenny Florian, who beat Joe Stevenson in round 1 at UFC 91 to become the number 1 contender. Florian, also a TUF season 1 veteran has only 2 losses in the UFC. The first being at middleweight to Diego Sanchez in the TUF Finale. The second loss was to Sean Sherk in 2006. BJ Penn comes off of his upset loss in a controversial match against Georges St. Pierre.

So far these are the only two fights officially scheduled and announced by the UFC .

Post from: EveryJoe

Silva Moves Up To 205 To Take On Griffin

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Some  people say that WEC fighters aren’t of the same caliber of UFC fighters. When you see some of the top WEC contenders that transitioned to the UFC after the weight class change lose, it’s almost hard to disagree.

Undercard

• Elliot Marshall defeated Vinicius Magalhaes by unanimous decision after three rounds. It appears that Vinny Magalhaes still has a lot to work on when it comes to his stand up defense.
• T.J. Grant defeated Ryo Chonan in a split decision after 3 rounds.
• Mark Bocek defeated David Bielkheden with a rear naked choke at  4:57 of round 1.
• Ed Herman defeated David Loiseau with a unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
• Nate Quarry defeated. Jason MacDonald by TKO at 2:27 in round 1.
• Denis Kang defeated Xavier Foupa-Pokam in a unanimous decision after 3 rounds.

Televised Card

• Luiz Cane defeated Steve Cantwell in a unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
• Cheick Kongo defeated Antoni Hardonk by TKO at 2:29 of round 2.
• Krzysztof Soszynski defeated Brian Stann with a kimura at 3:53 of round 1. I was hoping that Stann would do much better but it seems that Krzsztof’s fighting is a little more well rounded than Stann’s. If Stann wants to stick around the UFC, he’d better work on his ground game. We know he’s a slugger but his ground game obviously needs some improvement.
• Mauricio Rua defeated Chuck Liddell by TKO at 4:28 in round 1. There is a lot of serious talk about Liddell retiring now. I’ve always liked Liddell, but after seeing him lose to Jackson, Evans and now Rua, it’s hard to not want him to retire. Still a legend in the sport.
• Sam Stout defeated Matt Wiman with a unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
• Anderson Silva defeated Thales Leites in a unanimous decision after 5 rounds. Wow, 5 rounds! There is a lot of buzz that there was a lack of action in this fight and a lot of crowd booing. The Canadian crowd got so bored with the fight that they stared chanting “GSP”!. Silva still retains the title and the record for most consecutive wins in the UFC.

You can read more of the play-by-play at UFC.com.

• Read about the Silva Fight .
• Read about the other fights .

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 97: Silva And Leites Go 5 Rounds

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I’m still up in the air whether I’m going to order the PPV. I want to see the fight but times are tough all over and I’m not sure if I want to spend the money just yet. It’s such a great card it’s hard to think about NOT watching it. Once again, here is the fight card.

Pay-Per-View  Main Card

• Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites
• Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
• Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann
• Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk
• Steve Cantwell vs. Luiz Cane

Preliminary Card

• Vinny Magalhaes vs. Eliot Marshall
• Denis Kang vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
• Nate Quarry vs. Jason MacDonald
• David “The Crow” Loiseau vs. Ed Herman
• Mark Bocek vs. David Bielkheden
• Ryo Chonan vs. TJ Grant
• Sam Stout vs. Matt Wiman

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 97 Weigh In Open To Public

Post from: EveryJoe

Chuck Liddell’s UFC 97 Video Blog

Sure it will be a "Highly anticipated fight", but if Silva is going to move up in weight class, why would they start him off against Liddell. Perhaps they want to see if he is just as good a fighter in a higher weight class as he is in the middleweight class.

Chuck Liddell isn’t going to back down from a challenge, especially if he feels that he has something to prove. If he wins, he will be the first person to beat Anderson Silva in the UFC. It could prove to be an interesting fight but I just don’t know where the UFC is going sometimes with odd match ups like this and like last Saturday’s PPV.

Post from: EveryJoe

Liddell Vs. Silva At UFC 95?

Normally if the ref stops an Anderson Silva fight and he wins by TKO it’s usually because the opposing fighter has been overwhelmed by Silva’s game and can not intelligently defend himself. This time around though, it was slightly different but Silva will take the win regardless.

Patrick Cote proved himself a valid opponent at UFC 90 against Anderson Silva but still lost the fight. Patrick Cote came out as the aggressor in round one, stalking Silva like a lioness stalks her prey. He delivered some well leg kicks in the first round while using great defense to avoid being hit with Silva’s head kicks and punches. Silva kept his distance from Cote by using the space of the octagon wisely. However with less than two minutes left in the first round the crowd was getting antsy and Cote, restless as he attacked and took a knee to the chin from Silva that would have put down most fighters. Silva continued with his offense and landed a head kick to cote that left him with a cut above his right eye just before the bell sounded to end round one.

In round two it looked as if Silva was getting into his groove and came out with a powerful left to the head of Cote. They locked up briefly against the fence but after the break, Silva took Cote to the ground. Cote  defended himself on the ground by fighting back with some strikes and the opponents stood up shortly afterwards. Strikes were exchanged and Cote appeared to be hurt and slightly limping on his right leg but continued to push forward. Towards the end of round two Silva scored a few points with some close range knees to the body but nothing causing any damage to the challenger. End of round two.

Both fighters came out quickly in the beginning of the third but Cote dropped to the canvas as in pain after buckling his right knee. He fell again after making an attempt to get back to his feet. Referee Herb Dean called a stop to the fight at 39 seconds in to the third round. Winner by TKO, Anderson "The Spider" Silva. Silva retains his Middleweight title with a professional record of 23-4.

Very few fighters have been able to go three rounds with Anderson Silva and even fewer have proved to be a real challenge for Silva. This was a good, solid show of technical fighting from both fighters. Below are the other fight results.

Josh Coschek, as a replacement for the injured Diego Sanchez, lost to Thiago Alves by unanimous decision after 3 rounds. This brings Alves one step closer for the chance at the middleweight title.

Gray Maynard won by unanimous decision after three rounds with fellow lightweight Richard Clementi.

Heavyweight Junior Dos Santos knocked out Fabricio Werdum with an uppercut at 80 seconds in the first round.

Lightweight Sean Sherk beat Tyson Griffin by unanimous decision after three rounds.

Middleweight Thales Leites took a barrage of strikes at the opening of round one against Drew McFedries, but survived and went on to submit McFedries at 78 seconds with a rear naked choke for the win.

Spencer Fisher  won late in the third round with a triangle choke over UFC rookie Shannon Gugerty.

Middleweight Matt Horwich loses to Dan Miller after three rounds by decision.

Hermes Franca wins by decision after three rounds over his former teacher Marcus Aurelio.

Pete Sell wins over fellow middleweight, Josh Burkman after three rounds by decision to open the UFC event.

Images used with permission from Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Anderson "The Spider" Silva Wins At UFC 90 By TKO Over Cote