UFC 101: Bringing a Knife to a Gun Fight

For the fight fans on hand at the Wachovia Center Saturday night, UFC 101 was a night to erase the past.

It’s no question that UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn and middleweight king Anderson Silva have been the subjects of criticism over the past few months, but in a sport where we tend to live so much in emphasizing the present, it takes a night like Saturday to remind us what we’ve known all along.

Silva’s previous encounters with Patrick Cote and Thales Leites left us all questioning his aesthetic appeal. While the bouts themselves left no doubt as to whom the victor was, the way in which the action transpired was very unbecoming of someone who carries the company-promoted moniker of “best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”

In short, Silva looked like he was going through a pair of sparring sessions.

Penn suffered one of the more demoralizing victories in his prolific career when welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre pounded him into a prolonged oblivion for 20 minutes and in the bout’s immediate aftermath, we began questioning his mental toughness and furthermore, his commitment.

Instead of sacking up and getting back in the gym to train for a prospective bout with Kenny Florian, we sat through Penn’s Tour de Humility with “Vasoline-gate.”

But for the casual fan who was burnt out on the notion of the Silva against Cote and Leites, last night’s performance against former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin was as definitive a step towards erasing those memories as the Brazilian could have hoped for.

For the lack of a better term, Griffin brought a knife to a gun fight.

After two fights of ho-hum, lackadaisical, disinterested Silva, I almost forgot that he was capable of such a masterful, virtuoso performance. Everything from his fluttery hands and unpredictable timing to his unparalleled head movement made Silva’s showing against Griffin arguably the top bullet point on his already gaudy UFC resume.

It was a near-harmonious collaboration of events, with Griffin’s status as a top five fighter within the 205-pound division and his personification of blood, sweat, and tears making the dismantling so unexpected.

Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that Griffin was any kind of prohibitive favorite and that there was some wide-open game plan that just eluded the former champ.

Everywhere, it was presumed that if Griffin could get inside and rough Silva up and somehow force the action to the ground, that Forrest could channel Dan Henderson’s lone round of optimism against Silva and eek out a decision victory.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially considering the stylistic differences between Henderson and Griffin. For Forrest to force things to the mat, it requires playing into Silva’s hands and engaging him—a proven recipe for disaster.

For Griffin to close the distance against a fighter as fast and sleek as Silva, it’d be foolhardy to think that Silva’s breathtaking striking accuracy wouldn’t come into play at one time or another.

The stunner of it all was just how easy Silva made this fight look. After watching Griffin go through hell and back with a fighter like Quinton Jackson and even outlast Rashad Evans for two rounds in their clash, Silva basically took his dominance of James Irvin and magnified it by three times, one for each additional minute that he chided Forrest.

Griffin’s always been a fighter lauded for his heart and courage. He’s been the poster boy for that “never say die” tough man that we will cheer until the day his career is over and yet, you almost had to feel sorry for Forrest as he lay sprawled out on the canvas, hands in the air signaling that he wanted no more of what Silva had to offer. And this was after just three minutes.

In fact, I wrote in my last piece that regardless of the outcome, Forrest’s stock would remain intact and that he had nothing to lose. I’m starting to think Griffin could not have strung together a more perfect storm of events to counterpoint my statement.

There are ways to lose in MMA in a demoralizing fashion and still walk out of the cage with your head held high. Take Thiago Alves’ loss to St. Pierre last month, where St. Pierre likened the loss to his defeat to Matt Hughes in 2004 and the learning experience that defeat provided.

It’s been just a couple hours since Kevin Mulhall mercifully stopped the fight and I’m still trying to find a positive spin for the Griffin camp on this one.

Not only was Griffin beaten, he was embarrassed. He was clowned in a manner that few fighters can relate to, as Silva dropped his hands and bobbed his way through every strike Griffin could muster. It got to the point where I almost felt sorry for poor Forrest.

Few things are as frustrating in a fight as the concept of one fighter standing in the pocket, hands down and baiting you to swing at him, and the notion of knowing that no matter what you throw, you can’t hit your opponent.

All the while, Silva backpedalled and threw what was essentially nothing more than a standard off-balance jab, which in turn, crumpled Griffin to the mat.

Now for everyone who lambasted Cote and Leites for their unwillingness to engage, take note that this is probably why they were less than reticent to engage with one of MMA’s finest counter-strikers.

It’s a point that I’ve been making since day one that Griffin-Silva was signed: regardless of what you say about Griffin’s strength and his gritty, in-your-face style, he’s the perfect foil to a counter-puncher like Silva.

His lack of conservatism is tailor-made for someone like Silva and let’s not pretend like the rest of the middleweight division will pursue Silva in the manner that Forrest did.

While more information will be leaked in the coming days, Griffin’s perceived addition of fuel to the fire by sprinting out of the arena afterwards was not without cause.

Word is that Griffin sustained a jaw injury early in the fight and may have possibly dislocated it. Tack on claims that he was unable to hear out of one of his ears and I’m assuming instant medical attention was what Griffin and Co. were bee-lining towards.

Take it for what it was, because Griffin did anything but stick around for the post-fight festivities. As quick as Forrest entered the cage, he was gone in just as much time.

For Silva, the crosshairs now shift to his potential at 205 pounds and namely, a bout with equally elusive champion Lyoto Machida.

Of course, the vaunted training partner hurdle throws an early monkey wrench into any plans for that fight, but when just weeks ago we were salivating as the idea of a super fight with St. Pierre, some will argue that Machida is the more desirable draw for the middleweight champion.

But as the MMA fan often does, let’s live in the present and take in Silva’s performance for the work of art that it was.

The inadvertent contest of one-upmanship between Silva, St. Pierre, and Fedor Emelianenko has been one of the more riveting subplots of the year, and while each fighter has seemingly topped the other in one way or another, you just can’t but wonder how high these three can set the bar.

Emelianenko hasn’t tasted defeat in just under a decade, St. Pierre is so far ahead of his welterweight contemporaries that it’s scary, and Silva has shown the potential to dominate top opposition at multiple weight classes.

It’s just another reason why it’s so great to be a fan of MMA right now.