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UFC 101 – Anderson Silva Wins in Jaw Dropping Fashion

August 10, 2009 | Author: Matthew | Filed under: MMA, Martial Arts, Opinion, Recent Events, TV Shows, modern arts

Please pardon my pun – but that’s exactly how it went down. Anderson Silva tagged UFC Vet Forrest Griffin so hard and so consistently in the head and grillpiece that Griffin couldn’t stand toe-to-toe with the Brazilian for much longer than 3 minutes.

If you’d like to check out the fight for yourself, click the picture above or this link.  Also check out Noah’s page for more fights and options.

For those long time readers out there, you’ll know that I am a big fanboy for two UFC fighters – Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva. This last fight, which took place at UFC 101 in Philadelphia, was another stunner that left me wondering how Anderson Silva performs at such a high level.

Silva’s last two victories over Patrick Cote and Thales Leites were widely regarded as underwhelming. There was a lot of controversy as to whether or not Silva was losing his touch, or if he was just getting bored. It turns out he wasn’t losing his touch.

Forrest Griffin, a UFC pro and highly regarded competitor, tried to stand up with Silva but had no success. In fact, Silva made Griffin look like a tentative rookie (which he is far from being). After a minute or so of gauging each other, Griffin tried to establish a rhythm on Silva by throwing out half-paced punches and kicks. Silva calmly slid away from those attacks, and carefully picked his opportunities to explode into Griffin.

Everytime Griffin attempted to push the pace, Silva slipped the attack and punished Griffin in return. The result was a fight so lopsided that some people are wondering if Griffin threw the fight, or if he was sick/drugged during the match.

One thing I can guarantee is that there was no throwing of the fight – Griffin is renounded for his big heart and taking a dive would never enter into is realm of possibility. Furthermore, there are no reports (as of yet) confirming illness or injury on the part of Griffin. What we are left to conclude is that Silva was simply operating at a level that nullified Griffin in every way.

Silva is a little guilty of antics during the fight – dropping his hands and urging Griffin to come and fight. That stemmed from the stream of bad press he had been getting from his last two fights, and the accusations that he was not putting out any energy or effort. It is also important to note that both fighters showed each other full respect throughout the match, which is a big differentiating factor when observing antics vs mockery.

I’d also like to point out that when Silva dropped his hands it was because he was in such dominant control of distancing and timing that that was the only way to get Griffin to come and fight. Silva saw the opportunity to use such a tactic to win, so he took it. He further demonstrated his command by knocking out Griffin in an almost casual fashion.

Call this match what you will – weird, unusual, astounding, intriguing…for me, I can confidently say that it was definitely worth watching.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 and is filed under MMA, Martial Arts, Opinion, Recent Events, TV Shows, modern arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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  • jonlaw
    We've been discussing this fight on Steve Morris's forum, which is not 'live' yet but will be soon. Silva controls the fight because he controls the distance, he doesn't let Griffin get into a position to hit him, that's why his hands are down, he stays just on the cusp of Griffins range and then moves in off Griffins shots. When he's inside that range he evades and hits.

    This tactic means that Griffin can't hit Silva and so only throws under-committed attacks, because he can't get in range. Every time he moves forward Silve retreats keeping just out of range. It's a masterclass.

    Joe Regan says that the KO strike was a very limited shot, but look at the effect on Griffins head. The slo mo replays clearly show the head shake, and thats what does him. It was a pinpoint strike.
  • Great analysis jon, I agree. Silva's control over distancing and timing allowed him to function at a whole different level than Griffin.

    Another important point about the final shot is the amount of damage his other pinpoint shots did before that.
  • SuperRog
    anyone see the kenny florian bj penn fight? That was a pretty good matchup i think. where silva made it short and sweet bj penn dominated for a bunch of rounds.
  • I saw it also. Personally I was kinda rooting for kenny florian, but I have to give it to penn for his performance. I think he would have won the decision even without the tapout.
  • MMA Fist
    yup, saw it. good fiht. not a huge fan of penn but he came to fight.
  • uffan
    any word on if silva is going to stay in that weight class?
  • MMA Fist
    yea i havent heard anythign either - just that dana white is considering letting it happen.
  • I dunno uffan, there is no strong word on that yet. only some whispers and maybes.
  • john s
    at least forrest made silva get up for this fight. his last two were pretty weak. personally im glad to see silva back in his killer instinct mode.
  • I wonder if silva will still get flak or if everyone will be convinced that he is still the top dog?
  • MMA Fist
    ya what was up with forrest in this one. i love the guy but he got hammered bad. props to him for standing up and trying his best tho. i think its important to mention that.
  • Agreed mma. he did what he could. cant really ask for more than that.
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