Before UFC 134, the Fighters Only issue featured a crowd of Brazilian fighters including Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and in the centre of them all, Anderson Silva. At the bottom, the cover read "Fighting Nation : Mixed Martial Arts comes home".
After UFC 134, it is known that all three of those fighters just showed how much a "Fighting Nation" Brazil was as all 3 fighters won. And looked relatively good doing it.
In the main event, Silva fought Okami for the 185 lb. strap. Going into the main event, the question was of how much was Okami going to incorporate the strategy of one Chael Sonnen, who seemed to have Silva figured out for almost 25 minutes before tapping. Suprisingly, it was Okami who came out the aggressor, pushing forward and missing with a combo and Silva, dancing around hitting the Japanese product with a right leg kick. Silva spent the next half minute or so dancing, throwing jabs and picking off "Thunder" with his timing, until Okami got inside and got a half thai clinch. Suprsingly, while Okami was trying the dirty boxing, it was Silva whom got the better of it, finishing with shoulder punches and knees. After being pushed away, Silva used head movement in dodging most of Okami's punches before ending the first round with an exclaimation point, courtesy of a head kick as the horn sounded.
The second round saw Silva coming forward, as Okami was clearly warded off by that head kick, and after dropping him a minute in and begging Okami to get back up, Silva dropped him at 1:45, finishing off with a thunderous flury of knees and punches as referee Herb Dean called the action at 2:02 of round number 2.
Next for Silva : World Domination. Or a fight with just about whomever he really wants.
Next for Okami : How about going back to Team Quest and telling Chael Sonnen to do his own dirty work. Or, perhaps a fight with Rousimar Palhares?
The co-main event was the rematch between former light heavyweight champions Forrest Griffin and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. I had hoped this would be a slugfest, and true to form, for about 2 minutes, it didn't disappoint. At times both fighters pressed forward, Griffin landing his leg kicks while Shogun, amidst chants of "Ruuuuuuuuuuuaaaaa" from the crowd, hit with his masterful body combinations. After hitting Griffin with a pair of solid uppercuts a few seconds apart, the former Chute Boxe alum known as Shogun landed with another at the same time as the Columbus, Ohio native Griffin attempted a takedown. Knowing Griffin was hurt, Rua swarmed, landing several shots and hammerfists before Marc Goddard called a stop to the action at 1 minute and 53 seconds of round number 1.
Next for Rua : Probably another fight or 2 from the mountain top. How about a fight with Rashad Evans?
Next for Griffin : Perhaps a trilogy fight with Stephan Bonnar looks a little more appealing from the view of Griffins camp. I will agree.
Having a year off inbetween fights can really ruin 35 year olds careers. Just ask a certain Russian, (who well we're not mentioning). For Antonio Rogerio "Minotauro" Nogueira, it was a year and a half between fights, but it didn't matter, as Saturday night, he clearly looked fresher than Brandan Schaub. Perhaps a little bit slower, but definitely fresher.
Nogueira looked very sluggish early, and for awhile there it wasn't looking good for the only man to ever hold both the UFC and PRIDE heavyweight titles in their career. The former NFLer Schaub was pressing the action in the clinch, landing several body hooks and reversing Nogueira against the cage. While Schaub got Nogueira hurt with a cross-hook combination that finished with an uppercut, its clear that, like the MMArmaggedist said, his chin could withstand Schaub's punches. And if it did, to expect an upset, as Nogueira pressed Schaub to back pedal against the cage, dropping a beautiful hook that rocked the American, dropping the TUF alum at the 4:10 mark of the opening round.
Next for Schaub : A fight with Stephan Struve or Sean McCorkle.
Next for Nogueira : He did well enough to hold off a coaching career. Perhaps a fight with the winner of Roy Nelson-Cro Cop or the winner of Hunt-Rothwell?
Rousimar Palhares overcame a suspect gas tank and his own bone headedness en route to a unanimous decision victory over Jim Miller. After dominating the first round, the Brazilian Palhares used his much improved standup in securing victory.
Next for Palhares : Well, a fight with the winner of Maia-Santiago sounds interesting. Or how about, Yushin Okami?
Next for Miller : A fight against the loser of Stann-Sonnen or Paulo Thiago.
Honorable Mention : It was fitting that Nogueira finally puts on a show fighting for the first time in front of his countrymen. While "Big Nog" isn't quite the fighter he once was, he was able to show us that his boxing is as good as it always was. Shogun Rua showed that the fight against "Bones" Jones was mere ring rust, as he looked in great shape and cruised past Griffin. Palhares' boneheaded move in the first round of his fight against Dan Miller. One judge scored it 30-25, which means Palhares won not one, but 2 10-8 rounds. While the first was clearly 10-9 and maybe 10-8, Palhares showed that his head is sometimes not where it needs to be. After dropping Miller with a hook, he hit with 2 wild shots and proceeded to do his best impression of both Shogun and Wanderlei Silva in one motion, jumping up on the cage with his arms triumphantly before being promptly informed by Herb Dean that the fight was still going on. I don't honestly know where the second 10-8 round came from. Palhares looks like he'd be a contender because while he has all the tools, his head sometimes just isn't there. Jungle Fight Champion Erick Silva dropping Shooto Brazil champ Luis Ramos in 40 seconds. Dangerous. It was worth watching that knockout 3 times, just to see it again and again. Stainislav Nedkov breaking up the clean sweep for the Brazilians by dropping Luis Cane with a left-right combintation. and Oh yeah, Anderson Silva is a very, very dangerous man.
I ran the gauntlet, going 4-0 on my picks for the first time since UFC Toronto. It also brings my record to an impressive 39-21-2 for the year. I'm hoping to stay hot from here on out.
Until next time, fight fans!
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