UFC 97: Silva vs. Leites Officially Announced
Anderson Silva
The UFC has officially confirmed that the promotion will return to the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada on April 18th for UFC 97: Silva vs. Leites.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (23-4), who is undefeated in eight bouts inside the octagon, meets 185-pound challenger Thales Leites in the evening’s headliner.
Silva captured the title with a first-round knockout of Rich Franklin in late-2006 and has since defended the belt four times with victories over Nate Marquardt, Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, and Patrick Cote. “The Spider” also holds UFC wins over Chris Leben, Travis Lutter, and James Irvin.
After suffering his first professional loss in his UFC debut Leites (14-1) has won five-straight bouts, including recent victories over Nate Marquardt and Drew McFedries.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell returns to action in the UFC 97 co-main event against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
Despite losing three of his last four fights Liddell remains a top draw and is likely to need only one or two wins before earning another opportunity at the title he defended four times between 2005 and 2007. He dropped the title to Quinton Jackson in May 2007 then suffered another loss to Keith Jardine later that year before bouncing back with an exciting unanimous decision of Wandelei Silva in December 2007. He was then slated to meet Rua in the main event of UFC 85 last summer but “Shogun” was forced off the card due to a knee injury then Liddell was also forced to withdraw from the event with a torn hamstring. He returned to the octagon in September and suffered a second-round knockout to current light heavyweight title-holder Rashad Evans.
A highly-regarded PRIDE veteran, Rua debuted in the UFC in September 2007 to high expectations but suffered the third loss of his career to future light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin via third-round submission in one of the biggest upsets in recent history. Injuries and surgery kept “Shogun” out of the octagon until UFC 93 in January, where he scored an unimpressive third-round TKO of 44-year-old UFC hall of famer Mark Coleman.
For the latest UFC 97 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.
Tags: Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Thales Leites
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Here it comes….
“Leites doesn’t deserve a shot. They should give the shot to Nate. He’s the only one with a chance!”
“You mean the same Nate that Leites beat?”
“Shut up, that’s different.”
Oh yeah, I forgot about the nate stuff…glad you beat me to that though.
That was a bull**** call….the only reason he lost was cuz of the point deduction…he wooped leites ass.
It’s a loss. Shut up and quit rationalizing.
This card sucks, Liddell is washed up. Dana needs to give Silva better competition. Leites is a joke, blah blah…
Ok, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, hopefully we can have some intelligent conversation on this topic.
I think Liddell could be able to get back on track in this fight, depending on how Rua comes out. I hope that one of them gets back on track, and I personally am pulling for Liddell, but if Rua does win, he needs to look better than he did against Coleman. When I say get back on track, I don’t mean just win, I mean, look like their former dominant selves.
I think Leites poses a real threat if the fight goes to the ground, and would cause Silva to show how good his BJJ really is, on the feet obviously Silva gets the nod. So, then the question is “Can Leites get this to the ground”? I think the answer is no. I figure a first round KO victory for the Spider, then we’re left wondering “Who’s the next victim?” I don’t believe there is anyone else who has set themselves apart as the clear next in line, and Henderson v. Bisping is still a long ways off. Maybe the time line could be right for GSP to move up and face him, but I don’t really want that to happen. Or maybe Silva can move up and take on a real LHW contender. The third option is that perhaps W. Silva will have made his rumored 185 debut, but I still think he needs to put together a couple wins in the weight class before he gets a shot at the belt.
I wish Victor Belfor or Cung Le would come to ufc and fight Anderson Silva. What about that Japanese dude who was gonna fight him then broke his hand? Gomi was it? Also Damian Miai or GSP should he beat Thiago Alves. Cung Le would have an advantage on the feet how many fighters can say that?
Vitor would be a nice fight, but he needs to put a few wins together and show a commitment to the weight class.
Cung Le hasn’t fought in almost a year, by the time he does fight it will have been over a year. Unless he shows a stronger commitment to fighting, the UFC won’t come calling, though he’s got a lot of skill, and I would like to see him fight Silva, if he shows a commitment to fighting.
The “Japanese dude” is Okami, and I would like to see Silva fight him, because that would allow Silva to avenge a loss, wouldn’t accomplish much else. I forgot about him, and Maia both.
Maia has great BJJ, but I don’t think its enough for Silva, but I also believe that Maia stated he wants another fight before a potential shot at Silva.
once Silva disposes of Leites I would like to see Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia and the winner of that fight the winner of Hendo vs. Bisping….what do yall think…it makes sense right?
When does Machida get his chance?
Wrong weight class. Machida is LHW, Silva is MW. Also, Machida’s chance depends on the outcome of Rampage v. Jardine.
looking forward to seeing chuck back in action again, he was winning the fight against evens before he got caught, so dont no why people think hes washed up, his only bad performance in his last 4 fights has been to jardine, on the others he got fight of the night and got caught by two very good guys, silva leites is a joke fight, i agree with dannyboy on the 185belt,
Ye have little faith in Joe Silva’s matchmaking! Lets keep in mind that Leites knocked Marquardt on his assss in the first round and was winning the whole fight until the illegal knee knocked him out. Lietes has good standup and an even better ground game. This is definitely an interesting fight and Leites could pull of an upset. But am i going to bet against the spider? Hell no! This is also the first colored opponent for silva in the ufc, if that has anything to do with it and anyone cares
Liddell hopefully can take care of Rua unless the iceman gets caught again which seems to be excuse lately for his past losses, but i have faith chuck will tire Rua out by the third round and get the tko.
Maia has Chaell Sonnen to deal with, wouldn’t be surprised if the winner of that fight has to fight the winner of hendo and bisping for numero uno contender
Call me crazy but i think Leites has a very good chance he has fantastic ground game, good stand up obviously not on Silva’s level and a granite chin if Silva is buying in to Dana’s hype ala the Cote fight and think he is the Ali of Mixed Martial Arts then i see Leites giving Silva a hard night.
The PPV overall seems very good to me on paper so far
I’m no Greg Jackson, not by a long shot, but I’ve called some pretty good matches. I picked. GSP over Penn by a landslide, picked Mir over Lesnar, picked Randy over Gabe, Forrest over Rampage, so I’m doing all right. That said, the way to beat The Spider (it seams) is to literally attack. Attack hard, fast and furiously. Take him down, bypassing his superior striking ability. Stay in half-guard to avoid the triangle and armbar, and literally beat the piss out of him. No one, in my opinion, has ever faced Silva saying what Rampage calls, “I’m gonna whoop dat’ ________. Someone needs to have that attitude if they are going to compete against him. Leites might be that guy, but most likely he still has some fear and timidity.
For Chuck, I say he will KO Rua in Round 2, as Rua will tire. He looked awful against Coleman and he won’t out-strike Liddell; if he attacks, Liddell will catch him. Hopefully Chuck has learned to keep his stinkin’ hands up and block some punches. Ultimately, I’m looking for Liddell to get ban to his kickboxing, avoiding Rua’s knees in the clinch and catch him with a straight right to put him down.
But I’ve been wrong before……
um, okay, I’m a grammar whore and I’m on an iPhone. I meant to say “seems” and “back to his kickboxing. Stupid iPhone
I can relate. I’m always pretty hard on myself about spelling and grammar, then I make a few posts from my phone, end up reading them later, and find all the stuff I missed.
i wwanna see silva/okami 2
A.Silva my 3rd fave fighter he is unbelieveble.Leites=KTFO wont pass rd2
Dana White, Joe Silva,
You guys are ****ing idiots. This is a horrible matchup. Leites does not deserve a title shot. If Anderson wins it does not mean anything. Let’s have Anderson fight against someone really good. 100% says if Nate busted up Leites like he did, Leites is gonna get knocked out or tapped out QUICK round1(remember I said this) I can’t beleive this is actually gonna happen. If Anderson is the best ever pound for pound we will never know if he retires after fighting guys like cote and leites, what a ****ing waste.
bigballa,
Watch the bashing.