IN LIGHT OF recent events, things looked pretty bleak for UFC 153 when it was announced that both José Aldo and Quinton Jackson were pulled from the original card due to injury.
Even the most ardent fan must have feared the worst when they heard the news but Anderson Silva stepped in to save the event and while Stephan Bonnar is a somewhat strange choice of opponent for Silva, it should be an entertaining and possibly short main event.
While the Silva-Bonnar fight won’t capture everyone’s imagination, the rest of the card boasts a stellar line-up with a predictably Brazilian flavour mixed with some strong Americans looking to upset the home fans.
Silva strongest betting favourite in UFC history
Stephan Bonnar wasn’t everyone’s first choice for Anderson Silva’s next opponent. He probably wasn’t most people’s tenth choice but Anderson’s decision to accept this fight shows the lure of fighting in front of his own fans.
This will probably be Bonnar’s last fight. He has an unremarkable UFC record of 8-6 and he is coming up against the greatest fighter to step in the hallowed Octagon. It’s not hard to see why “The American Psycho” is un-fancied.
However it’s unfair to say that there is nothing at stake for either fighter. Bonnar has the motivation of ending his career on the ultimate high while Silva gets the chance to cut his teeth against a bigger, stronger opponent once more, allowing him to delve deeper into some skills that we might not necessarily see in his middleweight fights.
For the first time in his career Silva has a range disadvantage, so it will be interesting to see what tactics he employs to counter this as he tries to stay clear of Bonnar’s characteristic brawling style.
While Bonnar is very durable, it is hard to see him being able to stand and take the punishment that the faster and more accurate Silva is likely to hand out and an early stoppage win for Silva looks nailed on.
But one of the joys of watching the UFC is knowing that absolutely anything can happen — remember the GSP-Matt Serra fight at UFC 69? — and some fans would be very happy to see the amiable Bonnar snap Silva’s record winning streak.
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Best of the rest
The rest of the card is very heavily stacked with every fight intriguing in their own right. “Big Nog” will finally get to put the spectre of his horror arm break behind him as he faces Dave Herman.
“Minotauro” is revered, especially in Brazil, so Herman will have his work cut out trying to beat a man with a lot to prove in front of his home fans.
Elsewhere, having won 16 consecutive fights, it’s not hard to see why nobody wanted to fight Glover Teixeira. After “Shogun” Rua and Rashad Evans turned him down, the buck stopped at Fabio Maldonado to try and do what the 16 men before him couldn’t.
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This will be a fast-paced affair and surely is only a matter of time before the BJJ black belt Teixeira takes the fight to the mat and adds another finish to his record to finally announce himself as a genuine contender.
John Fitch wants to get back to the form that saw him challenging for titles when he faces Erick Silva. The “other” Silva has quite an impressive stand-up game that Fitch will look to neutralize with his wrestling. If Fitch can avoid being hit as quickly as he was against Johny Hendricks, then he has a great chance of grinding out another victory.
Phil Davis and Wagner Prado get the chance to actually fight this time after their last bout was stopped due to an inadvertent eye poke while Demian Maia and Rick Story make up the stacked main card.
