from the Los Angeles Times:
Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White told The Times his organization has struck verbal deals for Anderson Silva to defend his middleweight championship against Vitor Belfort on Jan. 2 in Las Vegas.
Belfort, a former UFC champion, returned to the octagon Saturday to defeat former champion Rich Franklin in Dallas.
Silva has emerged as the most elite fighter in the UFC, most recently disposing of former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.
Jon Anik & co. talk about Rampage leaving the UFC, Cro Cop's retirement, Strikeforce signing Herschel Walker and Vitor Belfort's win over Rich Franklin.
The fight-finishing jab.
Heels to the liver (it's on that side of the body, right?) leads to an RNC for Penn.
Hendricks unloads on Sadollah, but was it enough for Mirgliotta to step in? You decide.
Here's an excerpt from John Morgan's story on Anderson Silva on mmajunkie.com:
While Silva has always said defending the middleweight title is of utmost importance to him, the Brazilian suggested he may be willing to continue a run at light heavyweight - despite the difficulties of fighting bigger men.
"It's a big problem, because these guys at 205 (pounds) are a lot bigger than me," Silva said. "But I want to fight against the best. Whoever the best is at the time, that's who I want to fight."
Silva is now an astounding 10-0 in the UFC, and his dominance in two divisions warrants real consideration for the dangerous striker as the world's top pound-for-pound fighter.
Ted: Notice Silva didn't say "I want to fight against the best, but not my close buddy Lyoto." OK, so we know that Silva and Lyoto Machida, UFC's light-heavyweight champ, have said they will not fight each other. They train together, although I did not see Machida in attendence at Silva's training camp for last night's fight.
The thing is, if Silva keeps beating LHWs, and says he wants to fight the best, well, right now, the best in the LHW division is Machida. Machida's next fight is Shogun Rua at UFC 104 in October. Silva's next opponents appear to be Dan Henderson and the winner of Maia/Marquardt. If Silva vanquishes those two foes, we might see the two teammates clash before Silva's contract ends (he has three more fights left).
As to who would win, man, I'm just shaking my head right now.
With Roy Jones Jr., who reportedly was a guest of Anderson Silva. Silva has said he wants to box Jones after his UFC contract is done.
from mmajunkie.com:
MAIN CARD
Champ B.J. Penn (155) vs. Kenny Florian (155)
Champ Anderson Silva (205) vs. Forrest Griffin (205)
Ricardo Almeida (185) vs. Kendall Grove (185.5)
Josh Neer (155.5) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (154.5)
Johny Hendricks (171) vs. Amir Sadollah (166.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Shane Nelson (156) vs. Aaron Riley (154)
John Howard (169.5) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170)
Thales Leites (185) vs. Alessio Sakara (185.5)
Dan Cramer (169.5) vs. Matthew Riddle (170)
George Roop (154) vs. George Sotiropoulos (155)
Jesse Lennox (171) vs. Danillo Villefort (170.25)
from Eric "Performify" Foster at mmajunkie.com:
If you're attending UFC 101, or if you live in the Philadelphia area, the Buckhead Saloon is the place to be when you're not at the arena. For those of you in the area but without tickets, venue officials are giving away a pair on Friday during happy hour, and they will be showing the PPV on Saturday if you're looking for a place to watch with your fellow junkies.
After the fight, the saloon is the home of the official B.J. Penn afterparty and features appearances by multiple fighters and UFC personalities, including the beautiful Arianny Celeste. Check out this thread on our forums for more details.
Ted: If you're in the York area, Hooters of York is the place. That's where I'll be, camera in hand.
Originally posted on sherdog.com
The other day, I blogged about how Forrest Griffin might win against Anderson Silva at UFC 101. Then I found this recent quote from Silva on bloodyelbow.com:
"I try to win through the mistakes of my opponents. It's not interesting for me to expose myself and run unnecessary risks. I'm getting old and since I started fighting I never had a scratch or my face broken. Anyone who knows about fighting can see what I mean."
What a psychological advantage this would be to Griffin during the fight if Griffin were about to open up a cut or get Silva bleeding from the nose, or something like that.
Griffin is crazy from way back, even in high school.
Forrest Griffin's got a shot - a decent shot - at beating Anderson Silva at their fight at UFC 101 on Aug. 8 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. ... Aw heck, I'm gonna get crazy here - dammit, he's gonna do it! Who's with me? Here's why I think so:
- Forrest is used to fighting at 205; Silva is not. Yeah, Silva made the jump once before, but it appeared as though he put on mostly water weight or fat rather than muscle to get up to 205 from his usual 185. Of course, that didn't matter 'cause he knocked out James Irvin in a matter of seconds. We might see Silva's cardio start to fail from the extra weight if Forrest can take him into the third round.
- In connection with the first point, Forrest is bigger than Silva, although not by much. Forrest is listed at 6'3", whereas Anderson Silva is 6'2". That's only an inch, but it could be a big difference because Silva is used to looking down on opponents, not eye-to-eye or maybe up a little. Forrest reportedly walks into the cage around 220 or so, so he'll defnitely have a weight advantage over Silva, who is bulking up to 205, so I don't expect him to walk into the cage much heavier than that.
- The biggest factor in this fight is Forrest's heart. The guy's got tons of it. He's like the Chuck Wepner (the boxer on whom Stallone based Rocky) or even Chuck Cecil (NFL safety who used to smash his nose in nearly every game because of how hard he hit) of the UFC - a guy who doesn't care that he bleeds in every fight, who may not be technically the most proficient fighter out there, but more than makes up for it by giving it his all every damn time. Silva, on the other hand, was reportedly matched up with Forrest because of his last two fights, which were, putting it mildly, crappy. Dana White knew Forrest would push Silva, basically force him to fight. Fans have wondered if Silva's heart is still in the game, or if he's just coasting until the end of his UFC contract, so he can have a boxing match with his idol, Roy Jones Jr.
None of this is to take away from Silva. The factors I listed might not amount to anything in this fight. Silva's a great fighter and could end the fight with one punch, kick, elbow or knee. But you just can't count Forrest out. Most people said he wouldn't beat Shogun Rua, but he did, with an RNC. Most people didn't think he could take the title from Rampage, but he did, with devastating leg kicks and tight ground control.
