With UFC 97 over and done with, I am here to give my thoughts on what was a pretty solid event. I only went 7-5 on my picks, so I'm sorry for anyone that went with my picks for bets, this is the worse I have done on a card since I started making picks. We didn't get to see any prelims other than Stout/Wiman, so I will give quick results for the preliminary bouts.
Stout defeats Wiman via decision
TJ Grant defeats Ryo Chonan via decision
Mark Bocek defeats David Bielkheden via submission
Ed Herman defeats David Loiseau via decision
Nate Quarry defeats Jason McDonald via tko
Denis Kang defeats Xavier Foupa-Pokam via decision
Eliot Marshall defeats Vinny Magalhaes via decision
Now for the main card. First fight of the night was Luiz Cane taking on Steve Cantwell. I honestly thought that Cane would win in dominating fashion, but Cantwell looked pretty good. In the second round Cantwell almost finished him off, but wasn't able to get it done, and went on to lose by decision. I would like to see Cane matched up with Thiago Silva in the future if Cane wins his next fight and Silva gets defeated by Forrest at UFC 101.
Next up was Cheick Kongo going up against Antoni Hardonk. Just like we seen in Kongo's last fight against Al-Turk, he is getting very good with his take down defense. He dominated the entire fight, and was able to take down Hardonk and pound him out for the technical knock out early in the second round.
Third fight of the night pitted former WEC Champion Brian Stann against TUF alumni Krzysztof Soszynski. I have to say, Krzysztof looked great against Stann. I honestly didn't know what to expect from him, but it looks like training at Team Quest has really helped him out, as he took down Stann and tapped him out using his favorite technique, the kimura.
The co-main event of the night might as well of been called the main event. A lot of questions were to be answered in this fight. Is Chuck too old? Will Shogun ever be back in top condition? This fight lived up to it's expectations. Shogun took down Chuck early, and then proceeded to trade strikes with him. Rua looked great, threw some kicks, and then caught Liddell with a punch, pounced on him, and picked up the tko. All I could think was, "Shogun is back baby!" I would like to see his next fight be against Jardine, it would be a good test for him.
The main event of the evening was pretty controversial, but not for reasons similar to BJ/GSP II, as Anderson Silva defended his Middleweight Title against Thales Leites. Patrick Cote had been the only man to ever get past the second round with Anderson, and no man had ever made it through the third. This fight went all five rounds to a decision, and it wasn't because Thales was putting up a fight. He would constantly drop to his back and lay there as Anderson would just stare at him and the ref would stand him up. When they were on the fight, Thales would basically run the entire fight staying away from Anderson, so Silva really didn't have anything to do, so he decided to start dancing...and oddly enough punching Thales in the legs. It was honestly the most awkward fight I have ever seen, and I'm still not really sure what to think about it.
That's it for my wrap up of UFC 97, be sure to check out AuthorityMag.com, and have a blessed day.
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