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By: Tony Becerra, MMATorch Contributor
UFC 162 wrapped up last night at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in front of an announced crowd of 12,399 and live gate of 4.826 million. In last night's main event, Chris Weidman (10-0) shocked many by defeating Anderson Silva (33-5) via KO at 1:18 of round two and becoming the new UFC Middleweight Champion.
UFC 162 Awards (Each fighter receiving 50k for their efforts)
* Fight of the Night: Frankie Edgar vs. Charles Oliveira
* Fight of the Night: Dennis Siver vs. Cub Swanson
* Knockout of the Night: Chris Weidman
Seven fighters accompanied Dana White at the UFC 162 post-fight press conference: Chris Weidman, Anderson Silva, Tim Kennedy, Cub Swanson, Frankie Edgar, Charles Oliveira, Mark Munoz
Dana White began the post fight presser by officially announcing the upcoming events that will close the 2013-year. White reported that the eight fighters would begin a multi-city press tour beginning July 29.
UFC 165 Jones vs. Gustafson (Sept. 21, 2013 at the Air Canada Center in Toronto)
UFC 166 Velasquez vs. Dos Santos III (Oct.19, 2013 at the Toyota Center in Houston)
UFC 167 St. Pierre vs. Hendricks (Nov. 16, 2013 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas)
UFC 168 Rousey vs. Tate II (Dec. 28, 2013 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas)
White responds to critics saying the fight was fixed: Oh yeah that was fixed... That's the stupidest f***ing thing I've ever heard in my life. Ok. That is just stupid"
White went on to talk about Weidman's performance saying he "kept his composure and didn't mentally shut down like a lot of guys have in the past." White said that fight cost Jones, Silva and GSP a lot of money, saying in those super fights he (Silva) was the "link". White went on saying that no matter what Silva says publicly "I guarantee there's nothing that he wants more than that rematch with Weidman"
Dana White said, "He decided to fight the way he wanted to fight" in response to the fans being cheated. Going on by saying this fight in no way paralleled the one in Abu Dhabi. White continued ... "The greatest fighter of all time and he was out there doing his thing and his thing didn't work tonight"
Commentary: Fixed? C'mon. The reason Silva lost was not because the fight was fixed but because being cocky and bored in the fight finally caught up to him. Like White said, had Silva won the way he has in the past we all would be singing a different tune. If anything should be brought to question it is Silva's motivation to fight and continue defending the title. Silva said he trained for this fight 100% and I believe him. He went out there tonight and did what he always does and just got clipped. The End. Rematch or no rematch he will always be known as one of the greatest of all time and I doubt anyone in the middleweight division will reign supreme as long as he did. Fact is, White kept hinting to a rematch and there is no way he will not try and get that rematch together from a business standpoint.
Anderson Silva responds to everyone in Brazil being upset and is asked to speak on the fight: "I do my best and tonight I feel like I do my best, I tried to induce Chris to play my game and it didn't work…I trained 4 months for this fight to win this fight. So it is what happened, I lost the fight, a fight is a fight."
Subsequent questions were about coming back after a loss a "better Silva" to which Silva responded that this is not the first time that he has lost and would never go out there to lose. He went on to talk about how his corner was sad but stated that in the end it is the fighter who is in there, not the corner. Silva said he "trained 100% but the my opponent won the fight." Silva went on by saying Chris is the best and we should all respect what he did.
Commentary: Silva didn't seem too distraught after losing; in fact he looked fairly relaxed. Silva is one of the greatest fighters of all time and like he said it is not his first loss; however it is the first loss in years, so I do expect him to take a long layoff. After the time off, I do expect White to move Heaven and Earth to make this rematch between Silva and Weidman happen.
Chris Weidman responds about what he will do after winning the belt: "I feel like I still didn't look my best so I'm just really excited going back out there and hold on to this belt as long as I can."
Weidman went on by saying that he expected Silva to taunt him like he did, saying he didn't see him as being cocky. He said he tried not to let it get to his head. Weidman went on by saying Matt Serra has been an inspiration from day one and feels very blessed having people around him who want him to succeed.
Weidman responded to critics saying Silva beat himself by saying Silva won his fights by what he caught him on tonight, stating, "he knows exactly what he is doing." He continued by saying he didn't feel disrespected and this is what he does.
Commentary: Chris has gone through some tough times over the course of the last year and it was good to see hard work and perseverance pay off. What's next? Well most likely a rematch with Silva in six months.
Cub Swanson responds to fighting for the title and what should be next after his victory: "Um… Yeah I think I did everything I needed to do and ah... like I said I'm just trying to get the fans to back me on it and let them decide. Um... Dana does a good job of listening to the fans and if they speak up and they want me to be the next one in line then you know it could happen."
Dana responded by saying "I think Cub looked awesome tonight" saying he poured it on when he needed to. Cub looked great and "deserves many things other than 50k."
Commentary: The rematch with Aldo is well deserved but will be a hard to sell after what happened the first time regardless of how long ago it was. I see Cub Swanson needing one more fight between now and a rematch with Aldo.
Frankie Edgar responds about dropping to 135: "If I gotta hear Dana talk about 35 I don't know I think I'm retiring"
Edgar went on to talk about how it feels good to be back in the win column especially after three straight losses.
Commentary: Great to see Edgar back in the win column again and I look forward to seeing him make one more run at UFC gold.
Mark Munoz reported on his hand possibly being broken: Yeah it kind of hurts right now, I was punching him really hard and he wasn't going away"
Munoz reported being glad to be back, not sure if he had broken his hand but stated he "loved being in there and felt like home." He went on by saying "If Anderson doesn't fight Chris, I would love to step in."
Tim Kennedy responds to Roger Gracie taking his back: " You know I was really disappointed in my performance, I guess UFC gitters are real."
He went on by saying "no one gets his back and Roger got my back for three minutes". He continued by saying he tried to stay composed and hit him.
Charles Oliveira responds to staying at 145: "Yeah I feel good at this weight class, I fought a champion and he took the best of me but I feel good at this weight class and I feel I need to go home and train harder."
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