UFC 112: Anderson Silva confirms he is the world’s best MMA showboat and clown

(Image from centurymartialarts.com)

BJ Penn gets dethroned as lightweight king

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva could be bipolar. He certainly fights like he’s got split personalities. One round he looks like he’s indeed the best mixed-martial-arts fighter in the world, the next round he acts like he’s auditioning for The Last Comic Standing with his fists.

Yesterday, Silva gave detractors another reason to put him down. While he successfully defended his title against fellow Brazilian Demian Maia, he did it in such an eccentric manner. Silva showed flashes of his brilliance with quick and accurate strikes with his hands and feet but he suddenly decided to ham it up with rubbery torso swaying, doing circles with his arms, going down low with his hands nearly touching the canvas, and running circles around Maia.

At one point, Silva even hid behind referee Dan Miragliotta, who stepped to one side and pushed Silva by his shoulder. Miragliotta actually stopped the fight in the fifth round as Silva did everything to avoid making contact with Maia and warned the champion he would deduct a point from him if he kept literally running circles around the frustrated (and by then battered) Maia.

This latest weird episode in Silva’s UFC career is not that surprising in light of what he did in UFC 90 against Patrick Cote. Silva also avoided fighting it out with Cote in a good part of the match.

Yesterday was Silva’s most bizarre behavior in the UFC. He was not only weird, even worst, he was arrogant and haughty. After connecting with some good punches and kicks on Maia, he seemed to have decided he had done enough to show his superiority and kept on shouting and taunting with gestures at Maia to attack him.

Later in the fight, the crowd had enough of Silva’s shenanigans by chanting Maia’s name and then GSP’s (Georges St. Pierre). Silva said pre-fight that he would drop to 170 pounds after the Maia fight to challenge GSP for the welterweight crown. That is the fight many MMA fans would love to see, hoping that the excellent (some even believe is even the better fighter than Silva) Kyokushinkai black belt would be the first UFC warrior to put Silva in his place.

It is obvious all this talk about Silva being the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter has gone to the Brazilian’s bald head. Rock stars are constantly warned not to believe in their own press release because it would mess them up. Someone should give a similar warning to Silva.

In the co-main event, BJ Penn, another Top 10 PFP MMA fighter, got his lightweight belt snatched by challenger Frankie Edgar. This fight is one proof of the necessity of scoring judges. A fan’s passive view of the fight would create the impression that Penn did enough to retain his title. Sure, Edgar was the more active of the two if you see his prancing and dancing and faking as evidence of being more active.

But it did appear that Penn was the more accurate striker and he did manage to stay on his feet most of the fight. Edgar took him down twice. The first time Penn almost instantly got back up and the second time he got Edgar in his guard and got back on his feet without Edgar doing any damage with strikes or submission attempts.

The scores were 50-45, 48-47 and 49-46 for Edgar. OK, granted that the fight was close and the judges, whose business it is to keep close track of the fight and score it accordingly, actually saw Edgar had the edge and he deserved to win -- but casual observers, those who take their eyes off the fight to say to a friend Did you see that? or get up from the sofa to get more beer from the fridge could not be blamed for believing that Penn should have won.

Penn seemed he controlled the fight and whenever he hit Edgar, most of his strikes appeared solid and were more numerous. Anyway, Edgar won and that’s how the judges saw it. Even Penn touched Edgar on the head after the decision was announced. Too bad Joe Rogan did not get Penn’s opinion post fight.

As to the welterweight match between two grizzled veterans in Matt Hughes and Renzo Gracie: Wow! Hughes still got it. He can still bang and he still has most of his wits about him. Never did Hughes try too many times to take down Gracie and do his patented ground and pound. He knew too well that Gracie is better than him technically on the ground so he did more striking than takedowns.

Those leg kicks Hughes landed on Gracie’s left leg did their job. They took out Gracie’s base and he came in close to punch him out. TKO win in the third round for Hughes. But lest Hughes start believing he can capitalize on that win to get back on the title hunt, someone please remind him that he is 36 years old and that his best years are behind him. Knocking out someone seven years older than him and fighting guys 10 years younger than him are too different things.

In another middleweight bout, Mark Muñoz showed why he is called the “Filipino Wrecking Machine.” After Kendall Grove pummeled him and almost submitted him twice, he caught the six-inch taller fighter with one heavy punch and added several more heavy punches to force the referee to stop the punishment in the second round.

Another Filipino, Brandon Vera, hasn’t had much luck in the UFC lately and still another Filipino, Phillipe Nover, did not have his contract with the UFC renewed -- so it is now up to Muñoz to carry the Philippine flag in the world’s foremost MMA promotion.

If Muñoz can improve his defense (meaning, he gets hit less) and learns some submission techniques, he will be a meaner stud and could be one of the five best in his division.

UFC 87: Sought and Destroyed

KenFlo’s even flow, Hard Brock’s afternoon café, GSP’s Fitch Festival

Florian was very smart and surprising. Lesnar was huge and unrelenting. St. Pierre was just being himself.

I take it back. Kenny Florian is a stud. I’ve always thought he was too soft to be successful in MMA. He wasn’t particularly tough against Roger Huerta two Sundays ago, but he used as much brain cells as muscles in carving a win in three fun (for Florian and fair-minded fight fans -- alliteration can be fun too) rounds.

Staying away most of the time from Huerta’s Superman punch and a toe-to-toe stand-up battle, Florian circled, stepped back, kept his distance from Huerta except when he struck, took down and tried to submit No Conquistador, er, El Matador (lo siento mucho, Rogelio).

In honor of Florian’s well-deserved victory over Huerta, I hereby name my new puppy KenFlo. (Wipe that smile/smirk off your mug! Or I’ll have “KenFlo” bull rush you for a quadruple leg takedown and lick your lips. She hasn’t had her shots yet.)

While Brock Lesnar was just sheer size, power, and determination against Heath Herring. Getting in the first shot attempt (a flying knee, of all things), then a right straight that landed on Herring’s chin, dropping him, Lesnar charged into Herring with what looked like a spear against a stunned horse who reverse rolled. Lesnar got caught in a left standing guillotine. He escaped and kept the fight on the ground for most of the three rounds of 15 minutes. Herring did get in licks of his own a few times, but these were few and far between, hardly fazing the hard Brock.

At 3:39 of Round 1, Herring was already bleeding below the left eye. Lesnar controlled Herring’s back with a little over two minutes left, Herring fell back to get Lesnar in his guard but Lesnar pushed him away and kneed Herring on the body, three times before the bell rang. Herring’s left eye was obviously damaged. Lesnar’s speed was amazing.

The next two rounds were almost picture-perfect copies of the opening round. It was Lesnar all the way. He fully deserved the unanimous-decision victory.

As to Georges “Rush” St. Pierre, what can you say about the cool GSP? With talk focused on Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva as to who is mixed martial arts’ pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, GSP tends to get left out in the mix. Rush is as well-rounded as Fedor and Silva, maybe even more so than “Spider” Silva, and definitely at par with “The Last Emperor.” The trouble is GSP has his two losses to two former welterweight champions, the two Matts -- Hughes and Serra. But he did win in the rematches, decisively at that.

That’s similar to what GSP did to No.1 challenger Jon Fitch in UFC 87. Judging by the way GSP manhandled a game and durable Fitch, GSP has no plans of letting go of his belt, not even to Mickey-Mouse-voiced but Mighty-Mouse-muscled BJ Penn.

After Fitch had lifted GSP on his shoulders as Rush was declared the winner by an all-too obvious Unanimous Decision, Penn entered the Octagon and declared on the microphone Joe Rogan was holding: “Let’s do it! Let’s put the fight together.” Penn, looking manic as usual, spoke in a squeaky voice that sounded funny. But him and GSP in the Octagon is not funny at all. And yes, GSP-Penn would be an explosive match. Let the UFC grant Penn’s wish!

The other results:

(Middleweights)
Demian Maia over Jason McDonald (by Submission/Tapout Rear-Naked Choke in 2:24 of the 3rd Round) -- Great technical ground game with some strikes.

(Lightweights)
Robert Emerson over Manuel Gamburyan (KO R1 12 seconds) -- Emerson’s right straight overhand to Gamburyan’s chin and left hook to the head when Gamburyan was already on the ground did in the latter. Referee Yves Lavigne caught Emerson’s right hook to prevent more punishment.

(Heavyweights)
Cheick Kongo over Dan “The Viking” Evensen (TKO R1 4:55) -- Thrice Kongo got Evensen on the ground, twice ref Lavigne stood them up. Kongo hit Evensen on the chin with a right straight, knocking him down, pounded him some more before the fight was Stopped for a TKO win by Kongo.

Joe Rogan tried to interview Kongo post-fight but was brushed off with an I-am-wasting-my-time-I-am-one-¬of-the-best-fighters-in-the-world-give-me-a-title-shot!

(Lightheavyweights)
Jon Jones over Andre Gusmao (UD 3 rounds) – Jones dominated a stand-up and ground match that was marred by capoiera stylist Gusmao acting as if he got hit in his groin but the crowd disagreed and expressed its displeasure with boos. The judges seemed to agree and awarded Jones the victory after three rather uneventful rounds.

(Welterweights)
Tamdan McRory over Luke Cummo (UD 3 rounds) -- McRory had several submission attempts, while Cummo tried to strike quite successfully but not consistently enough to lose by unanimous decision.

Addendum: Looking at the UFC 87 poster, you will notice that all the fighters to the left won. Perhaps for UFC 88, managers should do everything in their power, including bribery and grave threats, to have their clients take the left spot. There’s a thin line between superstition and faith. Another reason those who subscribe to this dictum can be excommunicated by the Church.

UFC 84: Have Ill Will, Will Rumble

The best of the best in the best UFC tourney in recent memory.

UFC 84 is arguably the most exciting installment of the giant MMA franchise going back five tournaments. It had submissions and knockouts on chokes, armbars and strikes.

It saw, probably, Tito Ortiz's last fight in the Octagon. It had one of BJ Penn's most masterful wins in the weight division where he fits best. And best of all, on a personal level, one of my favorite fighters, the karate king, Lyoto Machida, a converted MMA warrior (a contradiction in terms right there, as real karate stylists don't just train in the empty-hand methods but are quite well-rounded, adept in ground techniques, usually from judo, stick and blade, on top of striking skills) methodically (root word, method...see?) picked Ortiz apart and nearly kayoed him before getting a unanimous decision victory.

The first televised bout, at least on what I saw on the Studio 23 replay Sunday night, was between Thiago Silva and Antonio Mendes. Silva got hit with a roundhouse kick to the right side of his head. He was able to block the strike with his right hand, but felt the impact enough to get knocked down. The Brazilian recovered, reversed the momentum, took down Mendes, mounted him, and pounded long enough to get a submission win in 2:24 of round 1.

Ivan Salaverry, 37, is a veteran. He carried a 12-5-1 win-loss-draw record into the fight with Rousimar Palhares, several years younger (Brazilians are notorious for not revealing their true age, even macho men MMA fighters) and four inches shorter at just 5-foot-8.

It was a beautiful, technical grappling fight on the ground. Palhares got Salaverry in back control and several attempted rear naked chokeholds that Salaverry wonderfully defended against. And just when Salaverry found a way to escape Palhares' hold, the Brazilian jiujitsu stylist transitioned to an armbar on Salaverry's left arm. Salaverry tapped out almost immediately, with 2:36 left in R1.

Machida-Ortiz. It could have been billed as the co-main event. No titles at stake, only Tito Ortiz's record and pride. Lyoto Machida came into this fight undefeated in MMA, seeking to keep a clean slate; the stakes for him were just as high.

Round 3 was war. It was a classic. Forget the first two rounds, which were all Machida – elusive, smart, accurate, brave. Machida was darting in and out of punching range, moving from left to right, while landing jabs and kicks on Ortiz, who tried his best to take down Machida, but the Japanese-Brazilian was just too quick and clever to be caught.

Ortiz, realizing he was trailing on all the judges' scorecards, came out very aggressive in the final round, challenging Machida to get it on. He got his licks in, catching Machida with some punches, a Thai clinch, and was ready to take him down for some of his old specialty, the ground and pound. But all of those backfired. As Ortiz was chasing Machida, he left himself open to a left knee to the kidney-abdominal area. Ortiz fell to the ground in obvious pain. Machida tried to finish Ortiz with punches, but Ortiz weathered the assault and even managed to grab Machida's neck for a triangle choke/neck crank. Machida twisted and turned on his back, pulled out his head, got to a far more comfortable position on Ortiz's guard, and went back to hitting Ortiz until the bell rang. The results on the judges scorecards painfully, figuratively and literally, obvious in Ortiz's mind. He looked at one of the cameras, ever the ham, and said something like, “I tried,” or “I did my best!”

That round 3 was like the best round Ortiz had in the last five years of his 11-year UFC career. He showed guts, strength, intelligence, resilience – too bad he lost. That means only one thing – Machida is the real thing. He is the best 205-pounder to have entered the Octagon in the last three years or so. And he only looks like a middleweight at 6-1, 205lbs. The bulky Ortiz looked like he outweighed Machida by 10 pounds.

Incidentally, “The Dragon” Machida, a Belem, Brazil native, turns 30 today, along with Rudimar Fedrigo's Chute Boxe Academy in Curitiba, Brazil. May you have more fire-breathing birthday celebrations and victories, Dragon, sir. And may CBA keep on rolling out more Wanderlei and Anderson Silvas, and Ninja and Shogun Ruas.

The Wilson Gouveia-Goran Reljic match had a lot of fire exchanged between the two light-heavyweights even before the fight started. It took Reljic eight minutes and 15 seconds to prove he was the better man that night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Nevada.

Forty-four seconds into R1, Reljic ate leather and decided to go for a flying guard defense. On the ground, Reljic attempted an omo plata with his left leg but couldn't quite get it.

In R2, after escaping from a near mount and being grounded and pounded by Gouveia, Reljic was backtracking when Gouveia followed him and walked right into a left roundhouse kick to just below his right ear. Down went Gouveia, Reljic put in the finishing with a lot of pounding. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight, giving the TKO win to Reljic in 3:15 of R2.

Keith Jardine versus Wanderlei Silva. This was a battle between unorthodox fighters. Jardine, his arms in odd angles while squaring off with an opponent, looks like superflyweight boxer Armenian Vic Darchinyan, who was dealt his only professional loss, so far, by WBC flyweight champ Nonito Donaire Jr. of the Philippines.

Jardine went into this fight with a 13-4-1 win-loss-draw record and arms poised like spider legs about to pounce on a fly. Too bad the fly he wanted for a meal in UFC 84 is called “The Axe Murderer.” Axe beats legs anytime.

Thirty-six seconds into R1, the curse of the counterstrike struck again: Jardine threw a right kick to Silva's left leg, Silva countered with a right hook to the left jaw, followed with a left hook to the right jaw when Jardine was falling down. Then, more fist punishment. Silva got a mount, his right leg on Jardine's tummy, his left hand on Jardine's neck.

Third man in the Octagon, Steve Mazzagati, might have stopped the fight too late. Jardine had suffered serious punishment. He lay motionless on the floor, eyes dead, and looked critically injured, reminiscent of John Matua's stiffened arms and legs after David “Tank” Abbot laid him down with heavy punches in UFC 6 in just 20 seconds. It took Silva 16 seconds longer than Abbot to win over Jardine, but it was just as devastating.

BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk for the 155lb lightweight championship. Hype preceded this match. Call it hype, call it ill temper. We call it the thunder before the storm...and tsunami.

We will score this one.

R1
Penn had the edge on punching. He defended well against early takedown attempts by Sherk. It was basically a standup fight after Sherk's takedown try.
Penn 10, Sherk 9

R2
Sherk's cuts on the face started to get worse. Penn was still jabbing, throwing body punches, shrugging off the TD tries of Sherk. Sherk swinging wildly, missing. Penn ended the round with a strong right hook to the jaw.
Penn 10, Sherk 9

R3
Penn unsuccessfully tried a TD himself near the middle part of the round. He went back to jabbing, stepping back, very elusive; almost at will hit Sherk with jabs and hooks to the head and body. Sherk still on a Rocky strategy -- letting Penn hit him repeatedly on the face with punches and on the legs with isolated kicks. In the closing seconds, Penn's left hook was blocked by Sherk's right hand, right uppercut got Sherk on the chin. Sherk backtracked, got his back on the fence. Penn chased him and threw a flying knee which hit Sherk both on the chin and on the chest. Sherk fell to the ground. Penn continued his attack with right hooks and hammer fists on a defenseless Sherk, who was semi-conscious.

The bell rang. Referee Mario Yamazaki seemed unsure on what to do. It was declared a TKO win for Penn after some indecisive moments. Even before that, Penn gestured that the fight was over, mockingly licked his gloves and ran back to Sherk seated on the ground. Penn touched Sherk's face and licked his own fingers as if tasting blood in an arrogant display of victory.

Then, Penn's split personality took over. He made like a gentleman, asking Sherk if he was okay, embraced him, telling him, assumably, were soothing words. Honey on wound after vinegar.

“Drop by anytime!” Penn told a still dazed Sherk, offering his beaten foe to train with him in his Hilo, Hawaii gym. Well, if Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, after being pummeled senseless by Wanderlei Silva in Pride, not once but twice, could train with Silva in the latter's Chute Boxe gym in Curitiba, Brazil, why not Sherk at Penn's Hilo MMA hideaway?

If Silva gets to fight Jackson again, this time in the UFC, and exacts revenge on the Axe Murderer, Sherk could try to duplicate the fantasy feat, make history repeat itself for himself, against Penn. Muscle Shark over The Prodigy in Penn-Sherk 2? Stranger things have happened in MMA.

The other preliminary bouts, not carrying the same cachet, were just as exciting in their own way.

Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Jon Koppenhaver (170lbs)
R1, the Japanese UFC debutante, lean and mean at 5-11 170lbs, from the clinch on their feet, Yoshida judo threw Koppenhaver to the ground and caught the American's neck and left arm tight in a left-armed choke. Koppenhaver tried to escape, but Yoshida gator rolled and anaconda choked Koppenhaver into dreamland. The American managed a weak right hook to the ribs, but in seconds, he stopped moving. Herb Dean looked in, pulled Koppenhaver's right arm up to see if he was still conscious. Koppenhaver lay still. Dean stopped the fight in 56 secs of R1.

Rich Clementi vs. Terry Etim (155lbs)
Clementi by unanimous decision after three rounds. The Studio 23 replay didn't have this one.

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Rameau Sokoudjou (205lbs)
Like in the Ortiz-Machida bout, Sokoudjou looked several pounds heavier than Nakamura. R1 was action packed. Nakamura with elbows and flying knees, Soukodjou with kicks and a Superman punch. Nakamura was knocked down with just seconds left in the round. “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou kicked Nakamura's ribcage. The Japanese tried to catch Sokoudjou's leg, but the African followed up with a strong right cross to the chin, Nakamura fell on his butt, sitting on his right foot, probably hyper-extending his ankle.

The Japanese wobbled to his corner, crumbled to the ground again, and couldn't continue. Rack that one up as a TKO win for Sokoudjou. In the post-fight interview, he said that he knew Nakamura would try to catch his leg when he kicked, so he followed up with a punch. Before letting go of the microphone, the muscle-bound Sokoudjou called out Shogun Rua.

Shane Carwin vs. Christian Wellisch (206lbs-up)
Just as massively built, 60lbs heavier than Sokodjou, but of lighter tone, Shane Carwin upped his MMA record to 9-0-0 with a 44-second R1 one-punch destruction of Christian Wellisch. Carwin hit Wellisch with a right cross to the jaw, his mouthpiece dislodged from the strength of impact. KO. None of Carwin's fights have gone beyond one round.

What a night. It could have been, What a day! if Solar Sports were still broadcasting the UFC, but SkyCable's Balls (really) has bought the rights to the Philippine broadcast, and non-subscribers like Free-For-All have to content themselves with half-a-day-later replays at Balls' sister station, Studio 23. Kindred channels from the same ABS-CBN seed, it seems.

Nothing beats “Live,” or at least, “Via Satellite” an hour or two-hour delays on free pay-per-views. Well, you know how it is with beggars.

We still roll, though.