Forrest Griffin and Anderson Silva Agree To UFC 101 Bout
Forrest Griffin
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (24-4) will return to the light heavyweight division to square off with Forrest Griffin (16-5) in a featured bout at UFC 101 on August 8th in Philadelphia.
Rumors of the matchup had been swirling in recent days, with MMAjunkie confirming on Tuesday that both fighters have now verbally agreed to the fight.
Griffin had been booked to fight fellow top contender Thiago Silva in the UFC 101 co-headliner in a bout that was likely to determine the next challenger for the 205-pound title. Now, however, he’ll take on one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world in Silva, who knocked out James Irvin in just 61-seconds in his light heavyweight debut last July.
The winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Griffin won back-to-back fights over Hector Ramirez and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in 2007 to earn a light heavyweight title shot, then defeated champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via unanimous decision to claim the belt. In his first title defense, Griffin suffered a third-round knockout loss to Rashad Evans and has not fought since after suffering a broken hand that required surgery in the December defeat.
Despite winning nine-straight UFC bouts, the most in the promotion’s history, Silva has been criticized recently after delivering two forgettable performances against Patrick Cote and Thales Leites. Following stoppage victories over Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, and Irvin, Silva’s October matchup with Cote ended in controversy after Cote was unable to continue in the second round following a severe knee injury. Silva returned to action on April 18th in the main event of UFC 97, winning a unanimous decision on the judge’s scorcards that was highly criticized by fans, the media, and even UFC President Dana White for its lack of action as Silva refused to engage Leites on the ground.
In light of Silva’s recent performances and with no standout contenders at 185-pounds, the UFC has turned to Griffin in hopes the pair will slug it out and deliver a “Fight of the Year” candidate that will further Griffin’s status as one of the UFC’s most popular fighters while allowing Silva an opportunity to re-affirm his status as one of the world’s best fighters.
For the latest UFC 101 news check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC 101 archive.
Update: Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports has confirmed with UFC President Dana White that Griffin-Silva has been officially signed.
“Forrest loved the idea and said he’d do it right away, and Anderson told me he would fight anyone I wanted him to fight, no matter who it is,” White said. “So we got the deal.”
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This is why I love the UFC! The fans spoke and they listened! I feel bad for Forrest in this one. Exciting match none the less!!
Should be interesting. I personally hope Forrest can pull this one out, but I’m not sure we won’t see him on his back again like the Rashad fight. It will be interesting to see if he can land any of his massive leg kicks against Anderson. At least the fight won’t be boring, we know that much.
If he ends up on his Back against Silva it will be because of a knockdown rather than a takedown. Rashad caught a body kick and took Forrest down. Forrest does have a really good guard despite what his fight with Rashad showed, but if he gets knocked down from Silva I don’t think he will be in the right frame of mind to defend well, we’ll see. He did a good job recovering from a Rampage knockdown, so maybe?
I agree that this should not be a boring fight, but I think it is a bad fight for Forrest. I know he does well as the underdog, but Forrest wins fights by being the more technical striker, landing more shots in an olympic style boxing match, and landing big leg kicks. I believe that Anderson Silva will be the better boxer and kick boxer. He is going to be faster and more elusive than Forrest, who is a stand in the pocket kind of fighter. Also I just don’t see him landing those leg kicks against Silva. Maybe so, he will have good reach on him, but Silva is SUPER defensive and as Irvin can attest, leg kicks can lead to Silva landing big power shots.
Forrest, in my opinion, should have stuck with Thiago Silva, that fight was extremely winnable.
I thought it was a knockdown in the Rashad fight, either way, Forrest wasn’t “himself” on his back, he was half way to lala land already, then Rashad kept the pressure on and kept hitting him.
It will be hard for Forrest to hit Anderson, for sure, but if he can connect with his leg kicks, it will not be the same outcome as James Irvin’s leg kick. Forrest has some hardcore leg kicks, I think only Pat Barry and a few other people have harder leg kicks than Forrest.
Sure Thiago Silva was a more winnable fight, but if he loses it he goes tumbling down the rankings a loss to Anderson means you just lost to (one of) the pound for pound best fighter(s) in the world… everyone else loses to him, too, it’s okay. Accordingly a win over Anderson means a lot more than a win over Thiago.
Brilliant.
I LOVE IT….someone who wants to bang with Anderson Silva
Something GREAT will happen during this fight…I can’t wait. I love when the UFC brings us a fight like this. The roster is so deep…every headlining fight is a super-fight! This PPV will do great numbers.
This is awesome, finally someone stepped up to fight silva in the light Heavy weight I personally think that people are afraid to fight him due to a very possible loss and would loose there ranking in LHW, but same token if and big if Forest beats Silva this should boost him back near the top 3 I believe, way to stand up Forest, there will be no laying on your back in this one, except for the one that gets KTFO.
What a great matchup dude. One thing i’ve always like about forrest (well except for the ramirez fight) is that he comes after you, he comes in to fight. He isn’t a ****. Having said that, i know this will be an exciting fight and a great test for anderson silva @ 205. Can’t help but wonder what this will actually do for forrest in 205 if he does beat anderson. Maybe he’s trying to do what he did with shogun and get a shortcut to the 205 belt.
What the hell happened to my boy thiago silva? i thought he was fighting forrest.
NOW I CAN BELIEVE IT… THATS WHATS UP… AWESOME MATCH UP. SOMEONE WHO ISNT’ SCARED TO THROW WITH HIM. AND I HOPE ANDERSON COMES OUT LIKE HE HAS BEEN. FOREST WILL EAT HIME WHICH I DOUBT ANDERSON WILL MAKE THAT MISTAKE. BUT SHOULD BE AWESOME. IM SO PUMPED.
NOW THAT THIAGO SILVA ISN’T FIGHTING FORREST I WANNA SEE SHOGAN/THIAGO…
WOW cant wait for this the winner of this fight is realy gonna shake things up a bit. Guess weil be seing tiago fight Rua jardine or Cane, those four guys will likely all fight each other one way or another
Forrest will fight anyone, this is the UFC guarandamnteeing that Anderson Silva won’t “disapoint” again (even tho I don’t think his last two bouts were disapointing but we have beaten that dead horse enough) and it allows him to keep his MW strap, and not have to worry about cutting weight… I’m already excited about this fight… What would it do as far as rankings, well I’m not too sure I personally have Forrest at #4 in the LHW division and with Rashad v Lyoto and then the Champion v Rampage its already looking as tho Griffin would be next, unless ofcorse if Anderson beats him…. now if Rashad retains his title against Lyoto and then the Rashad v Rampage fight happens and perhaps Anderson beats Griffin then defends his title against Maia, will Anderson v LHW Champion then happen? cuz he would have beaten the guy “next in line” with a victory over Griffin? this Anderson Silva v Forrest Griffin fight has a lot going for it imo, and alot rides on Rashad v Lyoto, now again with Silva moving up in weight we also are one step closer to Wanderlei v Anderson (at a catch weight, sorry Justin) especially if Lyoto beats Rashad and becomes the champ I could go on and on and on, about what this fight and the upcoming UFC 98 main event mean to the LHW division, but alas I gots to go, I shall return
If we keep beating this dead horse, maybe Alistair Overeem will eat it.
(I couldn’t help myself.)
Wait a minute…I’m supposed to leave comments like this out of the blue!
GarRule….Hilarious!
Did you say guarandamnteeing….??? Ill have to get out my diction-a-who-zee for that one.
I agree with your analysis (as I usually do), including the comments about Silva’s recent fights not being boring. <– petting the dead horse
I would live to see Machida v. Silva at LHW. Most of you are probably just groaning about that matchup. It would probably go to decision, but for me, its not all about face smashing and KO’s. Sometimes a good defensive fight gives good insight into how to defeat or counter an opponent.
I do love a good face smashing as well, I said “sometimes”.
How many times does it have to be pointed out that Machida v. Silva won’t happen?
More times than have been currently stated.
You may think your crystal ball is flawless but many training partners have ended up fighting one another. Anything can happen. I won’t rule it out until one retires.
Honestly, I had a much better zinger on the original Overeem article, but no one replied. Feel free to look it up…it’s worth it.
I’m rooting for Forrest on this one. If someone is going to beat Silva and beat him for the first time in the octagon, i want it to be Griffin. Forrest is definitely going to be bigger then Silva, but Silva will have a speed and agility advantage. Forrest can come out a hero from this fight if he stops Anderson.
Anderson is a great fighter and definitely has the skills to beat a lot of 205 guys, but i feel he’s going to have a hard time taking out Forrest because Forrest is a well rounded guy who can take punishment and dish out sick combos. Silva also has sick combos, but i feel that forrest’s leg kicks are faster and carry more power than SIlva’s. If Silva gets Forrest into the clinch, it’ll be interesting to see if he can hold it because Forrest also has a good clinch and is bigger than Silva. I don’t see this fight going the distance and i don’t see it going to the ground being that Silva’s problably going to want to silence his critics and Forrest is also going to try to make a statement. SHould be an awesome fight. I personally want Forrest to win, but Silva is “Silva” so it won’t be a walk in the park for either fighter.
If Forrest wins he should get a title shot or Thiago Silva.
Why we forgetting Okami.. or Marquart.. or MIA??? i dont get it.. GSP would be better… but hope forest can win
Marqurdt already lost to him once. Let some one else have a crack at him.
Marquardt I meant.
Prolly because he already beat up 2 out of the 3 guys you mentioned.
He lost to Okami via DQ and I don’t know who MIA is… Maia on the other hand he hasn’t faced… so… he’s only beaten one of the three.
Thats why I chose to say “beat up” instead. Okami was losing that match.
Good point.
Marquardt doesn’t deserve a second chance yet, He had his chance, if he wants another shot he really needs to earn it. If Silva loses to Forrest it’ll hurt his 205 aspirations wich would force him to refocus on 185. The next guy in line is Maia so if Silva loses to FOrrest and beats Maia his next fight should be either the winner of Hendo-Bisping or a superfight with GSP if GSP gets passed Alvez. If Silva defeats Forrest, that would make things interesting because we don’t know if the UFC will want SIlva to make a run at 205 for the title or just go back to defending the 185 belt. So there’s a lot at stake for a lot of guys with these forthcoming fights. If Forrest loses we don’t know what that would mean for him at 205 because Silva is a 185 pounder. Hopefully we can see Wanderlei vs. Anderson or Thiago Silva vs. Anderson Silva. There’s potential for lots of great fights, but Marquardt-Silva 2 is sure not one of them.
Im taking Forrestin this one i think hes going to stay busy and take anderson down alot via clinch to bodylock/trip. Forrest by unanimous decision.
whats with all these people saying
forrest is going to stand with anderson
hes prolly not
anderson by decision,,,,,again…
What in any of Forrest’s past fights would suggest to you that he won’t stand?
I agree. Forrest will stand with Silva. The only fight I can remember Forrest taking to the ground was against Bill Manhood, and Rampage in the 3rd. Forrest will stand with Silva for sure.
I think Forrest has shown he will take the fight wherever. I think he has shown that. That being the reason we keep saying he is so well rounded.
Just look at the shogun fight. They traded takedowns,stikes and submission attempts! That Fight was all over the place..
How about this?…Forrest wins, drops weight, and makes a run at 185. Could he even cut to 185 and be effective?
Forrest is bigger than Randy is, so I don’t see him dropping weight to 185. He already drops a lot to be at 205. He would be sickly like diego at 155 i think =)
Stop it!! Just stop it…
MAN I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS!!! When I started reading I thought it was about Thiago Silva until I read the part of “one of the p4p best fighters” and I had to reread it!!
This is a dream come true.
Fr702 Remember we talked about this when ufc first said the loser of Wandy/Rampage or Forrest/Evans would fight A.Silva was posted!!
We agree’d Griffin would give A. Silva a gooood Fight. Maybe even win…
Given the situation, A. silva wins but man is this a good one.
If A.Silva loses is he still p4p best??
If he loses I think he drops in the p4p rankings, yes.
It would depend on how he lost IMO. If he was crushed. Yes. If it was a close decision, nah, but it would give people more to debate as far as p4p.
He is pushing himself to be a LHW. I dont expect him to take the title. If he does, I think he will have a much more solid claim to best p4p.
People give BJP crap because he lost to GSP. I think fighting in two weight classes really makes a statement for a p4p claim.
The UFC has had Randy and BJP hold titles in 2 weight classes. They are both past prime now, so it looks to me like Silva has stepped up into that p4p arena.
For me to give my p4p title to someone who fights only in 1 weight class, they would have to really show brilliance. I dont see anyone out there that I am ready to say is brilliant yet.
If Silva loses he’s not the best p4p fighter no longer because if he truly is the best p4p fighter he’ll beat Forrest at 205. And i don;t think he can beat Forrest so easily. The best p4p fighter in the world would be a guy who can move from weight class to weight class and dominate,Silva has only beaten Irvin who is no a top contender so i would say if Forrest beats him than he’s not the best p4p fighter, If Silva wins that would mean he just defeated a former 205 champ which would then be a bigger thing, but until he beats a top 205 guy like Griffin, i’m not considering him or anyone else the best p4p fighter IMO
To be honest, I am a little skeptical that Forrest is going to just get right in there and bang with Anderson. In the Hector Ramirez fight, he was constantly back-pedaling the entire fight to eek out a decision. In fact, when Rogan interviewed him in the octogon right after the fight, Forrest even apologized to Hector saying it must have been frustrating fighting a guy who ran from him the whole fight. However, with the whirlwind of controversy over Anderson’s last fight, I think this fight is probably a completely different animal but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Forrest on his bike the entire match. There is a clear precedent in the Ramirez fight.
With that being said, however, and even if this one goes to a decision (which for some reason some people are automatically dissapointed with), I think this one lives up to its hype. A big thank you to Joe Silva for this one.
Great fight. I think Forrest will pick up where Cote left off, then surprise us all by stopping Silva.
But that depends on who will show up: the Forrest we’ve all come to love watching in the Octagon, or has his injury and loss awoken him to the need of a more cerebral approach to MMA. Forrest has the skills to beat anyone, but he’s also cursed with the burden of being a fan favorite who is EXPECTED to put come out of the gate and swing away every single time he steps into the cage, regardless of concern for personal safety.
I think Forrest abandoned his wreckless style after the Jardine KO. He has been a more cerebral fighter in all of his fights since then. He wouldn’t have been able to beat Rampage, or make it to the third against Rashad if all he did was “come out of the gate and swing away”.
Silva’s lackluster performance in his last two fights is out of boredom. He has ripped through the 185 class without a challenge.
I think if he is given a task that will challenge him he will rise to it, and show the same intensity he had when he destroyed Franklin. I’m a huge Forrest fan, so I hate to see it. But I think this is exactly the obstacle Silva needs to get excited about fighting again and Forrest won’t be able to hang with him
Silva referee stoppage in the 2nd.
Silva is also what Forrest needs to get excited and hungry again. Silva did run through the 185 division but 205 is a completely different story. He’s not just going to run through Forrest so easily. Forrest is not James Irvin, FOrrest is the guy who took the title from Rampage who destroyed Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva. Forrest has fought guys just as dangerous as Silva. I know that Silva is a different kind of fighter who doesn’t have many weaknesses,but Forrest will for sure trade with him and Forrest can and problably will be the first guy in the UFC to finish Silva. Forrest is stronger and is dangerous standing and on the mat as is SIlva. Forrest has better cardio and is as much of a intelegent fighter as Silva. Forrest by tko in the 2nd or 3rd
MK4 my friend,
If Forrest TKO’s A. Silva in the 2nd round I will change my logo to a captin America pic, and start all post with “MarvelKnight4 is the Best prediction blogger of ALL TIME!”
But please tell me how you see Forrest TKO’ing A. Silva in 2nd or 3rd round, cause this I gotta hear.
ONLYTRUE1
Marvelknight has a great point. Forrest is a tough dude who poses wayyy more threats to anderson silva then everyone anderson has fought, except for hendo. Griffin is a solid technical striker that will matchup well with anderson’s striking. forrest has great wreslting and grappling (xtreme couture), he’s got some good jitz and that dude is strong and in excellent shape. And…and…he’s not a ****. He’s going to fight smart but he will also push the pace. I don’t need to mention all of silvas strengths cuz there are enough dudes on anderson silvas jock that have already said that i’m just saying that forrest has an awesome chance at finish silva by tko. So i can’t wait to see your captain america avatar dude
I think Forrest’s game most closely resembles Rich Franklin. Big heart, legendary gas tank, similar skillsets on the ground and in the clinch. That does not bode well for Forrest in my opinion. Anderson will be on him in a hurry I am afraid.
What up jazz!
Hey man before I put up the old red white and blue, notice I said 2nd round TKO!!!
I agree Griffin should give A. Silva a not just good but GOOOD fight as I posted already. Dude Forrest when on his game is a beast! But I Need to hear how Forrest is going to TKO ANDERSON SILVA IN THE 2ND…………. TRUE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN….. BUT what makes that possible since 1. Forrest has not TKO’d anyone in the 2nd round since,…since uhh… Ummm,,
FR702 help uhh Justin help… Ohhh that elvis dude…back in 2005!!!!
I have seen him get tko’d by Jardine in the 1st, and 3rd by evans!!
2. When was the last time A. Silva not to be confussed with Wandy silva got posterized or TKO’d in the 2nd round my friend!!
Ohh and Forrest just came off a loss and broken hand. Usually that is not a receipe for tko’ing some one quickly!!
Just my thought homey!!
For the record JAZZOK are you saying griffin TKO’s silva 2nd round SIMPLE YES OR NO WILL DO. SO I CAN CHANGE MY AVATOR to a Sting {or crow} in red white and blue!!!
Most of Griffin’s losses have come via (t)ko, the last person that Griffin (t)ko’d was Elvis Sinosic 10/7/2005 @ UFC 55.. A majority of Griffin’s wins have come via submission……….
STAT’S SON
__________
WOW.This fight came out of left field.Unless Silva finishes Griffin it’s a win/win for forrest and if Griffin wins that’ll shake things up a bit.Can pretty much guarantee that Silva won’t be doing any clowning around in this one.Should be good,can’t wait.
OnlyTrue1
Anderson Silva couldn’t finish Cote. What makes you think that he’s just going to destroy Griffin,the former UFC 205 Champ. Forrest almost put Rampage away,Rampage is one of the only guys who can ko just about anyone and Forrest took the belt from him. Anderson Silva is no doubt a great fighter, but most of the guys that he has put away came into the fight scared and unsure. Franklin(2nd fight),Nate Marquardt,Leites and Irvin. All of theses guys came in scared, the only guy who was not scared of Silva was Hendo and Hendo almost beat him. Anderson Silva tends to intimidate his opponents but when his opponents arn’t afraid,it affects him. Cote didn;t come into the his fight with Silva afraid, which made Silva dance around and think twice about engaging.
I can assure you that Forrest will not be afraid of Silva and will push the pace which will throw Silva off his game and create doubt in his mind and also create openings which Griffin will take advantage of. Silva is not invinsible and he has been finished before. I strongly feel that a lot of guys can beat Silva, he’s always had the luck of his opponents coming in to fight unsure and scared. Forrest is not a knockout artist,but he will finish Silva.
Marvelknight
“you can be my wingman anytime”
MK4 & Jazzok
First let me say I also agree that Forrest gives A. Silva trouble. But I asked earlier tell me how he finishes A. Silva in the 2nd when he HAS NOT finished a fight by TKO since 2005 a lesser than top 10 fighter. Now coming off a loss and broken hand he goes out and KO the p4p king in less than 10 min. SERIOUSLY???
Yes A. Silva can be beaten and stopped, ofcourse, tell me how.
Forrest almost stopped Jackson when??? By leg kicks that he recovered from??? Forrest had Rampage mounted and couldn’t finish the fight!! There is no coulda shoulda woulda in past fights only the fact of what is…
I can say Rampage shoulda won the fight IMO.
BUT He Didn’t.
Rampage almost KO’d Forrest in the 1ST!!
But He Did not KO him.
Rampage almost Ricardo Arona’d Griffin through the floor!!
But he didn’t.
There’s this old saying I love to say “If,-if’s and but’s were cherry and nuts we’d all have a merry christmas!!!
Ohhh Chris Lebeon wasn’t afraid of A.Silva look what happened to him. Henderson either and he got dealt with as well.
I’ve said in the begining before they agree’d to this fight Griffin would give A.Silva a good Fight. I just dont see the KO coming so fast. Well Until I make the Avator Cap or Sting, tell me how is all..
Ok not to get into this great little argument that three of you are having (ofcourse I will, and it is a good argument nice to see it going on, I’m all for it)
Marvel, my friend how did Hendo “almost win” in the fight against Anderson Silva, I mean I’m down with most of what you guys are talking about but com’on, really?
Thx Fr702..
But please give your incite on how Forrest TKO’s Silva in the 2nd round…
I Agree with MK4 and Jazzok alot of the time on their post, but this one is out there.. Much like alot of mine be in my own sick twisted way. but this was toooo good to pass up.
ONLYTRUE 1
Dude come on! Sting?!? Those ridiculous wrestlers sure did mess up “The Crow” and his poetic facade!
ANyways, great point man. I realize that your argument is that forrest is unlikely to TKO silva in the 2nd round. Can’t say that i see him doing that, but hey, it can happen. My point was that griffin has a real chance at not only winning but finishing silva because of all the things i previously mentioned. Forrest isn’t a ****, and he’s not like the other fighters who have faced silva and beaten themselves before they steppd in the octagon with silva. Forrest won’t be uncertain, he won’t be overly cautious and he won’t hella overkill on a “strategy”.
I thought you werent giving forrest a shot at winning just because every dude on here is basicly on silvas jock dude.
I just read an interesting article over on yahoo. Apparently Anderson Silva wants to fight Fedor. While I think there is a 0% chance of that fight ever getting inked and it almost gives me a headache thinking about Fedor and the UFC, I still thought it was very interesting that Anderson wants that fight.
I’m betting that Forrest gets eaten up by Anderson.
this is a sick match up!
forrest griffin can pull this fight off…
if he gets silva to the ground he can bully him and pound his face in…
if they stand up it will be a war!!!!!
if silva does win it will be via sub…he will not knock out forrest..
after that loss to evans i think forrest is going to bounce back and become a beast…
the only think that bothers me about forrest is that he has not defeated a top opponent impressively…other than rua…
that rampage fight was to controversial..
he needs to defeat silva and do so in dramatic fashion…he needs a big win.
OnlyTrue1
1. Silva right now has mind f*ked himself. He feels like he needs to do something amazing on each of his fights which makes him put a lot of pressure on himself, whether or not he admits to it. That’s one of the reason’s he couldn’t finish Leites, i know Leites just sat on his back but still.
2. Forrest has way better cardio than Anderson, we havn’t seen someone really take Anderson to his limits. Forrest is not just going to go in there and dance around like Silva does, he’s going to test his cardio and push the pace on him. We’ll see if he doesn’t gas out.
3.As I pointed out before,most of Silva’s “spectacular” finishes came against guys who came into the fight already knowing that the’re going to lose, they came in scared so Silva just capatilized on they’re cowardly sttitude. When Silva hit Cote with his best shot and saw Cote still standing, he didn’t know what to do but dance.
4. If Forrest take the fight to the ground he’ll finish him. Travis Lutter mounted Silva, dude Lutter mounted him,come on Lutter? If Griffin who is a way better fighter than Lutter mounts Silva it’s over.
That Onlytrue1 is how Griffin can and will tko Silva in the 2nd.
Hendo didn’t almost beat silva but he dominated the 1st round dude. If he kept to his game plan by NOT engaging him in the stand up “who knows”. Forrest will have a fight similar to hendo vs anderson because he won’t run away and he won’t get his ass handed to him like he’s andersons **** like in the 1st minute of the 1st round (irving)
Jazzok
Real quick homey it is not how you start but how you finish.
Even though hendo did well in the ist he didn’t finish him.
2nd round Silva finishes hendo!!
If your in a race you can start out running faster than me all day but if you dont cross the finish line and I do, did it really matter you started out faster???
The old turtle vs the rabbit on ya!!
MK4
Okay I’m laughing but Okay..
So what your saying is {giggle} if Anderson Silva’s Jedi Mind Tricks dont work on people he gets scared, his Light Saber shrinks and he starts dancing.. Hahahahahah the force is strong with you MarvelKnight!!!
Okay okay I’m sorry but you are killing me with the scared pysch out thing. I get your point though.
Okay IMO Leben was no threat to A.Silva on the Ground or Strikes so A.Silva Blasts him.
Rich Franklin No threat to A.Silva on the Ground Only Strikes sooo Being the best Striker A. Silva…….Blasts him..Twice and twice on the nose.
There is no point in even mentioning T. Lutter
Marquardt & Henderson No threat to A.Silva on the Ground maybe better Wrestle’n but that only and not Strikes and Bjj sooo what happens
A.Silva Blast them tooo.
The Cote fight I honestly feel Silva wanted the fight to go into later rounds take some sting off of the legit KO power he does have and then finish or win by UD. Silva does game plan for fights too. And when he did attack Cote had no answers, NONE.
UFC 97 there was too much talk of Silva retire’n wanting bigger fights and more money ohh and “At least a Brazilion keeping the belt” talk .. Leites only chance at wining was to get or Bait silva on the ground a Bjj specialist known for sub’ing other Brazil black belts. Silva played it safe thats all. End of Story still champ. No Mind tricks there.
Dude, seriously, i agree with a lot of what you guys are saying. But anyone imo who knows not only sports, but MMA should be able to acknowledge that there are SEVERAL times where fighters get soo nervous that they get their ass kicked, that fighters get so intimidated that they lose focus, or like i would say it, fighters sometimes go bittch. How many times have we heard “i’m trying to get in his head”.
Also, being a psych in the making (tap on my shoulder), I, imho, believe that anderson silva has HELLA lost his killer instict as a predator and is now not only focusing on winning, beating dudes up, but doing so in a manner that suggests that he still is “the p4p best in the world” I think that’s what marvel was saying dude. It has hella shown in his previous fights. Watch all of his first ufc fights and you’ll see a dude who JUST goes out there to excercise his skills and beat dudes up. Now he’s “anderson silva” who HAS to win by an awesome tko or ko. Know what i mean pimp?
Jazzok
Sorry I thought that was sting!! The avators are small so it’s hard to tell.
I sorta see your point though. I think and IMHO. Silva wants better fights and more money.
Here is Dana White telling Everyone “No Fedor is not The best p4p A. Silva is” and last year just singing his praise.
Silva looks at it like well that being so give me more money, give me the big NAME FIGHTS!! Not the lutters or leiteisessss see I cant even spell his name right shows you what kidda fight contention these guys are in.
A. Silva Killer instinct is there he just needs a fight worth killing for, not a friendly fellow brazilion who wont fight or some half banged up Cote, who beat up his self.
That’s why I love this fight so much Now We Will see Silva back or see him get beat.
Ohh As Rampage said I’m a Fighter whats there to be afraid of. Your getting paid to fight. So if a fighter is afraid maybe they need to dress up in a costume go to the WWE or TNA and call themselves Sting.
RE: “As I pointed out before,most of Silva’s “spectacular” finishes came against guys who came into the fight already knowing that the’re (sic) going to lose.”
If that’s the case, then Chris Leben talked a pretty big game for someone that knew he was going to lose…
Justin,
I said “most” not all of Andersons finishes.
What i meant by “they came in knowing they’re going to lose” is what i said before, Franklin(2nd fight) Nate Marquardt and James Irvin came in unsure and very afraid, that’s what i meant. They never beleived that they could beat Silva, just like Tito never believed he could beat Chuck.
marvel,
Gotcha. Even then I still think it’s a “maybe” because I’m not in those guys’ head. That said the Leben KO was impressive, and choking out Hendo was impressive, and the first Franklin fight was impressive, that’s 3-3 (UFC I can’t speak to how people entered the fight feeling about him prior to UFC, though Murray did take him to a decision, and I’m pretty sure Murray wasn’t afraid of Silva)
Forrest Griffin 16~5~0
Notable wins include:: Rampage Jackson, Shogun Rua, Stephan Bonnar (2x), Jeff Monson
Notable losses include:: Dan Severn, Jeremy Horn, Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine, Rashad Evans
Anderson Silva 24~4~0
Notable wins include:: Thales Leites, Patrick Cote, Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin 2x, Nate Marquardt, Lee Murray, Jeremy Horn, Carlos Newton, Hayato Sakurai
Notable losses include:: Yushin Okami, Ryo Chonan, Daiju Takase, Luiz Azeredo
*side note aka things that make u go hmmm
50% of Anderson’s losses come via sub, 44% of Forrest’s victories come via sub, o ya think about it
well this came out of left field as I thought griffin was going to take on thiago silva. that fight was a no win situation for him. I like forrest as a person, the guy is cool as hell and very humble. he is not the most talented fighter ever, but the guy has incredible heart, doesnt back down, has good skill in striking, wrestling, jitz, takedowns, his leg kicks are insane, and he is a big guy. taller than most 205 guys. one of the reasons I think silva is dominant at 185 is his height/reach advantage. he wont have that against forrest. if forrest wins which I think he will, he needs to work all levels, work the head with jabs, straights, uppercuts, go for an occasional headkick, work the body with body punches and kicks, and definitely use those leg kicks. if forrest focuses on one level of silva he will lose.
if silva wins I see him moving up to 205 fulltime, vacating his 185 title which should start a 4-8 man tourney. there are more lucrative fights at 205 for silva if he beats forrest. this is not a gimme for silva, forrest is very tough and will not back down.
forrest is a top 4 guy at 205 and if he wins it will further prove that, I would like to see this fight headline 101 instead of the crybaby and ken-flo. kenny will destroy bj due to bj being a punk that doesnt like to get challenged. (1 more dollar into justin’s ps3 fund due to bj bashing) after the forrest fight I would like to see silva destroy evans or get ko’d by him. either way I would be happy. rampage-silva is tempting but the new rampage is a danger to silva and I dont think silva and his camp will take that one. I also would not be suprised if silva backs out of this fight as the time gets closer and his camp realizes that forrest is a very tough fighter who has beat rampage, beat who many people considered the top 205 guy in the world in shogun and was beating the reigning 205 champ in evans before evans ko’d him. I know the fight was signed and was announced on the ufc website but it can happen. this fight is a great matchup and I cant wait.
I thinks it’s two dollars for that comment, one for calling him a “the crybaby” and one for “due to bj being a punk that doesnt(sic) like to get challenged.”
what sucks is this fight is only three rounds. I would love to see this as a 5 rounder, forrest has amazing cardio and pushes the pace. he doesnt take time off and noone has really challenged silva so we dont know how is cardio is. silva cant dodge punches and kicks all night from the bigger/aggressive fighter in forrest. fight of the year potential if it goes all 3 rounds.
fr702, dude thanks for the stats, gives better overview of the whole picture. With that said Onlytrue1 i agree with your poiunts. This is how the fight is going to go down:
1st round: Silva will either start off feeling Forrest out or he’ll come in determined to shut everyone up.If he comes in at a slow pace to feel out Forrest it’ll give Forrest time to pick him apart with leg kicks or combos. If Silva tries his combos, Forrest has good defense an can move in and out and has long reach to counter. If however Forrest pushes the pace from the beginning he will put himself in danger being that Silva will be fresh,but if he can survive whatever Silva gives him i know that Silva will gas out in the late 2nd, early 3rd which then Griffin will still be fresh(because of his sick cardio) and take Silva to the mat(the guy has no takedown defense,Leites,Lutter with one arm took him down) and begin to really pressure him into a sub or a tko in the late 2nd or 3rd. That is how i feel the fight is going to go down.
Side note: Great stuff guys, i’m off work so i’m done for the day. Jazzkok thanks for the back up and Onlytrue1 good sh*t dude.
Yeah man anytime!!
I personaly see A. Silva using his sith lord power and using the grip of death to put Forrest to sleep in the 1st via sub.
Yeah I see a war forsure. Forrest can keep it on the ground and grind out a win.
Anderson can Ko Griffin just as easy.
Either way we all win great battle I have been praying for since i first started bloggin here on the Frenzy!!!
I love forrest but uh i think he is over his head a little bit and this is definitly a good fight to get anderson back to his good performances because forrest will most definitly light a fire under anderson its a fantastic match,one that in my opinion just pushed ufc 101 over ufc 100….See now lets see some stupid little keyboard oride nuthuggers complain about the ufc now …who’s puttting on the dream fights in mma!…..the UFC iS! thats who all people ever do is complain about bad ufc cards but when good ones come up they dont have anything to say…..i dont care who thought ufc 93 sucked!…because ufc 94-101 have benn ustopable never has mma had soe many great fights in so little time…I used to be able to wait the month to see a good mma event …now i find myself bitting my nails just having to wait a week or a few days sometimes…..My thirst blood thirst for mma will never be over…i am a real life vampire and mma is my sustinance!
now im actually excited about ufc 101
i guess it’s officially 205 but i’d tell them just show up your best. 203, 211 whatever.
brilliant match making, forrest certainly wont be afraid of anderson silva like many are – i dont mean they are cowards i just mean they think more about how to not get immedialy KO’d rather than – how can i KTFO this lanky dude.
Griff’s got a well rounded high paced game. anderson 7/10 x but we’ll see who’s night it is.
All the talk about being afraid. You guys talk like they see Sagat in street fighter. Hey Maybe they do… If so
Wouldn’t you be afraid of a guy who throws tiger fire balls at you!
Or soaring 10 feet leaps into Tiger upper cuts or Rapid Tiger knee’s at you!!
Joking guys A. Silva reminds me of Sagat on Street Fighter! With out the scar and patch on his eye. Outside of that they are a perfect match.
Maybe GSP will be his Ryu…
Lyoto is Ryu, damn com’on man
LOL!!
Yeah your right my bad. Icouldn’t think of another Karate dude at the time other than Gsp.
Good one Fr good one!!
I think this fight is much more appealing then Forrest vs Thiago. They both have wins over big opponents and both are very technical. Finally a card that im excited to see! I think that theres a few fighters in the LHW Div that have a good chance of taking down Silva, and he is one of them. Im interested to see what else Silva will bring to the table now that he’s training with Rich…
uhhh yea this is not a good match up at all, i have no idea what people are thinking.
1. anderson is way to technical on his feet for forrest, every said tht the only reason forrest had a chance standing against rashad was because he was more technical, foorrest has no power what so ever. he cant ko or tko people. he appeals to the caual mma fan since he puts on a good show. he basically beat a terrible shogun, and stole the title from rampage.
2. I think forrest has onee of the worst chins in the divison, jardine and rashad ko’d him and anderson puts those two to shame in the striking game.
Forrest is going to get knocked out fast, mid round 1 or early round two. forrest is just ruining his career its not even a smart fight for forrest. this is a fight the fans want thts it. anderson fight gsp thts a crazy fight. forrest wait for the winner of the wanderlei silva vs rich franklin fight and fight them tht is a good match up either way.
thiago silva should fight krystof
*that* it’s just an extra touch of a extra button, it’s the a (pinky) its cool to use it
I personally believe tht (oops)this is a good choice for both of these fighters… Griffin has to prove his standing in the UFC LHW division, makes Anderson “bring the fight” and perhaps his killer instinct? Plus if Anderson wins and Lyoto loses Anderson Silva would actually work his way to getting a shot at the LHW title by dispatching Forrest, kinda a fall back plan if you will… If Griffin wins and Lyoto wins then after Lyoto fights Rampage there is a great matchup there… Lyoto v Griffin (payback for BlackHouse) or Rampage v Griffin II this stuff just writes itself, business wise and for the fans this fight makes total sense……
If Griffin does lose, there still is the rematch that Shogun wants (because Griffin DID beat Rua and subbed the hell out of him) and its not like his career would be over, there are numerous fights waiting for Griffin win or lose…
If Anderson Silva lose he still has the MW title to defend and time to start a new “streak” and then people can shhit all over him somemore…
This fight (along with the main event of UFC 98) determine the direction the UFC LHW division goes and quite frankly it is a good decision from all angels imho……….
I concur.
@mike, are you serious in your statement that forrest stole the title from rampage??? did you watch the fight? forrest was the better fighter that night. he won 3 rounds to rampage’s 2, neutralized rampage with leg kicks and take downs. the only thing he didnt do was ko rampage. forrest hopefully will do the same to silva. if this silva-forrest fight were to happen 10 times I see silva winning six. just because you dont ko a guy that doesnt mean you lose the fight. rampage never said the judges screwed him or forrest stole the title, he said forrest beat me. in mma as well as other sports it isnt whos the better fighter/team, its whos the better fighter/team that night/game. examples include the kansas jayhawks beating the memphis tigers for the ncaa title last year, tiger woods losing anytime he loses, matt serra beating gsp, gonzaga beating cro-cop… on and on.
spider vs. iceman is more interesting than this one… not bad, though.
Yeah, well Iceman is retired.
chris what way can forrest win the fight, out of 100 times anderson wins 94 times, forrset is a over hyped fighter which dana white hypes up to make money. yea he puts up a good show but he doesnt beat anyone good i meant he barely beat rampage. but he doesnt finish fights and has a weak chin this is a easy fight for silva its a win win for him. griffin gains nothing from this either he gets knocked out or he beats a true midlle weight. forrest is like the phoeinix suns puts on the good show but..
He beat Rampage… and he beat Shogun… yeah he doesn’t beat anyone good, gotcha.
But Shogun wasn’t the same as he was in PRIDE also the blood messed with Rua’s footing so thats not fair…. He didn’t beat Rampage, there was no 10~8 round and what about the fact that is Rampage knock down Forrest, knockdowns are almost ko’s so they should count the same…. Forrest isn’t a worthy competitor and doesn’t deserve to be in the octagon with Rampage anyways, god…
I’m sorry I blacked out what happend
haha.
“griffin gains nothing from this either he gets knocked out or he beats a true midlle weight”
if he wins i think that he has everything to gain by beating the best p4p fighter in the world. that would be a HUGE statement.
mike, so by beating rampage forrest didnt beat anyone good? so rampage isnt any good? so what if forrest doesnt ko guys? ko’ing guys doesnt make you a great fighter, winning fights against great fighters makes you a great fighter. I seem to remember rampage knocking down forrest but not ko’ing forrest, but forrest doesnt has a weak chin? what kind of chin does chuck have? rampage ko’d chuck.
I think forrest will win this due to the fact that its 3 rounds and silva wont have the time to feel his fighter out the first round where he is just setting up and looking at the angles. if he does that forrest wins the first round. call it 10-9
2nd round silva will might come out more aggressive but forrest should be able to work his kicks and punches with silva looking for 1 punch openings. 2nd round goes to forrest 10-9
now forrest is up 20-18 meaning silva would have to ko forrest or sub him to win the fight, all forrest has to do is take the fight to the ground and do some GnP. 10-9 forrest equals 30-27 forrest UD VICTORY!
I know easier said then done, but thats the way I see the fight going. however I have a scientific approach to this. I will just have forrest and silva fight 10 times in the undisputed video game and see who wins the most. I think it will be 6-4 silva, meaning forrest has a legitimate chance to beat silva. that is very scientific.
I also think that once silva sees that forrest isnt going to back down and will not tire it will screw up silva mentally and make him fight by taking a lot of chances. the 3 rounds will definitely screw with silva. if forrest wins does that make him the P4P champ? he beats the guy that is P4P champ in many peoples eyes, usually when you beat a champ you get their title…
BigChris
“The ps3 Scientific approach” HILARIOUS DOG!!!
The mental aspect of the fight is a part but seriously guys I think anderson has shown he has that part of the game, Yeah he may goof around and dance some but to me that is more of his personality than anything. More of a taunting thing.
If Forrest wins nahh he wont be considered p4p best not just after this fight. Pride’s Legend killer maybe not p4p imo.
Reason: I think when someone is call p4p best it is because of the tremendous amount of skill that person has or possess and uses at will that no one has or can do. Forrest has tremendous Heart, and work ethic. Maybe someday he will become or be considered P4P best.
Unless he KO Anderson with a spinning heel hook or flying uppercut with his elbow or flying knee or something.
In the Yahoo! article, Iole quotes dana as saying he’s bringing in a MW that will blow your mind. Who could that be?
Prove he’s one of the pound for pound best.. thank god.. aSilva has turned into a slacker. You don’t see people asking questions like they do of Silva of other fighters in the p4p ranks becuase those fighters still come out to finish fights not just win. As they should, as should anyone even being considered p4p best.
Forrest is going to leg kick this guy back down to MW. Please.
Take away his normal reach advantage.. give an additional leg kick reach advantage to forrest because of his long ass legs.. add a fighter who has looked tentative and unwilling to engage in his last couple fights.. take away strength advantage in the clinch.. add Forrest’s uncanny ability to beat top ranked fighters using smart game plans..
I personally think this is big big trouble for Anderson. He will get overpowered in the clinch, he going to be constantly pressured.. and he is going to take a lot of damage to his legs.
I’m calling Forrest on this one.. he’s going to **** him up like he did Rampage. Pick that nub apart kthnx.