UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami

This is UFC's return to Brazil for the first time since 1998. As you can imagine, they had a lot of hype to brace for and on so many levels they delivered a fantastic card for the Brazilian natives.

In the first fight of the night knockout artist Luiz Cane takes on newcomer Stanislav Nedkov (this guys name gave me no end in trouble trying to remember and pronounce during the fight with my friends for some reason). It's pretty much the slug-fest people have come to expect out of Cane and quickly turns into a one sided beating but don't be fooled because there is one hell of a comeback that left some people, myself included, very surprised.

Now came the fight that I really thought would live up to the hype, for better or worse. I'm a huge Nogueira fan, an absolute classic warrior with extraordinary fights under his belt and always so respectful, and when I heard that he was going up against Brendan Schaub, Ultimate Fighter finalist and just coming off a devastating knockout of Mirko Cro-Cop, I was a little worried. I expected a little more in the ground game considering just how good Nogeuira is but I wasn't left with a boring fight. These two slugged it out, and towards the of the fight I was on edge of my seat with anticipation. Both fighters looked extremely good and I can pleasantly say that this was my favorite fight of the night, and maybe the crowd will agree as they went absolutely nuts for this particular encounter.

Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza wasn't the greatest fight on the main card but it had some very interesting spots. Personally I felt like the fight never really left the first gear but that may only be because of the last few fights.

The co-main event was a rematch from 2007 in what has been one of my favorite fights to date between Mauricio Shogun Rua and Forrest Griffin. Not only did Griffin pull off one of the biggest upsets in the UFC's history these two fighters put on one hell of a show. To say the least, I was pretty excited for this fight. What happened however kinda surprised me, for better or worse. Both fighters looked slightly hesitant to pull the trigger in the early goings, eventually with one deciding to push the pace. Quickly following was a devastating finish, although surprising to me was how quickly it happened. The fight went on to reaffirm some fears I had coming into the fight. Some fans will be happy, others will not; as best as I can put it.

The main event was intriguing because Anderson Silva defended his title against Yushin Okami, the last fighter to hold a victory over Silva. Granted the victory was a disqualification due to an illegal head kick this fight had a lot for both men to prove: for Silva it was a chance to show that the first fight was a fluke and Okami, the chance to prove himself the darkhouse of the middleweight division people had believed him to be for years. Just like the last fight this fight didn't live up to the expectations I had in my head (of course with Silva it's kinda hard to see where those expectations will be put until fight night). I hate to say it but the victor looked completely dominating, so much so that the eventual loser looked like he was being toyed with until the second round TKO. While this can be fun at times I have to admit I couldn't help but scream at my TV for the other fighter to just initiate something instead of dodging and looking awkward in face of the beating.

Overall, this event had a great star value and if you're looking for raucous crowds this is right up there with the Canadian crowd at UFC 83. While not exactly loaded with great back-and-forth fights this is the event to buy if you're looking for knockout after knockout. Surprisingly, there were no submissions but most fans probably won't find much of a problem with that.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  4.0 out of 5 stars