Penick's Take
PENICK'S UFC 153 Notebook: Anderson Silva remains incredible, predictable fight card still highly enjoyable
Oct 14, 2012 - 11:00:21 AM PENICK'S UFC 153 Notebook: Anderson Silva remains incredible, predictable fight card still highly enjoyable

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

With injuries ravaging UFC 153 last month, the UFC did their best to salvage a card worth watching for the fans in Brazil. Though the three top fights they put together looked on paper to be squash matches - and ultimately that's what they were - entertainment is exactly what the UFC provided with the six-fight card on pay-per-view.

From the top down, the pay-per-view broadcast featured some very entertaining action, plenty of stoppages, and the greatest fighter in UFC history once again putting on a show.

--Let's start with Anderson Silva. It's hard to actually put into words just how incredible it is that Silva is able to do the things he does in the cage. Stephan Bonnar isn't known for knockout power, of course, but Silva stood still against the cage and dared him to come forward to hit him. Then he let Bonnar hit him. And he moved right back into that spot and let him do it again. That has to mess with a fighter's mind to a ridiculous level when they're pouring on strikes and he's just standing there with his hands down. Then to essentially throw Bonnar to the side with that trip, bounce him off the cage and perfectly time that ridiculous knee to the body was insane. He's just capable of doing things no one else can duplicate right now. It's incredible.

--Nogueira returning for the first time since having his arm broken, and doing so in front of his hometown crowd, made for a fun atmosphere even though Dave Herman didn't have anything to offer him. Nogueira walked through what few strikes he was hit with, and though Herman landed a couple of trip takedowns, he didn't have much from there. And his "jiu jitsu doesn't work on me" comments finally came back to him as it was always going to, it just so happened to be against one of the best submission fighters the heavyweight division's ever seen. Nogueira was understandably out of shape, as he wasn't scheduled for a fight at all before stepping up last month when the injuries hit this card, so I'm not holding it against him. He's still got some fights left in the tank, and this was a good way to give the hometown crowd something to cheer for. Also, it was a touching moment to see Silva's reaction after the fight from the locker room, as well as the embrace they shared during his walkout.

--I love the sport of mixed martial arts, and I know the brutality that can go into it at times, but I don't ever again need to see a beating the likes of which Glover Teixeira delivered to Fabio Maldonado. Obviously Maldonado is an extremely tough fighter who didn't want to quit in that fight, but he got absolutely destroyed for an extended period of time, and when it gets to a certain stage it's up to the referee, the cageside doctors, or the fighter's corner to put an end to things. Ultimately that's what the doctors did, but the fight should have been stopped when Maldonado could barely stand against the cage in the first round following the sustained beating. He was risking serious, serious damage with that fight continuing, and though he wasn't beaten quite to the same level in the second round, it was five more minutes of punches to the head after having his head smashed over and over again in the first round. He's got a ridiculous ability to take punishment like that and keep fighting, but it's not healthy, and it's certainly not enjoyable to see it happen to that extent.

--For those who remain Jon Fitch haters, he showed in the third round of his fight with Erick Silva just how fantastically dangerous he can be with his top control game. Sure, some of his fights have been more strategic and not nearly that offensive-minded, but he's one of the best fighters in the 170 lb. division for a reason. He took some good punches from Silva, showed great submission defense in an excellent second round, and beat the holy hell out of the young prospect in the third frame. Unlike the Teixeira fight, his blows weren't being delivered with the same brutality, and though the fight could have been stopped when Silva wasn't defending much, he wasn't at nearly the same risk of damage that we saw in that bout. Fitch is still a very legitimate force at 170 lbs., and a few more fights of that caliber could get him back into contention in the division.

--There's not a ton to say about the Phil Davis-Wagner Prado fight. Davis did exactly what he needed to do in the fight, controlled every aspect of it, and got his second anaconda choke win in the UFC. That gator roll is sweet, and it's the same move he pulled off on Alexander Gustafsson. Davis remains a supremely talented fighter, he's just not quite ready for the elite of the division as the Rashad Evans fight proved in January. Against this level of opponent, however, Davis is going to win every time.

--Finally, Demian Maia got back to his submission game in vicious fashion, bowling through Rick Story in a way Story's never been beaten before. Maia hadn't had a submission win in nearly three years, yet he took Story down, got his back, and severely cranked on his neck until Story had to tap. That was such a brutal visual as well, with Story's nose turning on like a faucet as his head was turned to the side. Maia at welterweight is once again a legitimate threat in the UFC, and he's not going to necessarily run into the same type of stifling wrestlers that halted his momentum in the middleweight division. I can't wait to watch his next fight, which is something I wasn't saying after his January bout with Chris Weidman.

Overall, this was as good of an event as anyone could have expected when they ordered it on Saturday night. The three top fights went as expected, but that didn't make them any less enjoyable. That's doubly so with the main event. Anderson Silva doing what he does is exactly what most hoped to see, and that's what we got out of the fight. It was incredible, and I don't think anyone can be unhappy with what the event provided.