UFC FIGHT NIGHT: SILVA vs IRVIN RECAP

By Chad Frost for MMA Sports

In reaction to the debut Affliction show, the UFC hosted its own event at The Palms resort in Las Vegas. The night was head lined by none other than current UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson “The Spider” Silva, who was making his first appearance as a light heavyweight.

C B Dollaway V Jesse Taylor
Fresh off a stint as house mates on TUF, these two former wrestling adversaries now faced each other in the Octagon. Taylor was attempting to rebuild his career after an alcohol fuelled brain snap post TUF sent him into momentary exile and Dollaway was after his first “official” win in the UFC. CB Dollaway came away with the spoils as he submitted Taylor with a rarely seen (until now) Peruvian neck tie with just over a minute to go in the opening round.

Kevin Burns V Anthony Johnson
This was a quality fight that went back and forth and at different times both had the upper hand. Burns showed he has a strong chin as he took plenty of powerful hits from Johnson. Anthony didn’t get away unscathed as he took the fight to the mat regularly, rather than be stung by Kevin’s striking. Coming into the final round Johnson was marginally ahead on points and pushing towards another win when he copped a stray finger from Burns right in the eye. He let out a yelp and flung himself to the ground unable to continue. Steve Mazzagatti stopped the action and (wrongly) awarded the fight to Burns via TKO.

Cain Velasquez V Jake O’Brien
With a ton of expectation from the MMA fraternity Velasquez continued to impress as he destroyed the previously solid O’Brien. Jake went looking for the takedown early, was reversed and Cain switched to side control where he secured a crucifix and pounded out a defenseless and helpless O’Brien, on his way to another quick finish. Next up he will surely meet a much stiffer contest.

Frankie Edgar V Hermes Franca
Former lightweight contender Franca was looking to redeem himself to MMA fans after serving a lengthy suspension for steroid use. However he had no answers for “The Answer” as it was all Edgar. From the outset Frankie controlled the pace of the fight and soon took down Hermes and scored regularly from inside the guard. Despite a scare or two of a submission and a few nice knees from Franca the judges had no choice but to award the decision to Edgar who bounced back nicely after a previous loss to Gray Maynard.

Brandon Vera V Reese Andy
Andy was making his UFC debut and Vera was making his LHW debut. Vera struggled his way to an unflattering points decision win over newcomer Andy. Brandon was expected to make short work of Reese and make a real impact in the lighter division. That didn’t happen here maybe due to the weight cut or perhaps the shorter preparation.

Anderson Silva V James Irvin
“The Sandman” welcomed the challenge of middleweight king “The Spider” and it was Silva who injected his venom fists into Irvin’s face at the one minute mark of the first round. Silva didn’t have any problems with size, if anything he was bigger over all than Irvin.

After a bit of dancing James threw a leg kick that was caught by Anderson, the champ then released a crunching straight right hand that dropped Irvin, he pounced and punched until the ref stepped in to save Irvin. “The Spider” can seemingly weave his web wherever he likes at the moment. No doubt there are a few other light heavyweight fighters that will breathe a sigh of relief when he goes back to defend his middleweight crown.

Another highlight was the killer knockout of Brodie Farber by new signing Rory Markham who was like a kid in a candy shop, just thankful to now be a part of the MMA big time.