I really enjoyed the show-boating in the first 2 and a half rounds. Silva looked the genius he was hyped to be, and was doing damage. The 2nd half of the fight was just dire though, one of the worst performances I've seen since Houston Alexander's 'gameplan' against Kimbo. I honestly thought he'd started to suffer with his elbow injury, and was just trying to last out the 5 rounds; but it was worse than that.
However, I've not lost complete respect for the man. I still rate him as the #1 in the world, though Fedor's stock was risen in the past few weeks, what with GSP and Silva's poor performances and BJ's loss. I do still think Silva is the best fighter in the world, and it was just a poor performance. I just hope he puts it right in his next fight, and that this performance doesn't jeapordise the possibilities of a contract extension. Was a very poor fight though, was expecting Anderson to put Maia away quickly after what happened with Leites.
BJ deserved to lose his belt. I thought it was going to go as I predicted after the first 2 rounds, where I had BJ winning both, due to landing more and doing more damage; but in the last 3 rounds something just left BJ. I don't know whether it was the knee, or jet-lag or what but he looked a different fighter, and Edgar took advantage. I'm still in disbelief actually, I just didn't see how Frankie would get it done, but I have to give him props for proving me wrong and getting the win. I had the first 2 rounds to BJ, with the last 3 going to Frankie. Wasn't the most exciting of title fights, but at least it was more entertaining than the fight that followed.
Least we've got another 3 title fights this weekend, thanks to Scott Coker and Strikeforce. Really looking forward to all 3 Main card fights, with Henderson vs Shields, Mousasi vs Lawal and Melendez vs Aoki being 3 genuinely awesome fights. Shame Mayhem's not on the main-card, as I enjoy watching him fight, but the 3 title fights are so awesome that it makes up for the lack of Mayhem.
I would love to see Shields pull out the victory, and then move to the UFC. Strikeforce have paid out a lot of cash to get Henderson on board, with the sole intention of him coming in and taking the belt to give them a genuine big star (though his PPV pulling power in the US could be argued). Shields only has 1 fight left on his deal, and was one of Chuck's assistant coaches on TUF, so I'd love to see him put Henderson away and move over to the UFC to take on GSP.
Mousasi vs Lawal is the fight I'm most looking forward to. Mousasi's another guy I'd love to see in the UFC, so I'm cheering him on in this fight. However, Lawal is a serious threat (the only serious threat left in the SF LHW division). He has massively impressive wrestling credentials, is a real athlete, and seems really pumped for the fight. It's gonna be a great fight.
Aoki is taking the SF belt. Melendez is primarily a ground fighter, and he will not be able to handle the ground game of Aoki. Melendez is massively over-rated, doesn't really have many notable victories, and will be shown up when he takes on his first truely world class opponent. Again, I'd love to see Aoki in the UFC, though the chances of it happening are far slimmer than the chances of seeing Shields and Mousasi move over.
Dana's just announced Silva's next fight.
Cannot wait for this fight. Sonnen's game for a war, has olympic-calibre wrestling and the trash-talk in the build up is going to be magnificent. Really hope he pulls out the win. Sonnen's such a quality bloke. Grown to like him a lot in the last few months, his trash-talk prior to the Marquardt fight was hilarious. War Sonnen!
