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UFC 97 Redemption (4/18 Montreal) card line-up
By Zach Arnold | April 18, 2009
Event Results: Sherdog | MMA Weekly | MMA Junkie | AOL Fanhouse | USA Today
PPV, 10 PM EST
Venue: Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Dark matches
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Sam Stout vs. Matt Wiman
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Ryo Chonan vs. TJ Grant
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Mark Bocek vs. David Bielkheden
- Middleweights (185 pounds): David Loiseau vs. Ed Herman
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Jason MacDonald vs. Nate Quarry
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Denis Kang vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam (France)
Main card
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Steve Cantwell vs. Luiz Cane
- Heavyweights (206-265 pounds): Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Shogun
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 61 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Shogun is going to wreck Liddell. I think he has the fire back.
I’m writing this as Shogun is entering the cage…
This is how my Light Heavyweight Rankings look post UFC 97…
1. Rashad Evans
2. Forrest Griffin
3. Quinton Jackson
4. Lyoto Machida
5. Mauricio Rua
6. Keith Jardine
7. Chuck Liddell
8. Luiz Cane
9. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
10. Thiago Silva
I didn’t put Wanderlei Silva in there because he plans to drop to Middleweight. If I were to include him, I would put him at #8. Also, I could understand anybody not ranking Liddell anymore. To me, he is still ranked mostly because a lot of the talent below him hasn’t beaten a high enough level of talent to go above him.
“I’m writing this as Shogun is entering the cage…”
Hmmmm.
Zach, check the stats.
Ed. — He’s right.
Anderson Silva is pathetic. People don’t pay for him to dance and make jokes during a fight.
Leites didn’t even come to fight. Not throwing a punch for 2 minutes at a time and butt scooting multiple times is garbage.
I don’t even care if that is considered fighter bashing. Silva deserves to be bashed.
that crowd just showed how little they know about MMA. Really sad, really uncomfortable. Silva dismantled Tales and impressed the hell out of me. Took no damage, won convincingly. I would say that’s the difference between a smart fan and the latter.
ajax,
I hope you are joking. I know a lot about MMA, and I was yelling at my TV for something to happen.
Anderson Silva had many openings, and instead of going in for the kill, he would play around with creative strikes just because he could. Leitas wouldn’t throw a punch for long stretches. The Leitas would pull guard.
That was Severn/Shamrock 2 type of bad. Even a MMA purest wouldn’t put up with that garbage.
Fighters need to be actively working towards finishing the fight. Look at Lyoto Machida. He is “elusive”, but he is always working towards ending the fight. I have not gotten that sense with Anderson Silva in his last 2 fights. It more like he wants to goof off while people spend money to watch him fight. I hate that.
Trust me, I know YOU know a lot about MMA 45. In truth, I was watching the PPV and playing Street Fighter 4 online at the same time, so the first couple rounds I only half watched. Then I watched the full last 2 and figured Silva would eventually unload….he didn’t. 2 things made me write what I did. The first was the crowd. I can’t help but feel embarrassed for them. I was raised on Pride, and the Japanese always showed the fighters the respect they deserved. The second is, I TRULY don’t believe the fighters are obligated to do anything but win for themselves, their spirituality, their family, and whatever else is important to them. If impressing the crowd isn’t important to Silva, I’m not going to boo him when he’s putting on a perfect fight. He says it is, but his performances tell the truth. He just says it because he’s on the spot.
As I said in the other thread, Anderson Silva is a counter-striker. Some counter-strikers are better than others at adjusting their style and their gameplan when their opponent calls their proverbial bluff and forces them to be the one to come forward. Leites’ gameplan against Silva wasn’t all that different from Cote’s gameplan against Silva, or from Evans’ gameplan against Liddell.
Nothing wrong with winning. Sorry that the short attention span generation can’t enjoy a dominant champion. Maybe next fight he should do a moonsault to make it up to you?
I hope this is a sign that Shogun is back but I didn’t see enough to judge whether he’s back 100%. Chuck is just not the same. A prime Shogun would beat a prime Chuck but the present Chuck is a shell of his former self and the fight ended so early so it’s difficult to judge where Shogun is at.
The problem with the Anderson Silva fight is MATCH-MAKING.
Enough bullshit opponents for Silva like Leites and Cote! Even Henderson, Marquardt and Okami can\’t hang.
I think the UFC has 2 options: Either book a super-fight with GSP or let Silva make a serious run at the LHW title. How about Silva vs Rua?