Article Written By: Dillon Nelson
In last night’s UFC event, we saw some unbelievable endings, including the unfortunate injury to former middle weight champion Anderson Silva. There were several knock out finishes along with some great submissions. The night included two title fights with the co-main event being for the women’s bantam weight title putting top contender Miesha “Cupcake” Tate against the champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey. The main event was the much anticipated rematch between middle weight champ Chris Weidman against Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
In the co-main event, Miesha Tate took champ Ronda Rousey somewhere she had never been before, out of the first round. Many speculated whether Rousey had the gas tank to keep going, seeing as she has never needed to, but she showed why she was the champ and brought it to Tate.
The first round started very fast, with both women throwing with intent. Neither fighter looked very good with their boxing, looking more like a street fight. When they went to the ground however, it was another story, with some of the best jiu-jitsu transitions and submission escapes displayed in the cage for some time. Miesha’s game plan was supposed to be keep it standing and pick the champ apart, but she seemed to want to clinch and go for take downs resulting in her being judo tossed several times by the former judo Olympian.
In the second round, it was much of the same thing, with both swinging wildly. Rousey was able to trip Tate and stood above her looking for an opening but ate a few up kicks which seemed to make Rousey wince in pain for awhile but was able to recover and finished the round strong.
The third round was great! Tate attempted a triangle on the champ but Rousey was able to lift her off the mat and escape the submission attempt, but eventually, as has happened in every one of the champion’s fights, she was able to catch Miesha in her patented arm bar and got the tap out. This makes 8 straight wins for her by arm bar, only this one being in the third round unlike the previous 7 first round wins. Rousey refused Tate’s hand when she tried to help her up showing no respect for the challenger at all.
The main event of the night was one of the biggest fights in UFC history, seeing former champ Anderson Silva trying to avenge his only loss in the UFC against the new champion, Chris Weidman. When the fight started, it was very evenly matched with both men seemly trying to figure out the others game plan. After several minutes of striking, they clinched up and Weidman was able to catch Silva with a short right hand to the ear, dropping Silva to the mat. Silva was able to wrap Weidman up and regain composure, while attempting for a triangle. Weidman was then able to land a few elbows and punches, nothing doing much damage.
When they came out for the second round, Silva seemed to pick it up a bit, adding some leg kicks and combos. Silva went for a left roundhouse kick to Weidman, but the champ checked the kick and in doing so snapping Silva’s shin in half!
The former champ fell to the ground in agonizing pain, screaming out and holding his leg. Weidman threw his hands up in victory but immediately went to Silva’s side to try and help. Silva was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, which went successfully and will spend a short time in the hospital. There is speculation if he will ever return to the cage, although for now, it is not very likely.
Also on the card was a big heavyweight contention match between Travis Brown facing Josh Barnett. The fight was very short with them trading a little here and there. Barnett went to a takedown pushing Brown against the cage, but Brown turned his hips and landed several elbow strikes to the side of Barnett’s head knocking him out very quickly. Barnett was barely able to make it to his feet in time for the raising of the winners hand.
The night also saw Ultimate Fighter veteran Chris “The Crippler” Leben against heavy handed Uriah Hall. The fight was like a game of cat and mouse with Leben chasing Hall down, and Hall constantly backing up throwing little punches here and there. There were about 5 seconds left on the clock when Hall caught Leben with a right hand forcing him to the ground. It seemed Leben was able to survive but in between rounds the doctor made a controversial call saying Leben was unable to continue.
After the night had concluded, we had seen a lot of unbelievable sights in the cage. It is looking like champion Rousey will be taking almost no time off taking a fight at UFC 170 against Sara McMann. Cat Zingano is still the number 1 contender for Rousey’s belt but is currently recovering from a knee injury. Rousey will take home a nice bonus winning submission of the night and fight of the night along side Miesha Tate. Travis Brown took home the award for knock out of the night against Barnett.