Anderson Silva: The Ups and Downs of UFC 126
By Ben Bieker
Gains:
Jon Jones slightly edges out Anderson Silva for top performer of the night because of one reason. He gained a title shot with his win. I know Anderson is the champ, but then again Jon Jones is only 23 and is fighting for the most prestigious belt, at his weight class, in the world. He has a tall order in front of him with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, considering they meet in about two months. On top of that, Shogun has some of the best striking in the 205 pound division, good takedown defense, and an excellent ground game. While Jon may be one of the more dynamic fighters he has never faced someone like Shogun, when he is 100 percent. There is no doubt in my mind, after this performance, that he can hang with the top of the division, but it is a whole other story if he can beat them.
Now in terms of the fight he fought it was simply masterful. Every time that Jon steps into the octagon he gets a tougher opponent, and every time pundits say this is when he will be exposed. Whether it was with Stephen Bonnar, Brandon Vera, or Vladimir Matyushenko most people thought this was the time that he would not blow his opponent out of the water. But he did. Same goes for this fight, people though he would not be able to takedown Bader and in the process lose the weapon that is his ground game. Again, it didn’t happen. Jon Jones did what he wanted with Ryan Bader whether it was on the ground, on the feet, or in the clinch Bader had no response. In the end, he got the submission and a shot at the belt. Now we will have to see if he can continue this tour of dominance.
Anderson Silva utterly destroyed Vitor Belfort, and became the first man to knock him out cold. The first few minutes were relatively boring, but once the fight almost hit the ground the gates were released, and both fighters opened up. Vitor had the power to make this fight go a different way, but that doesn’t happen when fighting Anderson. He caught Vitor flush on the chin with a front kick knocking him out, and honestly during his extended speech at the end of the fight I thought he was going to retire. He didn’t but it could have easily happened. His performance here wouldn’t have been outshine on most nights, but when a 23 year old earns a shot to be the youngest champion ever it is hard to deny that.
Anderson Silva for as much flack as he receives is the best fighter in the world. Coming into this fight people spewed the gambit of negative comments, ranging from he has never faced a striker like Vitor, he was done after his performance against Chael, and the always recognizable that he will be exposed in this fight. His ability to finish a fight at any moment is unparalleled in the sport. Form his last minute submission on Chael and his upper-kick knockout here he is truly defining himself still, after a long career. Anderson is destined for a super matchup with GSP in the near future, but to be honest it is hard to see him doing anything but winning. Aside from the size advantage Anderson has showed the ability to finish a fight anywhere at any time, plus has the advantage in most areas of the sports. It will be interesting to watch, but he is most likely going to just add another name to his ever growing achievements in the sport of MMA.
Kyle Kingsbury was not given a chance to win this fight. Even though he had won two fights leading up to this fight, and had only lost in the UFC to Tom Lawler. Ricardo had only won one fight, but he was highly impressive in doing so. He had beat Seth Petruzelli and had a come from behind win in that fight. He also showed resiliency, so it was not that Kyle won but the way he did. He hurt Ricardo in the opening moments of the fight, just as Joe Rogan was commenting on his resilience and didn’t let up. Even though it was only 21 seconds into the fight it was stopped, and Kyle cemented his place in the UFC as a rising star. Which earned him a slot on this list with two fighters at the top of their game, and near the top of their division, if not the top.
Losses:
Jake Ellenberger to me had a lot of upside in this fight. Yes, he came back from losing the first round which was come from behind, in the rounds he did win he dominated, and he showed a high level skill on the ground by not being submitted. Beyond all that he should have won this fight a lot easier. Or so people thought. I don’t know if it a comment on how good Carlos is that he almost own in the first round, or despite his amount of experience that Jake is still green. While this would not normally put someone on a loss list, as with most things performance is not the only factor to this list.
Jake’s first opponent was Jon Fitch, and if he fought Jon the way he fought here he would have lost. Leading up to the fight he was talking about how no one wanted to fight Jon, no one could fight Jon the way he could, and he would finally finalize his destiny in doing so. The problem here is he may have just proved that he is not ready for this. Jake is a good fighter, and has the potential to be great, as he is only 25 and has a lot of experience, but maybe he should not be so ready to take a step-up as he needs to make sure he can win. Fighters’ careers have been marred by jumping up in competition too quick, just look at Ben Saunders for an example. Jake will be back, but I am not so sure it should be against someone in the top 5 of the division.
Ryan Bader I’m sorry, but you didn’t fulfill any of your pre-fight hype. You came in saying that you wouldn’t be rag dolled by Jon Jones like everyone else was. There is one problem with that, you were. From the opening bell to the time you tapped out, you did nothing to attack Jon Jones. While that is more of a favorable feature to Jon’s performance the reason Bader makes a crack on this list is that he lost in a situation he should have done better. He and Jon were seen as the next top fighter sin the division, and with his performance here Bader may have proved he’s not. He is still a good fighter, but top of the division he may not be. If he can’t get past Jon then who’s to say what will happen when he fights the Rampage’s and Machida’s of the division. Given style makes fights and he could win those fights, but he better come out ready to fight in his next performance. If he loses again in his next fight, like he did here, then he will be out of contention talk for a long time.
Paul Kelly which it was a tossup between him and Antonio Banuelos, I choose him based off one simple act. He threw that shot when the fighters usually touched gloves, and an act like that should mean you’re ready to kill your opponent. Which was not the case here. Paul had nothing for Cerrone outside of the submission attempt he had early in the first. Beyond that he did not attempt much, and got beat up wherever the fight went. That first act defined him in the fight and to not deliver throughout the rest was the real disappointment. If he did not act like an ass in the opening seconds then he probably would not have made the list.