The man is simply unstoppable.
That seems to be the best way to describe the now-undisputed UFC middleweight champion of the world, Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
In his third defense of the UFC version of the title, Silva unified his belt with Henderson’s Pride 185-pound title in the second unification match to see “Hollywood” Henderson on the losing end.
Silva choked Henderson out at 4:52 of the second round, the longest a fight has gone for Silva since his April 30, 2005 fight in Cage Rage against Jorge Rivera went 3:53 into the second round. Silva won that fight by TKO. With the win, Silva moves to 21-4 for his career and 6-0 in UFC.
Henderson gave Silva easily his biggest test in his time in UFC taking him to the ground early on, the smartest strategy, and winning the first round on my scorecard and likely those of many others. Henderson simply succumbed to Silva’s speed and fluidity of motion in the second round as Silva was able to regain the advantage on the ground and keep Henderson in check before finishing him off.
It should be no surprise that Henderson fought so well in a fight he really didn’t want to be in; it’s just the kind of competitor he’s always been. It is not a secret that Henderson had reservations about dropping back down to 185-pounds after winning and then losing the Pride 205-pound belt. A rematch with Quinton Jackson was on his mind as well as the multitude of possible fights that awaited him at 205. But he took the fight anyway and fought as good a fight as any opponent of Silva’s has been able to since The Spider made his UFC debut.
Evan Tanner’s return to the octagon was not a happy one as Yushin Okami continued his successful run in the middleweight division with a 2nd round knockout at three minutes into the round. The win many think sets Okami up for a title match against Silva, which is a definite possibility considering Silva’s last loss did come to Okami at Rumble On The Rock 8 in January 2006. However, a rematch with Rich Franklin sometime in the summer would be a safer bet for Okami as his loss to Franklin in Ireland last summer is Okami’s only UFC loss to date. That fight would at least give Okami another preparation fight—if he were to avenge the loss—as the Silva he beat in 2006 is definitely not the Anderson Silva he would have to step into the octagon against in 2008.
In the big heavyweight battle of the night, Heath Herring escaped with a split decision win against Cheick Kongo. The fight itself was scored 29-28 across the board with the fight being back and forth the entire way. This fight didn’t live up to expectations in the sense that the majority of the fight was on the ground—out of the ordinary for both fighters—with the action being slower than anticipated. However, the ground clinic (using the term loosely) did showcase a side of both fighters’ repertoires as Herring’s constant knees and punches to Kongo’s side made all the difference while Kongo had a few opportunities to take Herring out on the ground, but was not able to usually opting to bring the fight back up—a position it wouldn’t stay in for long.
A bloody Chris Leben improved to 18-4 with an exciting TKO win over Alessio Sakara. Sakara was right up and disputing the stop, but two hard left punches to the face and a number more as Sakara was falling to an on the ground prompted the stoppage.
The telecast started off with Jon Fitch extended his winning streak to fifteen in a row with a unanimous decision win over Chris Wilson in a mainly ground-based match.
The heavyweight division has shown in the last couple of months that it does need Randy Couture to be interesting. The proof of that was already evident in the departure of Mirko Cro Cop, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s title win over a very inspired Tim Sylvia, Brock Lesnar’s debut against a hopefully rejuvenated Frank Mir, Fabricio Werdum’s win over Gabriel Gonzaga putting him in the title picture, and then there was UFC 82. Herring’s win over Congo does put Heath back in the title picture and Andrei Arlovski put his name into the hat with a 2nd round TKO of Jake O’Brien giving Arlovski his third straight win since the infamous third heavyweight title fight with Tim Sylvia back in July 2006. The win likely sets up a Herring/Arlovski matchup for #1 contendership, but Werdum—a man Arlovski beat in 2007—could etch his name into the fray with a possible rematch with Arlovski being the #1 contender’s match.
Despite UFC’s constant and dead wrong touting of the heavyweight division as the best division in MMA, it is definitely starting to make a comeback.
