The Bell Centre in Montreal was the setting for the UFC 97 Redemption. It would seem that Anderson Silva is been given a hard time of late, due to the fact that he has not finished his last fights with the first few minutes for a while! This is the down side to MMA becoming more mainstream. The fans think if you don’t knockout your opponent as ‘normal’ then something is wrong. It would also seem that the UFC is thinking along the same lines. Anderson as the champion has faced better and better opponents and many are happy if they can just last the fight with him! Of course if you step down the level of his opponents, then you will be getting your quick finishes. But at his level everyone is trying to play the game that will give them a fighting chance. Walking into a cage is not as easy as some of the fans may think.
The hometown boy David Loiseau had the full support of Montreal as he entered the octagon! Herman was not given such a welcome of course. But I am sure he was just focused on the job at hand. Loiseau has always been given tough fights and it has not always gone his way in big fights. But that being said he always gives a good fight. Herman is here to take on this gatekeeper to show he should still be allow to continue with his UFC quest.This fight went the full three rounds, with the game plans that we all expected to see.Loiseau using his stand up skills to try to breakdown his man and Herman driving for the takedown and trying to control the ground and pound. In the end it was Herman’s takedown and wrestling game that gave him the win. Looks like Herman will be back soon! Winner: Ed Herman
Both these fighters have heavy hands and like to strike. So this was set to be a last man standing type of fight.
Round 1
As if planned they both started with a trade of strikes, then MacDonald looked take Quarry down with a single leg. But Quarry’s years at team quest pay off and he countered the takedown and then landed in MacDonald's half guard. Quarry landed some elbows that damaged MacDonald. Seizing the moment Quarry stepped up his punching pressure in order to finish the job. The referee stepped in to stop the fight at 2:27 of round one for a TKO. Winner: Nate Quarry
Good win for Quarry; he still seems to be improving with each fight.
Both of these fighters are very strong strikers. So it would be a test of who the best striker or it would be who has developed a more complete MMA game and can take control of the fight with it.
Round 1
Hardonk landed some great leg kicks to start. But Kongo had the better punching and also in terms of his development of his skills, he showed he now has a wrestling game, which growing as well. We saw some of this in his last fight. But now he was attacking with takedowns and working nice ground and pound as well. This shows he really is becoming a much more well rounded MMA fighter. Kongo’s round
Round 2
As with the first round Kongo was looking focused and caught Hardonk’s leg this time and put him on his back. He had much more time to work his ground and pound skills. With that, it was not long before the Referee stopped the fight at 2:29 of the second round. Winner: Cheick Kongo
Good win for Kongo. This was a tough opponent and Kongo showed he could work a more complete game plan to deal with him.
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brain Stann
Round 1
This was a nice fight as Soszynski really dominated the clinch and was able to take the fight to the ground and progress his position with strong pinning attacks and then locked up the Kimura. After a few goes to finish the lock he passed to full side control and applied the Kimura (double wrist lock) to get the tapout.
“I always go for the kimura,” said Soszynski, “This is the best feeling ever. This is unbelievable.”
Good fight!
This was one of them fights that purely depended on which Shogun stepped into the octagon. If Rua were the same as his last fight with Mark Coleman, then Chuck would knock him out for sure. But if he were back to his primetime best as when at pride, well that would be a totally different ball game. Chuck had been bringing new coaches into his camp to help and switch up his style some, as the idea was that most fighters had his number now in terms of his patterns of movement and so on. The big problem is everyone knows when Chuck drops his hands.
Round 1
Rua looked in the best shape of his life. Which was a bad sign for Chuck. Rua started with a nice low kick, which was another bad sign for Chuck as leg kicks have caused him problems in the passed. Chuck looked good to start, but was maybe not as relaxed as normal, he was looking to chase which never works out well for him. Chuck scored a nice takedown at one point and Rua looked for a leg lock showing the funky attacks of pride maybe on the return! Just as the fight seemed to be warming into a real fight fest Rua dropped Chuck with a left hook. He jumped in to finish Chuck and the referee called an end to the bout. Winner: Mauricio Rua
Always a shame to see the great fall, but it has to happen at some point. Chuck was and is a great fighter and maybe his time is done. He will always be a fan favourite. Rua looked back on form and the fighter UFC have been hoping to see. His next fight will be watched very closely to see if he can keep the form he showed in this fight. “I’m very happy,” Rua said. “Liddell is a legend in MMA.”
Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites
Leites is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion based out of the Nova Uniao camp. He’s very tough an highly skilled on the ground. He will be looking to make this a ground fight and Silva will be looking to keep this standing and knockout his opponent. The fight went the full 5 rounds. With Silva trying to pick off his opponent. Leites was aware that a stand up war would end badly for him, so he tried to bring the fight to the ground where he thought he might have more of a chance. He pulled guard many times to try to do so, but in modern MMA his is not the crowd pleaser at all. Silva did not play his game and Leites did not play Silva’s, so a stale mate developed as such. It terms of winning rounds Silva won them all and walked away with the fight.
Winner: Anderson Silva
Anderson seemed to be the one that’s been taking all the criticism. But in my mind if you what to beat the Champ then you need to bring the fight to him.‘Thales Leites is a very tough opponent,” Silva said. “Sometimes we can’t always come out here and give a spectacular show. He’s a tough guy, and I know I have to do what the public wants, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.”
Well said indeed! A fight is a fight it’s not a set outcome. At this level just one mistake can lose you the fight. This was a very skilled opponent and Silva was careful not to give him a chance to play his game. Also Leites also didn’t want to allow Silva to have the fight at the pace he wanted either. Styles do make fights, so with that in mind the style match up was never going to be the best unless Leites tried to stand and trade with the champ. If he had done that it would have be a great fight and I think a quicker fight! That’s what people like to see at the end of the day. But it’s a fighters choice to go for broke and t is Anderson’s opponent that should be answering the questions.
Chu Sau
Lei Wing Chun system. Teacher of Tui Na Chinese Massage Therapy
He is also the UK representative for Guro Mark Wiley in the Filipino martial
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UFC 97: Redemption
- by Alan Orr: Photos courtesy of UFC