Guardians of Grail

gtuo7kv8

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva had lost a lot of his luster coming into [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Saturday nights UFC 101 matchup with former light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin. He was undefeated in his previous nine UFC contests, but his last three victories had been far from impressive. In his most recent bout, he'd pouted and showboated his way [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] to a unanimous decision victory by default against a thoroughly [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] overwhelmed Thales Leites. On that night in Montreal he'd heard an abundance of boos from the fans who at one point started a GSP chant in reference to his [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] most frequent challenger for [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] pound for pound MMA supremacy. Even Dana White criticized his effort and finally conceded that St. Pierre might, indeed, be the best all around fighter in the game.
That all changed at UFC 101. Silva was simply dominant as he overwhelmed the naturally larger Griffin, knocking his opponent down three times before finishing the fight with a spectacular--yet almost effortless--straight right hand. The TKO victory was The Spiders most impressive showing since his submission triumph over Dan Henderson [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] at UFC 82. Ironically, Hendo--off his own devastating KO victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 100--will likely be Silva's next challenger for his middleweight title.
The live crowd in Philadelphia clearly favored the likable Griffin and gave him a huge ovation as he bounced to the ring to his trademark walk-in song Shipping Up To Boston by the Dropkick Murphys. Silva, meanwhile, received a smattering of boos [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] as he confidently strode to the [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ring to the sound of Aint No Sunshine by rapper DMX. Silva displayed much more humility toward the fans than he has in his recent [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] outings, bowing in all four directions after the entered the cage.
Once the fight began Silva transformed into the wrecking machine that UFC fans had [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] grown accustomed before his recent run of lackluster performances. Forrest came right at Silva, assuming that his natural size advantage would equate to a strength advantage as well. After an early feeling out process, Griffin flashed a body kick which was caught by Silva and countered with a short punch that sent him to the canvas for a flash knockdown.
The second knockdown clearly hurt Griffin, though he once again made it back to his feet quickly and landed a combination of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] his own. This was his best"and last"offense of the fight. Silva quickly floored Griffin with a [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] left hand that left little doubt to the eventual outcome of the contest. The double tough Griffin made it to his feet again, and tried to land a leg kick"which Patrick Cote had used with some success in their fight.
Silva, backing up, landed a perfect and almost effortless straight right that sent Griffin down for good. The referee didnt even bother to count as he waved his arms over the prone fighter as Silva celebrated his win. Griffin quickly exited the cage and, reportedly, the arena. Postfight reports suggested that he wanted to get immediate medical attention for a dislocated jaw suffered on the penultimate knockdown.
Silva, apparently making an effort to be [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] more fan friendly, did his postfight interview in English [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] with a Portuguese interpreter standing at the ready. His message was simple: I [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] want to fight against the best. Whoever the best is at the time, I want to fight them. Though Silva didnt really affirm that hed be campaigning more at the heavier weight, that was the implicit message of his comment.