UFC 134

It’s very seldom in life when athletes have the opportunity to right a wrong. At UFC 134, reigning middle weight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva will get that rare opportunity when he faces Yushin Okami.

Five years ago before Silva and Okami signed with UFC they fought one another in the opening round of the Rumble Rock Tournament. As soon as the bell rung Silva hit Okami with powerful leg kicks and landed most of his punches. Okami appeared afraid of Silva’s superior striking abilities and tried desperately to get the fight to the ground.  After having three takedowns stuffed, Okami managed to get Silva on his back. Okami throw a barrage of punches in hopes of knocking out Silva. While on his back Silva landed a kick right on the chin of Okami knocking him out. Since Okami knees were on the ground Silva’s kick was consider illegal and Silva was disqualified.

Since Silva’s loss to Okami, Silva his been on a fourteen fight win streak. In Silva’s first two fight in the UFC he had become the UFC middle weight champion. Silva has won thirteen straight fights in the UFC (UFC record) and has had eight consecutive title defenses (UFC record). Many reputable MMA websites and magazines consider Silva to be the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

After making it past Silva in the first round, Okami went on to face Jake Shields in the rumble rock tournament. Okami fell short losing by unanimous decision. He then went on a six fight win streak and earned the right to fight former middle weight champion Rich Franklin in a title eliminator in 2007. Okami lost to the former champion and has climbed his way back into title contention. In 2010 at UFC 122 Okami got another chance to fight in a title eliminator Vs Nate “The Great” Marquardt. After a tough fight Okami earned the decision victory and the opportunity to fight for the title.

 In this article I intend to compare both fighters in five major categories Striking, Grappling, Cardio, Credibility and Outside Factors. Based on the results I will then give my official fight prediction.  

Striking

Anderson Silva is without a doubt the best striker in MMA. His strikes are unbelievably accurate, powerful and he is incredible hard to hit. His ability to switch from his natural southpaw stance to orthodox seems to confuse and vex his opponents. In his thirteen fights in the UFC he has ended eight of them by KO (knockout) or TKO (technical knockout).

 Yushin Okami has a typical grappling style where he will throw strikes to set up the take down. What makes Okami different from most grapplers with this style is his size. He looks like a heavy weight compared to his opponents. For that reason alone fighters in the middle weight division have to respect his hands. Not doing so will insure getting knocked down or knocked out. Despite this advantage, Okami still prefers being on the ground working his ground and pound or submissions.

Striking Advantage: Silva

Grappling

Silva may have one of the most underrated ground games in MMA. His phenomenal striking overshadows his world class Jiu Jitsu. He has submission victories over notable grapplers Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen. Silva has also shown great ground and pound ability forcing Travis Lutter to tap out due to strikes. Many people still believe the way to defeat Silva is taken him to the ground but the epic fight with Sonnen showed Silva being off his feet does make him any less dangerous.

It’s no secret Okami prefers going to the ground and has been successful at getting fights there. Okami is part of a small group of fighters who have successfully applied his judo throws to MMA. Since his loss to Chael Sonnen in 2009, his wrestling has greatly improved and has shown in his recent fights.  His style of fighting is great for taking opponents and I do feel he will be able to take down Silva. A few questions come to mind when thinking about the grappling aspect of this fight.  How long can Okami keep Silva on the ground? Will he be able to finish Silva or will he try lying on top of him for twenty five minutes?

Grappling Advantage: Silva

Cardio

Silva is the best fighter in the world at dictating the pace of a fight. He is able to fight at a fast pace, pick his shots and finish people. In his last eight title defenses Silva has gone to five rounds three times. Of course everyone remembers that epic fight with Chael Sonnen when Silva caught Sonnen in that triangle/armbar after getting battered for four rounds.

Sixteen out of thirty-one of Okami’s fights have gone to decision. He has won twelve of the sixteen decisions so clearly cardio won’t be a problem. When someone had been to decision so many times, one would think he prepares to do so every time. Okami does well in three round bouts but this is his first five round fight with a man with an awesome pace.

Cardio Advantage: Silva

Credibility

Credibility comes down to a simple question; who have you beaten? Anderson Silva has one of the best resumes in MMA. He has defeated Rich Franklin (twice), Vitor Belfort, and Nate Marquardt. Despite finishing most of his opponents, many sports writers felt Silva lost the killer instinct that got him the title. Silva moved up a weight class to fight top five ranked light heavyweight Forrest Griffin. Griffin is well known for having an aggressive fighting style and is not capable of being in a boring fight. Silva destroyed the bigger challenger knocking him out in the very first round. UFC President Dana White has gone on record several times Anderson Silva is best pound for pound fighter in the world. If Silva retired tomorrow he would be in the hall of fame.

Yushin Okami has beaten tough fighters to remain a top contender in the UFC. He has victories over Mike Swick, Dean Lister, and Nate Marquardt. Okami is one of four people to ever defeat Silva and if he is able to upset the champion again, he will be the only person to do it twice. It’s said when you beat someone you take some of their accolade, a win could rank him high on everyone’s pound for pound list.

Credibility Advantage: Silva

Outside Factors

Outside factors are things outside of the cage that could potentially influence the fight. For Silva it will be extra motivation fighting in his home country against the man to beat him. Neither fighter are doing things like clubbing, book tours or anything that would suggest that their mind isn’t focus. Both will come focused and put on one of the best fights the UFC has ever seen.

Outside Factors Advantage: Even

Official Prediction

Anderson Silva striking overwhelm Yushin Okami. Okami will land a takedown but Silva will immediately return the fight to the feet. After putting a beating on Okami Silva will use his legendary clinch and delivery a knee to the face the will drop Okami and knock him out cold.   

Winner: Silva

UFC 133

Redemption will be the theme at UFC 133 as headliners Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz will have the opportunity to settle a score. At UFC 73 Evans and Ortiz fought in an incredibly close battle that ended in a draw. Since then their careers has taken completely different paths.   Evans continued with an undefeated record capturing the UFC Light heavy title at UFC 92. In Evans title defense against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida he suffered his first and only loss. Wanting to prove that he was still the top fighter in the division, Evans defeated two top contenders. Now riding a two fight win streak Evans is the number one contender and he will be given a title shot if he is able to defeat Ortiz.

Ortiz’s career is like something you would see in a movie. At 36 Ortiz is a former champion who was on a four fight losing streak and suffered lots of injuries along the way. At UFC 132 Ortiz was matched against rising star Ryan “Darth” Bader who was a top ten contender, eight years younger, and had much greater grappling credentials. As if that wasn’t enough pressure, Ortiz knew that if he lost to Bader he would be cut from the UFC. One minute and fifty six seconds into the very first round Ortiz submitted the man matched to retire him.  Since his victory, Ortiz’s personality has made a complete 180. In several recent interviews Tito has come off as humble and sensitive. His new attitude has won over a lot of fans, but being nice won’t grantee a victory over Evans.

In this article I intend to compare both fighters in five major categories Striking, Grappling, Cardio, Credibility and Outside Factors. Based on the results I will then give my official fight prediction.

Striking

Rashad Evans has shown his improved stand up skills in his knockout victories over Jason Lambert, Sean Salmon, and UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell. Using a head kick to knockout Salmon and an over hand right to put Liddell away, Evans has shown not only does he have knockout power, but he has many tools to get the job done. Being able to strike well is only half the battle because people hit back. Since his knockout loss to Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida Evans has shown his ability to take hits from world class strikers in his recent victories over Thiago Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Tito Ortiz striking ability is mediocre at best. When fighting higher ranked fighters, Ortiz tens to rely on his grappling and would only throw strikes to set up the takedown.  Ortiz is an “old school” fighter, meaning he is one dimensional and predicable. In every fight without fail Ortiz will try to take down his opponent to ground and pound them. Unfortunately for Tito, all fights start on their feet. During the fights that Ortiz was unable to take the fighters down, he was beaten badly. His losses to Chuck Liddell and Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida are examples of his stubbornness to grapple. If Ortiz is unable to take Evans down, it could be a long night for Ortiz.

Striking Advantage: Evans

Grappling

Evans won season two of the ultimate fighter largely due to his grappling skills he acquired as a wrestler for Michigan State. Evans also holds two black belts, one under Rolles Gracie in Gracie Jiu Jistu and the other in Greg Jackson’s Gaidojutsu. In Evans and Ortiz’s first match up Evans successfully landed two take downs. If Ortiz wasn’t grabbing the cage Evans may have landed more take downs.

In their first match up Evans dictated the pace of the fight. Anyone who watched the first fight can clearly see Ortiz was winning the fight, but a point deduction changed the official ruling to a draw.  Though Evans appeared to have done more damage, Ortiz stayed on top of most of the fight because of his grappling. Tito stuffed most of Evans take downs and successfully landed one more than Evans did.

Grappling Advantage:  Slightly Ortiz

Cardio

Cardio won’t be a factor in this fight. Ortiz has gone the distance nine times in his professional career. Out of the nine he has won five of them. Evans has won every fight that has gone the distance (except for the draw with Ortiz). Both fighters are well conditioned athletes and the person who wins this fight will do so because he is the better fighter. 

Cardio Advantage: Even

Credibility

Credibility comes down to a simple question; who have you beaten? Too many times in the past I have seen people get title shots and rankings they didn’t deserve because they beat up bums. Thankfully in this fight both fighters have fought great fighters and deserve everything they have. When looking at Evans victories in the octagon it is like a who’s who of MMA; names like Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Evans has beaten the kind of fighters that will reserve a seat in the hall of fame. On top of a fantastic resume he only has one loss to date.

Fighting since 1997, Ortiz is a pioneer of modern day MMA. Along the way he has fought and beaten legends like Ken Shamrock (3 times), Vitor Belfort, and Wanderlei Silva. When Ortiz reigned as the UFC light heavy champion, he received a lot of criticism of defended the title against fighters who were undeserving. Since then he has two TKO losses to Chuck Liddell, one loss to Randy Couture, and a losing streak spanning from 2007 to 2010. Ortiz had beaten good fighters early in his career, but it seems after he won the title he has struggled to compete with the top fighters of the weight class.

Credibility Advantage: Evans

Outside Factors

Outside factors are things outside of the cage that could potentially influence the fight.  Evans was scheduled to fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the UFC light heavy weight title at UFC 128, but he had to pull out of the fight due to injury. Since then, a new champion has been crowned and Evans has stated several times in interviews and on Twitter about how badly he wants to fight him.  It is a strong possibility Evans could be over looking Ortiz to get to the champion.

Ortiz took the fight on short notice and only three weeks after his fight with Bader. At 36 his body might not have gotten the rest it needs to fight a fighter like Evans. Though Ortiz’s fight with Bader didn’t go very long, there is such a thing as being over trained. Fighters in the past have lost fights to people they shouldn’t have loss to. So, imagine what will happen to Ortiz when he is already the underdog and possibly over trained.

Outside Factors Advantage: Evans

Official Prediction

Evans will finish Ortiz early in the second round Via TKO. Since their first fight Evans has become better in every aspect of fighting. Evans will sprawl and brawl capitalizing on his superior striking. Tito will break mentally once he realizes he can’t take Evans down and leave himself open to be finished.

Winner Prediction: Evans