Two Things We Learned From UFC 117

Earlier this week I wrote about two things that we needed to look for from UFC 117. Now that the event is in the history books here are the two biggest things that I learned from UFC 117. The two most important things I learned from watching UFC 117 were:       

1)      Anderson Silva is THE BEST Fighter In The World 

I know this is not a huge revelation given that he has been ranked at, or near, the top of the pound for pound fighters lists for years. However, tonight he more than proved just how good he is. Silva was being dominated for the first 4 ½ rounds in his bout with Chael Sonnen. Then, Sonnen made one mistake and got caught and Silva made him pay the price. For anyone who watched this fight, Anderson Silva had no business lasting until the fifth round. Sonnen had the ultimate game plan to combat Silva’s quickness, he was able to get him to the ground in every single round. However, Silva never gave in and was able to find one small hole to take advantage and retain the Middleweight Championship. He may never be the big draw that Lesnar or Ortiz or Couture have been but tonight he gained a lot of respect and admiration from the fans throughout the world.

2)      Junior dos Santos is no match for Brock Lesnar

I am getting a little bit ahead of myself because Lesnar still has to beat Cain Velasquez but it’s tough to bet against Lesnar. Presuming that Lesnar retains, the number one contender is Junior dos Santos as a result of his victory of Roy Nelson. Now we can say that Nelson is that good and he was able to take a tremendous beating and stay alive. However, if Junior dos Santos has the same kind of fight against Lesnar that he did against Nelson it will be over before it begins. Lesnar is so quick and so athletic, dos Santos did get the victory tonight and it was clear he was the winner. However, the victory was not the dominating triumph that one would like to see when you are getting ready to go up against the best heavyweight fighter in the world. It could have just been a case where both men knew what was on the line and were looking to take advantage of an opportunity that never came. More likely, neither man had their best stuff and could not land that knockout blow or give that dominating performance. If in fact Lesnar is the one to face dos Santos there would be no doubt about the outcome. I could be wrong and after all this was just one night but neither man in this fight would have been no match for Lesnar.