UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva moved up to light heavyweight tonight and did what he usually does: He dominated, beating James Irvin with a first-round TKO. Silva showed once again that he is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, catching Irvin's kick in the first round, punching Irvin in the face with one hand while holding his foot with the other, and finishing the entire fight in just 1 minute, 1 second.
The Silva fight was the main event on a Spike TV card that UFC put together to go head-to-head with tonight's Affliction show on pay-per-view. In a pair of undercard fights featuring Ultimate Fighter season seven cast members, C.B. Dollaway beat Jesse Taylor and Tim Credeur beat Cale Yarbrough, both in the first round.
In what was supposed to be the most important of the undercard fights, Brandon Vera put together an incredibly lackluster unanimous decision victory over Reese Andy. It was a very disappointing showing by Vera, who just isn't as good a fighter as UFC wants him to be.
In other televised UFC fights tonight, Frank Edgar beat Hermes Franca with an impressive unanimous decision, Cain Velasquez dominated Jake O'Brien and Kevin Burns beat Anthony Johnson with a questionable TKO after Burns poked Johnson in the eye. In the non-televised fights, Rory Markham beat Brodie Farber, Nate Loughran beat Johnny Rees, Brad Blackburn beat James Giboo and Shannon Gugerty beat Dale Hartt.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-20-2008 @ 12:54AM
spoonman said...
I love it. He destroyed Irvin. Exactly what everyone thought. You just can't beat Anderson Silva.
Reply
7-20-2008 @ 2:12AM
billy said...
ANDERSON SILVA IS A TRULY GREAT SUPER FIGHTER.I LIKE HIM ALOT .HE IS IN FEDORS LEAGUE.I JUST WANT TO HEAR MR.POOPY PANTS DANA "I THINK IM GOD"WHITE GIVE FEDOR HIS DUE.
I DONT ACTUALLY HATE DANA.BUT HE BUGS ME.HE IS TOO SELF ABSORBED ANOTHER JERRY JONES OF THE DALLAS COWBOYS.MOST MMA FIGHTERS DO NOT LIKE DANA WHITE EITHER.WHY????WHY?????
Reply
7-20-2008 @ 2:13AM
Kurt Wilson said...
Yeah Michael,
That K. Burns v. A. Johnson fight was 100% pure B.S.
The Judges for the UFC need to be investigated. There is no way Burns should even be allowed to continue to fight in the MMA if he can't throw a closed fisted punch.
To win by T.K.O. after poking someone in the eye, is a slap in not just the losers face, but every one paid money to watch it.
It is crap like this that got MMA banned from the U.S. back 20 years ago. I hope the public doesn't allow this degridation of the sport to continue. I certainly will not be paying my $50 for anymore PPV's
Reply
7-21-2008 @ 10:15AM
wesley said...
Mazzagatti is a douche-bag. Johnson was winning the fight. Burns had already received a warning for eye-poking. Johnson should have been given 5 minutes (per the rules) to recover. Apparently, UFC management panics if the competition had to take such a break so fights are continued with the organization ignoring its own rules. However, this time, since Johnson was unable to continue, Mazzagatti somehow figures he loses because the eye-poke wasn't intentional. I'm glad Mazzagatti is able to read others' minds. At the very least, since Johnson was ahead, the fight should have been a No Contest and more appropriate and equitable would have been to disqualify the fighter using the illegal maneuver (eye-poke) whether or not it was intentional. Mazzagatti however, comes up with the most ridiculous call I've ever witnessed in any sport ever by declaring Burns the winner. The refs and judges are ruining MMA. Boxing judges suck but MMA judges are worse. Fights that are clearly drawn (as they have no clear winner or loser) are routinely given to one of the fighters (usually the more popular of the two).
7-20-2008 @ 11:42AM
Scott_gp said...
I know this has been mentioned before, but as UFC viewership continues to expand, the broadcast team could benefit from a serious makeover. Having Joe Rogan as your BEST commentator is not a strength. Don't get me wrong, Rogan surely has extensive knowledge of the sport, but his analysis shares equal time with his inane screamings of "WOW!!!!" or "DID YOU SEE THAT????"
Goldberg on the other hand is an outright mess, and one of the most inept play-by-play announcers in sports. Comments like "Silva's precision is so precise" continue to render him a non-entity. I understand that longevity and loyalty must be considered, but I think the UFC would be well served to trim the fat and at least send Goldberg packing.
Reply
7-20-2008 @ 6:18PM
sergei said...
the best p4p fighter is Fedor vladmirovich Emelianneko. Let Silva fight guy who is in top 5, weight 30-40 punds more than Silva and have huge rach advantage. Then you can start talking about him being second to Fedor Vladimirovich. Fedor Vladimirovich's reign is for mor ethan 5 years. How lond has anderson dominated UFC middleweight? a year or so?
Reply
7-20-2008 @ 7:45PM
Bill Moore said...
Fedor needs to continue to fight top-ranked fighters to keep his
P4P status. Anderson has been crushing anyone and everyone that is put in front of him.
Reply
7-21-2008 @ 10:15AM
wesley said...
Mazzagatti is a douche-bag. Johnson was winning the fight. Burns had already received a warning for eye-poking. Johnson should have been given 5 minutes (per the rules) to recover. Apparently, UFC management panics if the competition had to take such a break so fights are continued with the organization ignoring its own rules. However, this time, since Johnson was unable to continue, Mazzagatti somehow figures he loses because the eye-poke wasn't intentional. I'm glad Mazzagatti is able to read others' minds. At the very least, since Johnson was ahead, the fight should have been a No Contest and more appropriate and equitable would have been to disqualify the fighter using the illegal maneuver (eye-poke) whether or not it was intentional. Mazzagatti however, comes up with the most ridiculous call I've ever witnessed in any sport ever by declaring Burns the winner. The refs and judges are ruining MMA. Boxing judges suck but MMA judges are worse. Fights that are clearly drawn (as they have no clear winner or loser) are routinely given to one of the fighters (usually the more popular of the two).
Reply
7-21-2008 @ 10:15AM
wesley said...
Mazzagatti is a douche-bag. Johnson was winning the fight. Burns had already received a warning for eye-poking. Johnson should have been given 5 minutes (per the rules) to recover. Apparently, UFC management panics if the competition had to take such a break so fights are continued with the organization ignoring its own rules. However, this time, since Johnson was unable to continue, Mazzagatti somehow figures he loses because the eye-poke wasn't intentional. I'm glad Mazzagatti is able to read others' minds. At the very least, since Johnson was ahead, the fight should have been a No Contest and more appropriate and equitable would have been to disqualify the fighter using the illegal maneuver (eye-poke) whether or not it was intentional. Mazzagatti however, comes up with the most ridiculous call I've ever witnessed in any sport ever by declaring Burns the winner. The refs and judges are ruining MMA. Boxing judges suck but MMA judges are worse. Fights that are clearly drawn (as they have no clear winner or loser) are routinely given to one of the fighters (usually the more popular of the two).
Reply