UFC 97 is in the books, and I’m happy to say that I was live in person for the event.  I was at the previous event in Montreal, UFC 83, where Georges St. Pierre obliterated Matt Serra to reclaim his Welterweight Title.  This time, the title match pitted UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva vs. challenger Thales Leites.

Unfortunately, there were two disappointments to the evening.  The title fight was a complete clash of styles, which produced a very boring fight for the fans.  Anderson Silva, despite possessing a BJJ Black Belt under the Noguiera brothers, did not wish to engage Leites on the ground.  Leites is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and that is clearly where he wanted the fight.

He kept dropping down to the guard position hoping Silva would get frustrated and follow him down.  However, the strategy did not work as Silva continually kicked at his legs and then let him up.  It was to Silva’s advantage to keep the fight standing as he is a Muay-Thai specialist, and the far better striker of the two.

Silva ended up taking the unanimous decision in one of the most boring fights that the UFC has put on.  Throughout the bout, alternating chants of “GSP!” and “Bullshit!” could be heard.  Unlike many who watched the fight, I do not blame the UFC or the fighters for putting on a slow fight.  Given their relative styles, and each wanting to impose their game, this is what was bound to happen.  Anderson Silva could have been more aggressive, but its hard to do with your opponent flopping down more than an Italian soccer player.  Leites, being the challenger and also wanting this fight on the ground, should have been more aggressive in going for the takedown.  He has nothing to lose!

The second disappointing fight was Ed Herman vs. David Loiseau.  I was really hoping that “The Crow” would have shown some flashes of his old self, but alas it was not to be.  He spent the majority of the fight turtled up on the ground and showed no ability to defend on the ground.  While I do not question his heart as he endured a fifteen minute beating, I question his skills.  I think it would be best for him to take about a year off and work on his takedowns and submission skill set.  By enhancing those with his already significant striking ability (the few hits that he did manage to get on Ed Herman hurt him), he would become a much more complete fighter.

The most entertaining fight of the night came when Chuck Liddell faced Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.  Unfortunately for the Iceman, Rua handed him another devastating loss by knocking him out in the first round.  Liddell is currently pondering retirement, and judging by the post-fight comments by Dana White he may be forced to do so.  Should this fight turn out to be his last, I’m proud to say I was there and would have loved to thank him for all the memories that he has provided.  He has sixteen wins in the Octagon, the most ever.  Most of these wins were by knockout as well.  Like him or hate him, Liddell always shows up to fight and his style virtually guarantees that any fight that he is in will be entertaining.  He is a sure-fire UFC Hall of Fame inductee.

On the opposite side of the Octagon, Shogun looks about as good as he has since his Pride days.  His takedowns were quick, his hands were fast, and his submission game was in good order as he attempted a calf slicer on Liddell that almost caught the Iceman.  I am thinking that his next fight may be a rematch with Forrest Griffin, as he is surely looking for some retribution.  Ultimately, however, there is no lack of challenges at light-heavyweight for Rua, as marquee names such as Franklin, Jackson, Evans, and Machida are all in the division.  A gatekeeper fight against Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine is also a possibility.

Another fight on the card included Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald vs. Nate “Rock” Quarry.  Quarry took this fight early in the first round after acquiring a dominant ground position on MacDonald and opening him up with vicious elbows.  The referee stopped the fight, likely due to the sheer amount of blood that was coming out of MacDonalds forehead.  While MacDonald was still intelligently defending himself, the fact is that the blood was in his eyes obscuring his vision, and there was still two minutes and thirty-three seconds left in the round.  It was a good stoppage.  If there was only thirty seconds left in the round, they likely would have let MacDonald continue.  In this instance it was a case of the referee preventing the fighter from sustaining unnecessary punishment that may end his career prematurely.

As an aside…it is stoppages such as this that showcase the difference between Mixed Martial Arts and Boxing.  Boxers, over the course of a fight, can absorb literally hundreds of punches and a referee will not intervene to save his career.  MMA is different.  If the fighter is not intelligently defending himself, or there is a risk of permanent injury, the fight will be stopped.

Cheik Kongo knocked out Antoni Hardonk with his heavy hands in the second round of their matchup.  Kongo is still learning the ground game but he is slowly getting better.  I would love to see a matchup between Kongo and current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.  It would be billed as King Kong vs. Honky Kong.  Two big boys with dynamite in their fists.  I think that Lesnar would win due to his superior ground and pound, but I would like to see how well his chin holds up after Kongo tagged it a couple of times.

In other fights, Mark Bocek impressed me with his first round submission of David Bielkheden.  It was a textbook rear naked choke, forcing Bielkheden to tap with only three seconds left in the first round.  “The Polish Experiment” Krzysztof Soszynski forced a tapout in the first round of his fight with Brian Stann by using his favorite hold, the Kimura armlock.  In the first fight of the evening, the judges awarded a unanimous decision win to Eliot Marshall over Vinny Magalhaes.  It was roundly criticized by the fans in attendence.  Personally, I’m not sure what fight the judges were watching.  Magalhaes controlled this fight, and was the aggressor throughout.  It is a shining example why fighters want to finish fights rather than put their fate in the hands of the judges.

Other winners included Denis Kang over Professor X (Xavier Foupa-Pokam), T.J. Grant via split decision over Ryo Chonan, Luis Cane over Steve Cantwell, and Sam Stout over Matt Wiman.

All in all it was a great event and I hope to return next year!