UFC Fight NIght 14: “Silva vs. Irvin” sure did end with a bang on Saturday night.
Anderson Silva, making his light heavyweight debut, took just over a minute to dismantle James “The Sandman” Irvin. “The Spider” landed a perfectly placed overhand right to counter a kick by Irvin. Irvin was dropped immediately and had no chance to recover against a finisher the caliber of the Brazilian.
If there were any doubts before on whether he was too small for light heavyweight, those have been put to rest. Silva looked huge at 205 pounds. And Irvin was supposed to be the bigger and stronger guy, but that wasn’t the case. It was clear Silva was bigger right from the opening stare down.
One of the other main concerns coming into this fight for Silva was if he would be slower at the heavier weight. From what I saw, if anything, he was faster. James Irvin isn’t the best fighter in the world by any means, but he’s a very tough guy that hits hard and strikes fast.
Silva beat him to every punch and just completely dominated him. That kind of size and speed is so scary. There’s no doubt in my mind that this guy could hold any belt he wanted to.
He continues to impress every time out, and in my opinion, he is the best fighter pound for pound on the planet. Fedor Emelianenko was more than impressive tonight as well, but Anderson Silva’s name belongs right there next to his.
They’re the two best fighters in the world and there isn’t much doubt about it. For me, Fedor vs. The Spider will be taking over as the fight I’d like to see most … even though that probably won’t ever happen. I can’t even call them number one and number two. Calling either of these guys number two would be an insult.
Brandon Vera also made his debut at light heavyweight. He was expected to walk right through Reese Andy, but the IFL veteran proved to be formidable. He took a lot of punishment from Vera and kept coming forward.
By the third round both guys were gassed. Maybe it had something to do with the weight cut for Vera, but he came in weighing under the 205 limit and looked like he was in great shape. I think it was just a tougher fight than he expected. Light heavyweight is a great weight class for him.
Despite not getting the finish, I was still impressed. His Muay Thai was crisp throughout the fight. He tied Andy up multiple times with that clinch and landed numerous damaging knees. He also landed some nasty body kicks — a couple of which put Andy on the mat.
He didn’t get the knockout, but he got the win. And there are some very intriguing match ups out there for him at 205 pounds.
Frankie Edgar got back to business after losing to Gray Maynard a few months ago. He took Hermes Franca down time and time again and controlled most of the fight en route to earning a unanimous decision.
His gameplan was identical to the one he used against Spencer Fisher in victory. Frank Edgar is a top lightweight in the UFC. What that says about Gray Maynard, I don’t know, but Frank Edgar can scrap with anybody.
CB Dollaway slapped what Joe Rogan referred to as a “Peruvian Necktie” on Jesse Taylor in the first round of their fight. I’m sure it will win submission of the night (it did). It was nasty and came out of nowhere when it seemed like Jesse had a good position.
CB needed to prove he was at least the second best fighter to come from this season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and I think he did that.
The welterweight match between Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Kevin Burns ended with some controversy. Near the end of the back and forth war, Johnson took a nasty finger to the eye. It looked at first like Burns connected on a big uppercut that knocked Johnson out, but replays showed the eye rake, and the whiff on the follow up uppercut.
In all fairness to Burns — because he fought great — Anthony Johnson was robbed.
In the last main card fight, Cain Velesquez made short work of Jake O’Brien. He trapped his arms and landed numerous unanswered strikes. Once the ref knew O’Brien had no chance to get out, he had to stop the fight. He remains undefeated (4-0) now with two wins in the UFC.
O’Brien was known as one of the tougher heavyweights after beating Heath Herring last year, but this is two losses in a row for him. He’ll need to step up his game to keep his job in the UFC.
All in all this was a solid event for the UFC, capped off by another legendary performance from Anderson Silva. They put this card together on short notice, and I didn’t mind missing the Affliction card for it. Of course, I was able to catch the Affliction main event right after the UFC and am on my way to watch the rest right after I submit this. Plus DREAM 5 tomorrow night.
What a weekend.
106 Comments »
Great recap mania.
calling FEDOR number 2 would def be an insult! lets not forget FEDOR still…let me repeat that, still hasnt lost! FEDOR stuck it to the doubters last night. The only reason he stopped being number 1 is because he hadnt fought so he got dropped out of contention by all the lame pound for pound lists out there. silva is rightfully number 2 but you cant compare james irvin to an opponent like tim. ALL HAIL KING FEDOR.
All Hail King Fedor!!!!!!!!
My recab of UFN:
Spider did what the spider does, Knock dudes the F out…Quickly! Anderson is naturally a LHW and has had success fighting at that weight in the past, so I dont know what gave some of you fans the idea that Irvin deserved to be in the cage with Anderson Last night…..(Mexicutioner) That proved to be a big mistake!
Vallasquez was extremely impressive last night. He has some really solid wrestling and his trainers said he is a k-1 level striker so watch out for this Kat, because he has shown a lot of potential in a division that is starving for talent!
Vera’s Muy Tai looked really crisp, but you can tell that the weight cut affected him. It was his first weight cut in years, so I understand. Each time it well get easier and easier for him. It was an uneventful fight because his gameplan was to counter punch and I understand that because Reese is a phenominal wrestler who’s only chance at winning was to take Vera down. If Vera would have went into attack mode, he would be much easier for Reese to take down….stylistically this match up was doomed from the start. Its just a perfect example of why Wrestler vs. Striker match up sucks when the wrestler isnt well rounded! All non well rounded wrestlers should be banned from the UFC because I hate them all!
Rumble got Robbed. Mazzagatii is TRASH and should be fired or they should review instant replays in situations like that before making final decisions. why not? All sport use instant replays. Since you have the technology that will allow you to be accurate, we might as well start using it or fighters that bust their ass training and fighting will continue to be robbed out of wins….I feel bad for Rumble.
Edgar impressed me, Franca showed tuns of ring rust after not fighting for an entire year.
cB’s peruvian necktie was amazing!
FEDOR IS THE BEST HW MMA HAS EVER SEEN!!!!
to add really quickly, how about Rory Markham’s KO over Brodie Farber? Last week I predicted that to win fight of the night, especially if Farber brought it to Markham. He did, and he paid the price. If that fight was any bit longer than 1.5 minutes, than I think it would have won fight of the night.
That could be KO of the year right there and I ain’t heard a peep about it.
Brodie thought he had him rocked, after hitting him clean with about 25 shots, and he chased Markham down, only to get head kicked out cold. Great ending to a great night of action, outside of Brandon Vera’s snoozer.
Also, Mazzagatti F’d up my parlay!!!!
Whenever he shaves that moustache off, he F’s something up.
he effed up mine too
Yeah, he messed up my parlay as well, but I had Franca on the other end so it didnt even matter. I hit a bunch of parlays last night!
Thanks Fedor, for the good luck you bring, to us gamblers of the sport. PLease guide us to more Ws, and our support and praises for you shall never falter. This we ask thru the gods of MMA…..Amen…
VM, I don’t know if Markham vs Farber would have been fight of the night, but it could qualify as ko of the year. Markham was getting beaten like he owed Farber money until he pulled that kick out of absolutely nowhere! Wow, looks like he dislocated Farber’s jaw. Up until that point he was doing an amazing impersonation of Kalib Starnes.
not an insult just a matter of opinion. I think saying Anderson is 1# has value considering he just walks through his competition…. then again Fedor does the samething… the way he destroyed Tim was unreal…. again either way both fighters are just bananas right now…. BJ and GSP are a step behind.
Am I the only one disappointed with tonight’s fights? I literally fell asleep at one point watching Affliction (7 o clock here), I didn’t care for the grainy 70’s picture, the ring, mega death and decisions. I don’t mind decisions, but boring ones? Rothwell is not even close to top 10, vera looked like shit, babalu falling out of the ring and the dirty feeling I got at the end of the night. I absolutely take nothing away from Fedor, but the choke was weak, and right away they hyped the Randy fight. I personally would rather see Fedor/Arlovski! Spider looked good, but what did you expect?
Kevin: u r never happy! whats new?
lol this is the first time I think I ever complained. The last ppv, all you guys thought it sucked, I defended it. you’re mistaken John, I always go away happy!!!
I thought Fedor looked great, but I agree that the chocke looked a bit Severnish.
Its ok for us to say EliteXC gets rigged. But Affliction that is barley starting up, and is going to loose alot of money to begin with, we are not supposed to think it was rigged??? I’ve seen Tim get his forearm broke and not tap. So (MAYBE) Tim gets paid under the table, Fedor wins and they started the Randy/Fedor next.
you must be lonely Kevin, that’s why you got bored and fell asleep.
yeah, the first 5 matches for affliction were so exciting!! LOL the most exciting fight was Arlovski beating up an overrated opponent. Rothwell is a big guy that can take a punch. Who has he fought in the IFL or elsewhere that makes him top 10?
Thats why I set 2 TV’s up in one room!
I hope they fix the outcome of the fight for AJ. Although rooting for burns, who clearly came prepared to fight and put on a great fight, its undisputable that Johnson was the better man. Johnson was initially surpised by the crisp strikes and gamesmanship of burns, but adapted his gameplan, and took Burns down with ease. While unable to do any major damage from the top, the points he receives from the take downs, along with his silght edge from the striking, made him the clear victor.
HERE IS A RECAP…YOU GOT KTFO MAN!!!!
Well said.
what fight did you see brandon vera in? that must have been another one because in this one he looked sloppier that tim sylvia and a medium level fighter at best.
that fight was ugly.
give the man credit the weight cut had to suck bro, i expected that kinda but it did suck his next fight has to be better or i say can him and his 200k per fight salary
Definately the most boring fight of the night. I undestand the weight cut may have hurt him a bit, but the Vera that fought last night would have been desimated by many of the top lhw competitors.
EXCUSES!!!! excuses excuses, is that all Brandon Vera has now??? He has an excuse for everything. The weight cutting excuse is bullsh!t, hes not that big of a HW so he didnt have to cut alot.
Agreed. Forrest is naturally bigger and has a larger cut than Vera. The cut may have affected him into the third round but he was putting me to sleep by the end of the first.
Why hasn’t the Johnson decision been over turned? You can’t kick someone in the junk and have it be a TKO! Why should this be any different? Burns disobeyed NHB rule #1: NO EYE GOUGING!!
The def did not deem it to be a intentional eye gouge, so could not DQ burns. Johnson had 5mins to recover, said that he could not continue so the fight was given to Burns.
I think/hope this result will be overturned to a no contest.
How many times can you poke someone in the eye with an open-handed jab before it stops being accidental? To give a guy a TKO win because he incapacitated his opponent with numerous illegal strikes is absolutely laughable. Johnson was dominating the fight to that point and would have won an easy decision. Dana knows that and will undoubtedly make it right with Johnson from a financial standpoint. But somebody needs to make The Moustache publicly answer for this and explain what the hell he was thinking.
Bruce Buffer: And the winner by tap out due to a Moe Howard Special — Kevin “Pokey” Burns.
Yeah “Reno 911 Mazagatti” needs to be fired or something. Now every dirty fighter who thinks he’s behind will rely on these tactics to maybe pull off a win. Burns needed to be DQ’d and thats that. I realy don’t want to sound this way but it is very very hard to ignore the fact that to black guys get robbed in two consecutive events. WTF is up Mr. White!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I assume you’re referring to Rampage. His situation and what happened last night are not even comparable. All three judges saw Forrest outwork Rampage over 5 rounds and ruled accordingly (and correctly IMO). Forrest did not benefit from repeated illegal shots, a bad stoppage, a restart from a dominant position or any other referee error. Rampage lost, move on.
Agreed. Rampage was not robbed, just beaten. It was a close fight, but having to destroy the champ to take his belt is bullshit.
The labelling of “illegal” strikes rather than “incidental” is gross exaggeration. I liked his use of the palm strikes as it is an effective attack and don’t think Burns is cheap or dirty. They could, however, have been cleaned up and this def’ should have been a No Decison. I do hope after seeing how Rumble performed we can stop hearing how AJ is coming for GSP and that he is (in my best Goldy) on a meteoric rise and the next top WW.
So are all illegal moves now going to be allowed in the UFC?
Next time - if the eye gouge doesn’t work - just kick the guy in the groin, then when he falls down because of it - kick him in the head. I mean if you don’t disqualify Burns for the eye poke - why not just break all the rules? Come on UFC judges - and refs - do what is right and reverse this call. If not, I think Johnson should get a bull dog lawyer and sue the UFC for being crooked.
Anthony Johnson needs to protect his legal rights ‘groin area’ cause the UFC sure ain’t doing it.
I really hope Rumble files an appeal or somesuch to the NSAC. With all the bad calls of late, this is probably the only one that could and should be overturned. It’s so clear that it’s shoud’ve been a DQ, and they can even save face for the ref formerly known as pornstache because, even though he was in good position, there’s no way he could’ve been sure that there was an eye poke from where he was standing (although, he probably could’ve looked up at the ol’ jumbotron after he stopped the fight).
…And why does ufc.com have this fight down as a unanimous decision?
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=EventDetail.FightCard&eid=1485&ShowResults=1
I swear they announced it as a TKO at about 3:35 in round 3.
i think what they did was since it was more then halfway through went to the scorecards but the announcer had a different cue going on..
That whole fight was made a mess. Rumble was very humble, and the fact that he took being robbed so well actually made me like him more. He was a bit too cocky when he beat Tommy Spears, but made up for it this time. I do think they need to overturn the decision, although I don’t think Burns poked him on purpose.
Hard to judge his debut at 205 when it lasted less than a minute.
But needless to say, he should pursue 205 in the future.
Vera looked terrible and I can’t see him being very marketable in the future unless he improves his cardio. Or did he break his hand again?
Biggest highlights of UFN14: Frankie Edgars dominant transition and active strikes in the guard, Cain Velesquez’s entire performance and Anderson Silva.
Well even though the Spider made it look easy, Irvin would be tuff for any LHW. So after seeing Anderson, I think he should stay at LHW.
also frankie edgar should stop implementing over and over the lay and pray technique.
I want to see real fighter who finish fights, like kenflo, anderson silva, thiago silva, roger huerta, koscheck, alves..
the kinds of sherk, parysian, forrest griffin, tim sylvia should pick another business.
koscheck and griffin finish fights? and karo wins? what fights are you watching i think forrest last finished a guy when it was shogun and he almost ran out of time
oh gosh.. I am not american but it doesn’t seem that difficult to read what I write.
I think the fact that you scorn the lay and pray then praised Koscheck and said he finished fights is what confused him the rest of your statement. I am also shaking my head at that garble.
that was a hell of a fight whatever you call it…
Let’s see Fedor vs Barnett, Silva vs Henderson at 205, GSP vs BJ Penn, and Randy Couture vs honoring his contract.
The UFC event was way, way better. The Affliction fights were mostly lopsided and boring, as we kinda knew they would be. The bright spots were AA getting back to his top form and not fighting with The Suck all over him, and of course Fedor proving so many of us (me too) wrong.
The UFC put on a show that was better produced, free, with more quality matchups, and on short notice. Let’s all hold off on the “now the UFC has some legit competition” for a bit.
I think this show also continues to demonstrate that the UFC was right to let go of some of the heavyweights we’ve seen them get criticized for cutting. An big name doing boring fights is not better than new guys having good fights. Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar, and more have me as excited about the HW division in the UFC as ever.
yeah i watched the free affliction stuff i give goodridge a lot of credit for fighting on 1 nights notice..
but it was lame, fedor didn’t prove much to be but he can beat a shitty fighter in tim sylvia, is an animal but would be to small for the future ufc hw division with velasquez,lesnar,mir etc fighting there
i wouldnt mind barnett being in the ufc though i like that guy
Yet Tim Sylvia has not been owned like that by ANY ufc fighter.. Randy could not finish him, the only guy to finish Sylvia in the last couple of fights was Minitauro (who was losing the fight until he pulled guard) Fedor +!
Fedor too small too fight in the UFC?!? Hong-Man Choi was 7″2 350 lbs. and Fedor armbarred him in less then two minutes. I dont understand why most mma fans cant give Fedor his well deserved title as the world’s P4P best fighter.
I do. Because it doesn’t exist. He hasn’t fought everyone and trying to compare him to GSP and Spyder is pointless. The overall heavyweight competition might be way less than the overall competition of the welterweights, and may be way better than the middleweights. Unless you had lots of fighters under the same banner consistently going up and down in weight classes, there’s no way to compare them other then complete subjective “which style do you like more?”. Figuring out the best P4P is a useless excersize. The real question is “Why bother?” Both are obviously tops.
you do have some valid points. I guess it just irks me how many Fedor haters are out there. Maybe the guy hasnt had the best competion his whole career but thats not his fault.
how long it took for Randy Couture to beat Sylvia? 5 rounds. and how it took for Fedor to beat Sylvia? less than 20 secs. this is only Affliction’s first event, it needs to evolve and UFC’s already evolved, so Affliction still need some time to catch up. why are you critizing Fedor? you only watched the free fights, not ppv or seeing Fedor vs Sylvia. watch it first before you comment.
i mean 30 secs for Fedor to beat Sylvia actually, i was tokin on that mj while watching.
rumble got robbed it was disgusting last night and even though he showed class if i was AJ i woulda been throwing a shit storm in the cage after that
Vera vs Silva needs to happen.
fedor didnt prove much? he doesnt need to prove anything he already has in 29 fights by never loosing a single round excluding that bullshit loss. anyone who bashes fedor is an ametuer MMA fan because u guys clearly dont know much about the sport
Never losing a fight is a phenominal accomplishment. Never losing a round is something words can not describe. I would pay 100 to see Fedor’s next fight. He is just unbelievable to watch.
I have been saying that forever! I too would pay $100 to see Fedor defend his title against Couture, Barnett and Arlovski!
Agreed. Those are all fantastic match-ups. A small part of me wanted Tim to win but for only one reason. It would have killed the Couture-Fedor value that led to the contract nonsense. Then Couture may have gone back with the UFC and re-united the belts. Couture-Big Nog would also be a great match-up but one I think we will never see now.
and his height doesnt matter because he makes up for it with speed and strength
It wasn’t an overhand right. It was a right straight
Thats called a cross. Just like a jab isn’t called a left straight, its called a jab.
Actually it wasn’t a cross, Anderson Silva is a southpaw
Well fine, I suppose A. Silva knocked Irvin out with a jab. Happy?
James, how can u have in the right frame of mind opted to watch UFC FN14 over the Affliction: Banned show? Craziness! With respect to who is the best P4P fighter in the world now there really should be no doubt - Fedor would convincingly beat Anderson.
That’s a joke ya?
You know what pound for pound list means right?
Hahahaha ShaiZ got you bro! Everyone keeps trying to set up a fight between the two thus ignoring the POUND FOR POUND part of it. Last I checked, Spider is tearing it up in two weight classes, Fedor…just one.
i saw both events last night… and i must say that fedor is scary good… the way he took it to tim i was suprised it finished that quick.. Andrie Arlovski was very impressive, that jump knee he gave the other guy wow the fans where jumping off their seats.. .good to see him back to his pitbull self.. as for the UFC… brendon vera really disapointed me, he should stay at 205 and get more used to the cut weight.. but his counter style just wasn’t doing it.. and as for anthony johnson.. say what you want… i totally understand that getting poked in the eye hurts like hell.. BUT the way he fell down and start screaming like his balls got ripped right out was just a way of him getting out of that fight.. even though he was winning all rounds.. Ive seen worser eye pokes and ya you get 5 min of rest time before able to continue.. just look at the Elite Ex card where robbie lawler poked the other guy in his eye.. the guy went down but didn’t scream oh jesus help that hurt..
yea that was pretty dramatic lol
I completely agree with everything you said.Great post!
It was a right cross; not an “over hand right.”
who cares about the technicalities…no one cares
Did you see how huge The Spider looked last night? Well, Fedor is 6′0″ and walks around at 230. Silva is 6′2″ and walks around at 220. Figure it out.
Anderson cherishes his friendsships more than most fighters and has made it clear the 205 division belongs to Lyoto Machida so he won’t be staying there. The next two contenders at 185 are Cote and Okami unless the Axe Murderer moves down. He thrives on being challenged so why not give him the biggest challenge out there?
Brandon “the Sandman” Vera:
Wow, what was that? He literally put me to sleep with his boring fight. He wasn’t aggressive and was just trying to out point his opponent. I wasn’t impressed (albeit it was his first 205 fight)
was it me or did Vera’s physique look even worse at 205 than at heavyweight.. He looked disgusting and it was hard to look at him.
I’m not sure if it looked worse, but it didn’t look better either. Maybe Vera didn’t do any strength training because he didn’t want any more muscle.
The UFC fight was a joke like the knockout kick to the head was pretty cool, but the decision to give the TKO to Burns after he clearly jabbed Kevin Anderson in the eye, like wow could there be a worse call??
Yeah, I can’t believe he did that to Kevin Anderson. But Kevin Anderson was totally classy the way he handled the decision. Still Dana and the UFC should give Kevin Anderson a rematch with Burns or even count it as a win for Kevin Anderson.
If I was booking fights for the UFC Anderson needs to beat Cote first he has been promised a shot and I believe Okami is out for a while so let that fight happen. After that one the fight that I and I bet everyone wants to see is Anderson Silva vs Chuck Liddell if he gets past Rashad. The winner gets the title shot at 205. So let me ask who wouldn’t want to see “The Iceman” vs “The Spider”
The Iceman wouldnt want to see it.
lol ditto
I definitely think Chuck would frown upon that. I would like to see it though. I can’t see how anybody can be completely confident fighting Anderson Silva. The guys just amazing me every time.
Rob Dib
good fight, i think silva had forrest shaking in his boots while he watched irvin get a beating
over all very good card,
vera fight was a borefest dollaway had a very sick sub move i never have seen before
i think cain velasquez will be fighting for the title next year
all i got to say johnson got screwed over in that fight he was dominating burns almost the whole fight minus the first was pretty even but johnson defintaly was boring at sometimes not even doing anythin when he went to the ground but just his striking his abilities to take people to the ground is very good
although kevin burns no one will be able to stop him if he keeps up with his fuckin eyes pokes an the ref or ufc does nothin about it i mean come on
HAA HAA!! IN YOUR FACE SILVA HATERS!! I KNEW IRVIN’S GONNA GET KTFO!!
Wow, I suppose you proved all of us wrong.
Oh wait, we all knew it was gonna happen too.
Whats all the hating between two fighting agencies??! Affliction was good and ufc was good give it a break!! ( there is no doubt however that the ufc hold the high majority of quality fighters over any organisation!! that will be hard to change. All be it Affliction have Fedor!!) IMO the cage wins over the ring also, but it adds arguments to the whole fighting debate, it may just be healthy for the sport??
I for one would love to see the ICEMAN take on the SPIDER, I truly believe if anyone could pose serious problems to silva it would be Liddell!!! However it would be a very exciting and hard to call fight, Liddell offers something that no other fighter on the planet has, patience and bombs to unload with his unique style, Anderson may just find himself on the wrong end of one of those boms!! Anderson however also has a very unique style with the most accurate striking in the game. Would be a great fight!!
Silva is fantastic. He would make easy work of Vera, who put an awfull performance. I can only see Rampage, Liddell and Machida giving him a hard time. He will be undefeated for a real looooooong time now. He looked even scarier at 205. Cote is apparently to be his next opponent. Well, good luck for him because Silva will eat “The Predator” alive. IMO it’s not even fair.
Can I be a lonely voice in saying that I hope Affliction fails completely. More than 1 organisiation means fights can’t happen, end of story. If Fedor had just beaten Silvia in the UFC, we could concievably be looking at a super fight at 205 pounds between Fedor & Silva.