UFC 97: Redemption

UFC 97 received a lot of hype with Anderson Silva defending his title for a 9th time against Thales Leites. The fight between Chuck Liddell and Shogun Rua had potential to steal the show.

The pay per view started off with Luis Cruz vs Steve Cantwell. The fight went to a decision and Cruz won in 3 rounds. Wasn't a very exciting fight. I found it to be the least interesting fight of the night.

The welterweight fight with Sam Stout and Matt Wiman also went to a decision but was much more interesting. Stout controlled the first 2 rounds but Wiman looked very sharp in the final round despite being clearly out of gas. He was close to getting in several submission but came up short in his efforts. Sam Stout would win by decision.

The middle of the card featured some real good excitement. Former Ultimate Fighter contestant Krzysztof Soszynski submitted Brian Stann with a Kimura in the first round. Soszynski is a fighter I really like. His arm bars are very deadly and he could be a fighter to watch.

One of my favorite fighters Cheick Kongo continued to work his way to a title shot with a TKO of Antoni Hardonk. The fighters were identical in size but Kongo had a lot more experience. Kongo continues to keep winning and with an impressive win over Mirko Cro Cop he could face the winner of the Heavyweight Championship after UFC 100. He's is an exciting striker to watch. Not sure how well he matches up with Frank Mir's ground game but I would go with Kongo over Lesnar. We'll just have to wait and see.

I had a feeling before the fight the Chuck Liddell vs Mauricio Rua would steal the show. The fight was a real solid fight. It is important to note I predicted all the winners of the event tonight. I liked Rua in this fight simply because Chuck Liddell doesn't protect his chin. His arms are wide and he will often drop his hands. This leads to knockouts like what happen when he fought Rashad Evans. I thought Liddell looked very good in this fight landing some great punches. Shogun's kicks took a toll on Chuck however as he was limping in the opening round. Shogun would knockout Liddell 4:28 seconds into the opening round after a punch knocked Chuck down and Rua followed with some hammer fists. That four plus minutes was twice the excitement you got out of the next fights 5 rounds however!

Anderson Silva came into tonight's fight looking to break the UFC record for 9 straight title defenses. Thalas Leites was supposed to be a guy who could upset Silva. Instead we got 5 rounds of Leites falling on the ground and stalling. The fans during the fight chanted bullshit and booed. I don't blame Silva he did the best with what he had to work with. Leites in no way deserved to be a main event fighter. The guy is a shrub. Silva throughout the fight taunted and showboated but even then Leites wouldn't come after him. The fight would go to the cards and Silva would retain his belt. Not many people would have expected this to go to the judges but it did.

For the main event I thought this was debatable if it was even the third best fight of the night. It was upsetting to watch. I'm a big fan of Silva and would love to see him get a quality opponent like Georges St. Pierre or move up to 205 for good. A lot of people will dog Silva for his last two fights but I don't see that he had much to work with. An opponent who falls to the ground around two dozen times helps you in no way what so ever.

I think Dana White should have a nice sit down with Leites after the embarrassment of a fight he put up. Overall I only saw the fight as a B- at best. Not one of the better pay per views from UFC I have seen. The fight did feature an emotional event after Chuck Liddell lost and walked by fans in what could have been his last fight. Chuck has meant so much to the sport but I'm not sure he has anything left. Continuing to fight and lose only tarnishes his great legacy.