Anderson Silva Retains Title; Liddell Falters Once Again

The UFC’s second trip to Montreal, Canada didn’t fare quite as well as the first trip as the UFC 97 main event left fans severely disappointed.

Reigning UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva retained his title with a decision victory over challenger Thales Leites. The three judges scored the fight 49-46, 48-47 and 50-46 as Silva once again failed to finish an opponent in the fashion we have come to expect from “The Spider.”

From the opening moments of the fight, it became apparent fans weren’t going to see much action as neither fighter threw a single strike for the first minute of the fight, and neither fighter connected with anything of any merit until the final minutes of round one.

By the third round, Leites was content to avoid contact at all costs and fall to his back at any opportunity as they fight continued in similar fashion for the final 15 minutes.

UFC President Dana White wasn’t too pleased with the main event as well.

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“I can honestly tell you that I’ve never put on an event that I was embarrassed to be at until tonight,” White said. “I want to publicly apologize to all the fans.”

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In the co-main event, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddelllost for the forth time in his last five fights. Once again, Liddell was rocked by a punch and collapsed to the mat in what has become regular site for the aging star.

Mauricio Rua looked strong throughout the first round and seems to have regained some of his conditioning that was absent in his last fight against Mark Coleman. “Shogun” was able to utilize some solid leg kicks to keep Liddell of balance and managed to land a lunging left hand late in round one to put the “Iceman” out of action.

One can only assume Liddell will retire after his loss, whether he truly wants to or not. While Liddell can still draw an audience and ticket sales, there simply is no where to place in the current landscape of the light heavyweight division.

Here are the full results from UFC 97: Redemption.

• Anderson Silvadef. Thales Leites via decision
• Mauricio Ruadef. Chuck Liddell via TKO in Rd. 1
• Cheick Kongo def. Antoni Hardonk via TKO in Rd. 2
• Luiz Canedef. Steve Cantwell via decision
• Krzysztof Soszynskidef. Brian Stann via submission in Rd. 1
• Sam Stoutdef. Matt Wiman via decision
• Denis Kangdef. Xavier Foupa-Pokam via decision
• Nate Quarry def. Jason MacDonald via TKO in Rd. 1
• Ed Hermandef. David Louiseau via decision
• Mark Bocekdef. David Bielkheden via submission in Rd. 1
• TJ Grantdef. Ryo Chonan via decision
• Eliot Marshalldef. Vinicius Magalhaes via decision