The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 07.21.08: Silva vs. Irvin

Posted by Scott Kuczkowski on 07.21.2008

Anderson Silva makes his debut at light heavyweight! Can the pound for pound best fighter in MMA enter the new division with a win? Or did “The Sandman” put him to sleep? Did Brandon’s Vera’s weight cutting pay dividends at 205? Is Frankie Edgar back on the winning track? We’ll answer these questions and more…

The opening sequence seems to have changed slightly. I think it lasts longer. Maybe this is done for all the Ultimate Fight Nights and I have been previous too intoxicated to notice. Interesting...



Dolloway vs. Taylor: My disdain for Taylor made me hope he would lose. I don't know why, but JT Monkey-Boy has never done anything for me in the octagon. Dolloway's upper lip looked prepared for battle.

The Good: Both guys pushed the action pretty well throughout the first round. I was pleasantly surprised that both guys looked solid as opposed to flailing around, as many new-comers do. CB got the win with the Peruvian Necktie, which I think is a pretty cool name for a finishing move. Nice to see him finally get a win.

The Bad: CB did land an illegal knee to a downed Taylor. Luckily this appeared inconsequential. It would have been a shame if this caused an early stoppage and necessitated another postponement.

The Ugly: None.




Johnson vs. Burns: I hoped Johnson would get another big knockout, but I suspected Burns could play the spoiler in this fight.

The Good: The first round and a half contained a lot of action and both guys were swinging for the fences. Johnson looked HUGE as a welterweight but still had some surprising fast kicks. Burns demonstrated some excellent standup and looked pretty comfortable against the bigger Johnson.

The Bad: Johnson started to run out of gas in the second round. Joe Rogan suspected this was due to the weight be probably had to cut to make 170. Whatever it was, he definitely slowed down and started resorting to takedowns. Unfortunately, while he got the takedowns at will, he wasn't able to do anything at all on the ground.

The Ugly: Burns poked Johnson in the eye a few times. The referee warned Burns, but then it happened again and the fight was stopped when Johnson couldn't continue. Then, and I don't know how, THE FIGHT WAS AS AWARDED TO BURNS VIA TKO?!?! I have no idea how something like that happened. It was total bullshit and I think the fight should have at least been a no contest. I actually wanted Burns disqualified for the eye poke and the fight awarded to Johnson, but I would have lived with the no contest. Johnson was very classy in his post fight interview and didn't blame Burns at all. Burns claimed he had to throw open handed jabs with his left hand because he broke his it 3 times in that last 16 months. Well then Mr. Burns, maybe you shouldn't be fighting if you can't make a fist.




Velasquez vs. O'Brien: I figured O'Brien would have a good shot at derailing the Velasquez train due to experience. Boy, was I wrong.

The Good: Velasquez rode O'Brien around the ring like a bull until he got him down. After that, he put him in a crucifix and punched him in the face until the referee stopped the fight. Doesn't get much easier than that, does it? Now put Velasquez in there against Lesnar and see how things play out.

The Bad: Too bad for O'Brien, since this one-sided loss might mean he will get released again.

The Ugly: None.




Edgar vs. Franca: I thought this might be a tough fight for Edgar. Franca is a veteran and has wins over some top talent.

The Good: The action throughout the entire fight was great. Edgar really pushed the pace and dominated Franca for the most part. Franca did have a flash arm bar attempt in the first round, but that was really all he had in the way of submissions. Edgar managed to take Franca down at will and avoided the knees that gave Sean Sherk fits in their title bout. Franca tried to let his hands go in the last round, but his efforts were fruitless. Nice to see Edgar get the win against a tough competitor.

The Bad: Franca looked like he had been mauled by the end of the fight. The guy was nothing but lumps.

The Ugly: None




Vera vs. Andy: This would be Vera's debut at light heavyweight. I thought this would be a more logical weight for him to fight at. This was my first time seeing Reese Andy.

The Good: Well, both guys made weight. That is probably the only good thing about the fight. I could also mention that Vera had a few impressive takedowns, but he didn't do much with them afterwards. Vera did give a shout out to Rampage at the end of the bout, but that was really the only good thing about this fight. Vera was given the decision.

The Bad: The action in this fight was like watching two old people fuck. SLOW!!

The Ugly: After the first few minutes of this fight, both guys seemed to lose some steam and the will to fight. Vera tried counter-punching his way through the fight. The problem with this strategy was that Andy wasn't a striker and therefore didn't really throw any to counter against. This created a situation where the guys would circle the cage waiting for the other to do something but with neither initiating.

Vera blamed the weight cut on his lackluster performance, but I have to admit that he hasn't looked that great in the past 3 fights. I remember when Brandon Vera was the guy with the potential to make a huge impact in whatever division he fought in. Well, I haven't seen that same guy since he sat out for a year with a contract dispute. Even Goldberg and Rogan stated Vera was committing career suicide by putting on a boring fight. I have no idea what could be next for him. I think he'll lose if he tries to step up in competition, in which case all excuses about him being a natural light heavyweight instead of small heavyweight will be gone.




Silva vs. Irvin: While I think James Irvin is a talented fighter, I predicted Silva would get the first round knockout. Like I said, I like Irvin and I think he was great against lesser competition, but I don't think he'll be able to have his way with Silva.

The Good: Irvin threw a kick which Silva caught and then crushed Irvin's face with a right hand. Somewhere in Sacramento California, James Irvin's girlfriend died from the force of that punch. Silva finished the fight moments later as he rained down punches on the dazed Irvin. Wow.

The Bad: None.

The Ugly: None.




Markham vs. Farber: We are treated to a preliminary bout thanks to Silva's short work of Irvin.

The Good: The action was back and forth throughout the fight as both guys looked ready to bang. Farber started getting the best of Markham and looked ready to really press for the win. Out of now where, Markham threw a perfectly timed head kick when Farber dropped his hands and knocked Farber into the middle of next week. Awesome knockout win for his octagon debut.

The Bad: Farber learned the hard lesson that you don't drop your hands in a fight, even if you think you are winning.

The Ugly: None.


Final Thoughts: I thought this was a pretty good night of free fights. There wasn't anything that would turn the world of MMA upsides down, but it was over all a good event.

The TKO victory awarded to Burns still makes me mad. I hope those two get it on again in the octagon real soon.

Brandon Vera was a pretty big disappointment. Maybe my expectations were too high for him. Vera is supposedly this very talented guy whose only limitation was that he was too small for heavyweight and needed to drop to light heavyweight. Well, he did that and looked less than impressive. Where does he go from here? I have no idea. He should thank his stars that Wanderlei and Henderson didn't take that fight with him because they probably would have murdered him.

Anderson Silva showed why he is generally considered one of the best in MMA. I think there are still some intriguing fights for him in the light heavyweight division, so I honestly hope he fights as both a middleweight and light heavyweight for the time being.

Afflicion: Banned

I want to take this time to talk about the Affliction card for a moment. I didn't order the event; not because I am anti- Affliction, but mostly because I'm cheap. Be that as it may, I heard the results and thought I would make a few comments.

Barnett avenged his previous loss to Rizzo. This was expected as far as I was concerned. Rizzo stopped being a credible threat to top shelf fighters a while ago. I expect we will now see the Barnett/Fedor matchup everyone has been clamoring for.

Arlovski beat Rothwell. This didn't really surprise me either. Arlovski was a huge step up in competition for Rothwell and he's one of those fighters that you have to be on your "A" game when you fight. Despite his few lackluster performances, I think Arlovski is definitely a top 5 heavyweight, maybe even top 3 behind only Fedor and Big Nog.

This brings me to Fedor's demolishment of Sylvia. I don't think anyone on the internet thought this would go any other way. I stated previously that I thought Sylvia's stock would rise if he could even last until the championship rounds with Fedor, much less beat him. I even doubted he would do that. Fedor went out there and made quick work of Big Tim and re-established himself as one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world. The real question is where does he go from here? Is there anyone else out there who is even a credible threat to him? Did Barnett look impressive enough that fans think he will challenge Fedor? What about Couture?

See, that's the challenge now. A booker can put anyone in there with Fedor, but the truth is that Fedor comes with a price tag and his future opponents have to be credible enough to draw the amount of fans that make promoting the fight profitable. Pitting Fedor against opponents who aren't a threat to him won't draw PPV buys. Sure, there are some die-hard fans that will watch any event Fedor fights on, but there are others who will only watch if they think he will be challenged. The question is who can challenge him? Take some time to coment below and let me know and we'll discuss your picks.

That's all for now. I hope everyone has enjoyed this installment and I will see you all later this week after the DREAM 5 event.