UFC 110 Silva vs Bisping from Australia

 

UFC 110 is all about big names and big fights. Names in MMA betting don’t get much bigger than Wanderlei’s, but his five losses in six fights have clouded the backing behind him. Truthfully, the only fight that Silva has won since September 2006 has been his fight against Keith Jardine, and if you buy in to the hype created by the UFC experts, you’d think this would be a walk in the park for Silva.

It’s hard to say that Silva is over the hill, but “past his prime” is probably more fitting. One of the most dominant fighters of all time, Silva’s pacing and speed have taken several steps in the wrong direction over the years. We’ve seen him get pounded like a slab of beef in Stallone’s kitchen for years now and while the MMA historian in me wants to believe he still have some bite left in his bark, I think those days are done.

The 30-year old Bisping is a stick-and-move fighter, who doesn’t necessarily have the strength nor power to send Silva’s head careening in to the canvas. What he does have, however, is speed. And lots of it. Silva is dying of thirst for a win, and the only way for Bisping to have a hope in hell of winning this fight is to keep the parched Axe Murderer frustrated. He can’t afford to take this mat to the ground and he has to work on his snail-paced leg kicks if he wants to catch Silva off guard.

One thing I will say about Silva is that he is a relentless force. This guy can take a serious beating, but he can also fall victim to harrowing jaw breakers. As heralded as Bisping is as a kickboxer, his boxing is actually the strength in his game. While he doesn’t have the knockout power to rattle Silva’s brains, he does have the tactical stand-up to control this fight and keep Silva at a distance.

That kind of spells this fight in to “three rounds of yawn” territory, but that’s exactly the kind of fight that Bisping needs this to be. His career is on the line and a loss to aging hall of famer is not going to get him anywhere up the ladder quick. What he needs to do is show that his best defense is by stick-and-moving through the fight and frustrating his opponent in to making a mistake.