UFC Rio Winners and Losers
Another fantastic card from Zuffa and Co. is in the books and there is a lot to be said for the performances turned in by the men on Saturday’s UFC: RIO card. Legends showed us to not to count them out, fighters couldn’t live up to their own hype and Rousimar Palhares is so confident that he will beat you he will celebrate prematurely before actually beating you.
ANDERSON SILVA: EPIC WINNER
There are people who win and then there are the few who OWN; The Spider owns the octagon, no questions asked. He had his hands down and was letting Okami punch him in the face before dropping him with one punch, letting him up, dropping him again and then finishing the fight before the second round could be recorded. As unstoppable and out of this world he appears, Anderson Silva showed the world and his hometown why the UFC middleweight belt has been in his living room since 2006
SHOGUN RUA: WINNER
After suffering a RNC loss to Forrest Griffin in 2007, Shogun extracted revenge via brutal strikes and turned off the former cop’s lights less than two minutes into the bout. A definitive and quick dispatching of the former champion has Shogun easily back in title contention, the only thing now is to keep Rua fighting as much as possible to keep him fresh and tearing thru the division
MINOTAURO NOUGEIRA: WINNER
How can anyone not like Big Nog? If you don’t, shame on you. Big Nog ate shots from a younger, dangerous opponent and then landed a flurrying combo that put all talk of him being done on the mat, alongside Brendan Schaub. His knockout win needs to be noted by the heavyweight division that as much as you beat him up, he is still capable of ending the fight at a moment’s notice
See ya next year?
BRAZIL: WINNER
The fans were great and Dana White said in post fight interviews that it was the best crowd he has ever experienced. With future plans to come back hopefully next summer and sell out a soccer stadium (100k plus seats) the people love the sport and fighters who participate and deserve the best shows possible for future cards.
YUSHIN OKAMI: LOSER
Even though he went into this fight touted as “the strongest middleweight” and “best Japanese MMA fighter ever”, those comments and accolades didn’t him much in the fight. Okami Tried to prove his DQ victory over the champ wasn’t a fluke but the beating he suffered proved he’s not ready for the belt.
FORREST GRIFFIN: LOSER
Running to the cage is a good idea right? Well maybe if you are running to beat anyone other than Shogun Rua. Having trouble with weight before he even got to Brazil and his mind probably being with his pregnant wife, Griffin was not in the best capacity to fight for a possible title shot. Take time and get back at it big guy, there is always Tito-Griffin 3 to make him motivated, right?
ROUSIMAR PALHARES: LOSER
Even though he beat Dan Miller this weekend, if you cannot listen to the referee in a fight, maybe you shouldn’t be in there at all. After thinking he defeated his opponent, he jumped all over the fence in celebration until Herb Dean told him to knock it off and fight; coupled with the fact he wrecked Tomas Drzwal’s knee because he “could not hear him tap or the ref telling me to let go” the man needs to pay attention to what is happening in there.
BRENDAN SCHUAB: LOSER
Having only been defeated twice in his career and both by way of knockout, paints a target on your head and chin for strikers in the division. Going into this fight with momentum on his back, the Colorado fighter was punched into the reality that anything can happen. During the off time, he needs to focus on protecting himself from the big shots and where he goes from here, perhaps Frank Mir? If he does not have a problem with fighting teammates than put Shane Carwin in there and let two big guys swing for the fences.
MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (EXCEPT A. SILVA): STALEMATE:
In a weight class dominated by one man for over five years, it is hard to imagine who will come in to upset the champ. The men clamoring for the chance need to do their homework and find a personal Yoda to interrupt his Jedi like powers if they ever want to see this belt rightfully change hands instead of having Dana give it to someone so Silva can terrify other divisions.
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