Chris’ Post-UFC 97 Blog

Two days after another massive event for the UFC in Canada, I’ll be discussing some noteworthy events that happened in the said event.

First up, the one big question that is being asked is.. what on earth happened to Anderson Silva and the main event at UFC 97?

Most fight fans are outraged with the way UFC 97 ended. Anderson Silva, the supposed to be UFC’s smashing machine finished another night with a snoozer. For the second straight time, Anderson danced around the ring, showboated for most of the time and this time, finished with his first decision victory in his UFC career.

Anderson did what he had to do to win, of course, regardless of what the fans and critics says, that was still a dominating performance by Anderson. But when I say dominating, I mean Tim Sylvia-esque dominating. It’s probably not fair and proper to Anderson to compare him to Tim Sylvia but that’s what the 21,000 fans on the Bell Center saw two days ago during the main event.

Sure, Thales Leites should also be blamed for the snoozer mainly because of his uhm.. improper way of trying to get the fight to the ground but we’ve seen them stand toe to toe for most of the time during the fight and Anderson Silva decided to dance around while he could’ve and should’ve attempted to go for the finish.

Another thing why Anderson’s getting so much heat from the fight is his refusal to fight Thales in the ground. I mean, sure Thales Leites is a phenomenal Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter but, Anderson Silva is no Houston Alexander on the ground either. He’s not some one dimensional striker who’s like a fish out of the water in the ground, he’s a legitimate black belt from the Nogueira brothers and he decides to play safe instead of trying to follow through in the ground.

That of which brings most fans into the undying issue of who the best P4P fighter in the world really is. My friend even said that Dana should be embarrassed for hyping up Anderson the way he did because back then, Fedor Emelianenko would go on and destroy fighters in their strengths. Fedor beat Cro Cop standing, unleashed a brutal ground and pound to Big Nog and so on. And that is what Anderson Silva failed to deliver the other night.

To seal the deal, here’s my take on the entire issue.

Should Anderson Silva be blamed for playing it safe in the fight against Leites?

No, absolutely not. It’s Anderson Silva’s decision to fight whatever style of fighting he wants to fight. That’s him fighting in the cage, not me, not you and not the fat guy on the 14^th row that’s booing the fight. If he decides to play it safe and stick to jab, kick combo, that’s his decision.

Does Anderson deserve to get all those boos and negative reactions from the fans and critics alike from that fight?

Unfortunately, yes. That’s the price you pay for hyping up a fighter too much. People paid 49.95$ on PPV or about a thousand bucks to get a good seat live and when that kind of fight happens, expect people to complain. When you’re being hyped as a wrecking machine, as a guy who finishes fights and as the number 1 pound for pound fighter in the world and you end up fighting like that, don’t expect people to react so nice.

Point number 2.. Greasegate 2.0?

Oh boy, if you think the fight was bad, wait til you see this gif.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/5992/vdzn2w.gif

If you can’t see the gif, it clearly shows Anderson Silva, wiping his face off, which is fully covered with Vaseline, puts his hands on his body and his back, puts his hands on his face again then puts his hands in his body again.

Now I don’t know about you, but man, that was illegal. And it was more obvious than Georges St.Pierre’s greasegate issue in the fight against Penn.

And unlike GSP’s issue, it wasn’t a trainer’s miscue. It was Anderson Silva himself, taking off some Vaseline in his face then rubbing it all over his body.

Now, I don’t expect this to be as huge as the first one cause I don’t think Leites will make it as big as what BJ Penn did but, as Dana White said.. you do not do that.

I’ll leave it to all of you fight fans to judge whether Silva should be punished for it or not.

Last thing.. is this the last time we’ll ever see the Iceman in the Octagon and is the “Pride” Shogun back for good?

Yes. I think so. I think it’s about time Chuck hangs it. Personally, if you ask I me.. I think he should hang it. He’s not getting younger. His style has already been figured out and fighters are just evolving as the years go by. We’ve seen him struggle against solid strikers and those are the types of fighters that are on the top of the light heavyweight food chain. We’ve seen him kiss the canvass in 3 of his last 5 fights and I’m afraid we’re going to see more of it if he decides to pursue fighting more.

Dana White already said it, Chuck is done. And Chuck, well, he doesn’t disagree at all. During the press conference, Chuck has given some hints that this might very well be his last fight.

Here’s a fun fact.. Chuck Liddell made his MMA debut 11 years ago at UFC 17. The event name? Redemption. 11 years and some 80 PPVs later, we could very well be seeing Chuck fight for one last in UFC 97: Redemption.

Enough with Chuck, let’s discuss his opponent, Mauricio Shogun Rua. After two horrible outings in the UFC, is Mauricio Rua back for good? Is the 2005 Pride 205 Grand Prix Champion back? Certainly, 1 round won’t answer all of our questions but there’s one thing I can assure you, the aura of Mauricio Shogun Rua way back when he was fighting in Japan, was definitely present at the UFC’s last PPV.

This should be a message to all the Light Heavyweights in the UFC.