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At tonight’s UFC 97 in Montreal, fans will get to witness the return of the best pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts, as UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva puts his belt on the line against BJJ master Thales Leites. It’s a fight card filled with great bouts, with far too many great matchups being relegated to the non-televised undercard.
Of course, Chuck Liddell is also back fighting Shogun Rua, a fight I previewed on Thursday. The Silva fight seems like we’re going to see more of the same when it comes to the champ. As good as Leites (14-1) is, I find it hard to believe he’s going to be able to stand with Silva for more than a minute or so. He’s never faced a striker with such devestating power like Silva posseses, and I really don’t hold much hope he’ll be able to get out of the clinch. Do I see Leites taking Silva down in the 1st round? Maybe, and he can try some BJJ from there, but lets not forget Anderson knows what he’s doing in the grappling game as well. This seems like a write off until we get Silva-Maia, because that’s the only 185 title match I’m interested in right now.
Cheick Kongo (23-4-1) is back as well, taking on 8-4 Antoni Hardonk in a heavyweight battle. Always jacked up to see Kongo fight, because he’s ever improving. Once, just a kick boxing freak, Kongo has transformed into a legit mixed martial artist, and 1 more win puts him in the elite class of the division, in my opinion. Hardonk is tough though, and he’ll be able to withstand a few Kongo standup barrages, so I think this could be a very good fight.
Now, no offence to some of the other televised fights, but how in the hell aren’t 3 fights on the main card? We most likely won’t get to see a great matchup between Elliot Marshall and Vinny Magalhaes, a potential show stealer with Denis Kang fighting Xavier Foupa-Pokam, and Jason MacDonald fighting Nate Quarry. I don’t know which one I’m bummed about potentially not seeing more! Kang is a freak who was dominating his UFC debut before being caught, and I don’t think there are very many fighters at 185 pounds more well rounded than he is. the Marshall-Vinny fight is a battle between 2 BJJ black belts who are explosive on their feet; and the MacDonald-Quarry matchup could prove to be a knock down, drag out affair. I guess we hope for KO’s and they air those fights as filler!
Enjoy the fights!
The Liddell fight boiled down sorta how I thought it would. Chuck would get caught playing the same old game and his hands wouldn’t get the job done quick enough. It looks like Chuck has lost a bit of speed and can’t catch that guy at unawares with a devastating counter punch. I miss seeing the old Chuck, but this rendition of Chuck is painful to watch, I’m getting sick of seeing Chuck ask a ref “what happened!?”
Cheik Congo looked very impressive but I was also very impressed with Kyrstof. That kamora was beautiful, but the attitude could tone down a bit before he looks like a larger version of Kendall Grove. I still think I need to see more out of Cheik before I consider him for a title contender. Maybe a fight against Cain Valasquez to set up the next in line for contendership?
Now onto the main event. What a disappointing fight that was. The Montreal fans deserved way better than that. Thales Leites looked so far out of his league it was embarassing. The UFC took what had the potential of either being a great matchup or a total bust. The later ended up being the fact. Five rounds of trying to entice Anderson to come into his guard was embarassing. That being said, Anderson should have put him away early instead of standing there sizing him up for a good three minutes in the first round. What a horrible way to end an otherwise exiciting fight card.
- Jordan PAlthough it takes “2 to tango” I put alot of the blame on Anderson’s shoulders. This is the 2nd time he’s been featured in the main event with lacklustre results. You can’t blame Anderson for Leites flopping around like a fish outta water trying to bait him to the ground (14 stand-ups – hard to watch!!!), but what I can blame Anderson for is his own lack of effort. He’s got a job to do – perhaps even more so then anyone because of his title – and he half-assed it. I couldn’t help but remember the now infamous Starnes-Quarry bout. The difference though is that Quarry was still engaging and trying to press the fight; Anderson wasn’t. If Anderson would’ve pressed the fight more, he could’ve easily dismissed Leites. We deserved more from a champion
- TyVery disappointing finale to the fights. I don’t understand the Dana White tiraid being directed soley at Silva. Leites was just as much (if not more) to blame for that fiasco.
That fight was the exact reason I won’t automatically fork over money for the PPV. Especially when there’s playoff hockey on. As much a White would like, he can’t force fighters to engage if they don’t want to. Then again, they may not be fighting for UFC very long either.
Regardless, it’s always a chance we take when they pay to watch live sports. Just glad I didn’t pay for a live ticket….that would’ve been a bummer!
- Darren