UFC 126: Live Results of the Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort Card

Ladies and gentlemen, it's finally here!

UFC 126 has arrived and Yours Truly will be bringing you the results of this event, complete with my uncensored analysis of the night's festivities -- all the way up until the fight now perceived by many as possibly the biggest Middleweight title fight in MMA history between Champion Anderson Silva and Challenger Vitor Belfort.

Stay tuned to this Live Blog Slideshow, as it will be updated after each fight with my recap and analysis of the night's happening as they occur.

Trust me when I tell you, tonight could possibly be what everyone's banking on it to be: Arguably the best damn UFC card ever, period!

(Graphics by Nick Caron)

Mike Pierce Vs. Kenny Robertson

Recap:

Round one saw Pierce and Robertson jockey for position, with a very unclear image of who truly took the round, but it appeared as though Robertson might have gotten the worse end of the round.

Pierce certainly proved that thought to be correct as it only took his 29 seconds of round two to send a left hook in Robertson's direction and lay in the ground and pound to the initially-defending Robertson.

Once he started eating some of the rain that Pierce sent down towards the necomer's face, it was the end of the line for the newcomer.

UFC 126 Results: Kyle Kingsbury Puts Ricardo Romero Out Quick

Recap:

This one didn't last long. Kingsbury brought it right to Romero, who was easily finished against the cage and stopped by a ruthless onslaught by Kingsbury.

Romero got himself caught pretty early and couldn't get the fight where he wanted, eventually paying for it in the end.

That kid has a long way to go but the future looks bright for the former TUF 8 Veteran.

UFC 126 Results: Gabe Ruediger Vs. Paul Kelly

Recap:

Kelly put Gabe against the cage early in the first round, which was a common scene in the first round. Ruediger got tagged in the first round but little else happened from either side although Ruediger looked to get pretty hurt himself in that fight.

Round two saw a little bit of the same, but Ruediger looked visibly fatigued, and once Taylor got Ruediger against the cage and laid in a few strikes, one head kick was the proverbial flight of military helicopters that put Godzilla down.

UFC 126: Norifumi Yamamoto Can't Catch Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson

Recap: In a fight that was supposed to mark the debut of Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, it was instead The Mighty Mouse that shone in front of a sold-out crowd in Las Vegas.

From the onset, both men opted to pick their shots, aware of how fast the other could come forward with flurries.

Then, Johnson came with the takedowns.

The whole story of the fight was the takedown ability of Demetrious, who came in with a few shots at a time, but left Kid with zero opportunity to defend any of the takedowns.

To Yamamoto's credit, he was able to avoid the takedown in the later rounds and score a brutal knockdown, but what cost Kid was that aside from the lack of visible takedown defense, Kid also didn't pull the trigger when he had his shot to do so.

Hopefully Kid is able to have one more fight  in the UFC, but judging by the way Antonio McKee got his walking papers, Ki's unfortunate departure seems equally likely.

UFC 126 Results: Chad Mendes Cashes In Against Michihiro Omigawa

Recap:

The first round, much like moments in the previous fight, saw moments in which they picked their moments to strike, but near the end of round one Mendes scored a takedown. This round was difficult to score because while Mendes maintained some top control, Omigawa seemed to get  wrist control while Mendes was in his butterfly guard.

Round 2 had Mendes blast and nearly end Omigawa early, but Medes and Omigawa eventually clinched up against the cage . In the later part of the round Omigawa started to ge the better of the exchanges, but Mendes got himself a takedown and hugged out the rest of the round.

THe replay in between rounds two and three show a nice elbow cut  Michi open but it was't enough to stop it early.

Michi and Mendes strike to kick off the round, but Mendes gets control of the top position once again. Mendes delivers a few body shots on the ground, but they stand up and trade a few short shots.

One of the last takedowns Mendes got in round three took a bit of difficulty to execute -- a sign of fatigue, but Mendes was able to hold Mendes down and deliver a feew brutal shots. I looked up to see a crew of  guys wipe blood off of Michi's face but the fight goes to Money Mendes by Unanimous decision.

Dominating performance, but Michi is no joke.

UFC 126 Results: Donald Cerrone Chokes Paul Kelly Out In Round 2

Recap:

Cerrone gets a takedown out of the gate and Kelly goes for a guillotine, but Cerrone gets out of it. Main takeaway from round one if that it seemed like Kelly was getting the better of the stand up and the fight was in his aggressive, brawling style.

Cerrone showed nice head movement but was on his bike a few times a few times this round Cerrone also landed a good head kick  and got another takedown, but Kelly trapped the arm, leaving Cerrone unable to transition from half guard and left to battle fromm that position until the end of the round.

Round one goes to Cerrone for the takedowns, and because he cut Kelly open.

That;s what happens when you try to knock him out in the first second.

Round two is where the end comes , as the striking was more technical -- the way Cerrone wanted and needed it -- and Serrone was able to get Kelly on the ground, use his Jiu-Jitsu, and sink in a nice rear naked choke for the victory in the last two minutes of the fight.

UFC 126 Results: Miguel Angel Torres Outstrikes Antonio Banuelos

Recap:

The Pit Master was in Banuelos'  corner for this one, as he is for any fight with any member of his team.

Torres has a 76-inch reach over Antonio's 63-inch. Surprised?

They started off a bit slow, but the striking of both did show faintly in this fight's beginning seconds.

The crowd not booing the patience shown by both guys, which is a welcome change,  but it didn't make this round any easier to score.

If I had to, I'd say that was about even, a 10-9 for Torres if I had to give it to someone.

Miguel landed the cleaner shots in round two's opening, and not even small exchanges are immune to the boos f the crowd, which is surprising to me just because they're Bantamweights.

That tells you something.

Banuelos was just unable to close the distance here, but he did land a nice hook in this round, and it might have earned him the round, or it might not have.

It was surprising to see that Torres didn't try to take it to the ground in the first  two rounds, and it was surprising to see that Torres didn't take Banuelos to the ground, though he did damage him a little bit with a few shots and a kick that connected with the right elbow.

Banuelos' face seemed a bit bloodied but it wasn't a wild back-and-forth affair like some expected.

Torres wins it with 30-27 as the score on all three judges' cards, and I'm sure some people officially don't like Torres now.

Excuse the hell out of him for fighting smart.

UFC 126 Results: Jake Ellenberger Edges Carlos Eduardo Rocha

Recap:

As tough as Ellenberger is on the ground, he said he wanted to show Rocha that he does have some extremely painful stand-up.

Everything except the height was virtually identical -- but the opening seconds didn't show it.

Ellenberger took the fight to the ground for a brief moment, but could do little with the takedown.

Eventually Rocha got on top of Ellenberger, and although it looked like inappropriate lay and pray in the North-South position, it started as a hunt for a kimura and wound up back on the feet.

Ellenberger showed some good stand-up , but the story of round one was the BJJ of Rocha, who won the round on my scorecard.

Rocha showed a nice leg kick but seems to turtle when Ellenberger brought on the offense to the BJJ ace.

The second round had to go to Ellenberger because it didn't hit the ground until the last twenty seconds when Jake took it there, and even there, it looked like Rocha did more with the remainder of time on the clock..

I had it 1-1 by the third round, and if you can win a round by punching air,  then Ellenberger won round three. The true offense from Ellenberger came at round three's end from Jake, but it's 29-28 on my card in what could be the fight where Rocha loses his "0".

He did by a split decision, but you have to have a personal grudge against Ellenberger in order to say he lost that entire fight (although Rocha showed great BJJ)

UFC 126 Results: UFC 128 Officially Shogun Vs... BONES?!

Recap:

The man with the longest reach in recordable MMA history was only a pound heavier than his undefeated foe, but did his "0" finally go?

It technically did against Hamill, but many disputed the call.

Jones was the one that took the fight to the ground and nearly got a North-South Choke out of it, but it didn't happen for him.

Bones got the best of the TD's on Darth Bader, and adding on to Bones' case for winning the round was a wicked head kick that put Bader in a bad spot.

CB Dollaway says "Put your f**king hands on him" to Bader, but in round two, Bones is pulling out a flying kick and a Superman Elbow on Bader, and that's enough to put Bader in "WTF do I do now?" mode.

Bader tried for a clinch, but couldn't get anything off on him.

Meanwhile, Jones got himself a takedown and scored what could've been a Power Guillotine (aka The Over-Under Choke) on Bader for the tap.

From my eyes, it looked like a Power Guilllotine, but whatever it is, it got Bader to let go of his precious "0".

Breaking news from this LB: Rashad Evans was injured, and Bones gets  the shot at the toughest fight of his career against The Champ himself!

UFC 126 Results: Forrest Griffin Gets The Nod Over Rich Franklin

For the unrecognized UFC People's Championship

Recap:

Griffin broke the circle cycle by getting a takedown early, which  followed a transition to half guard, but the majority of the fight was spent with Forrest in Franklin's guard. The body shots and the shots to the head are evident, and the crowd applauds as they sense this is a 10-9 round for the former Light Heavyweight Champion.

Round to showed the standup that both posses, and it showed a nice takedown by Forrest, but the round went to whoever the fans thought got the better of these brief yet entertaining exchanges.

Seemed to be a fair assessment at the time that Franklin won the second round, so this one was 1-1 before round three.

Franklin and Griffin exchange again, and Franklin looks as though he's the bit more fatigued. 

Perhaps the judges could tell much better if Forrest was getting the better of the shots, but in any event two more takedowns come from Forrest with a scramble in between both takedowns.

They finished strong with an exchange, and that was all she wrote.

Some may dispute the call, but Forrest Griffin is back -- like it or not.

UFC 126 Results: Anderson Silva -- NOT Vitor Belfort -- Shocks The World By KO

The Spider. The Phenom. The UFC Middleweight Championship.

Recap:

Was it a shocker?

Some might say so, depending on your bias, but it really did happen.

Would I? In some respect, yes, but the man who won has the ability to pull out the win by KO -- nobody ever disputed it, not even me.

I had my doubts, but I applaud the man who won tonight.

Who was it?

It wasn't Vitor Belfort.

What happened?

The champ had the reach coming in to this fight, but Vitor had youth.

The staredown was a bit intense, even though they bowed to each other.

They started off with the killer instinct shown in their eyes, but no shots thrown early on -- unsurprising.

Belfort throws the first shot in the form of a kick.

The pace intensified and it only increased the tension before Vitor finally tagged him.

The fight almost hit the ground but in major WTF fashion, Silva got a left front kick in and only delivered one right and one left -- in that order -- to shock the world and get the KO over the ONE man in MMA that could have knocked him out.

ISilva did prove one sure thing here tonight, even more so than the fact that he can crack the jaw of a solid striker:

Anderson Silva proved that 13 is no longer an unlucky number.