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[Sakara=Excitement]

Wanderlei Silva's Ten Second Last Stand Delivers Cure for Nostalgic Fans - Bloody Elbow

Wanderlei Silva said it best during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan following his decision victory over Michael Bisping on Saturday night at UFC 110. Everyone has bad moments in their life. Unfortunately for Silva, he's had more than his fair share of bad results over the past four years.

He was absolutely dominated by a quicker Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic at PRIDE's 2006 Openweight Grand Prix, crushed by a devastating left hand from Dan Henderson at PRIDE 33, edged by Chuck Liddell in his UFC return at UFC 79, and put to shame in only 3:21 at UFC 92 by long-time rival Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. He also dropped an unanimous decision to Rich Franklin in his most recent loss at UFC 99 a little under a year ago.

While most fans would look at that number of losses as a significant indicator that Silva's time at the top has dwindled, the level of competition within that list is very high. "CroCop" was at the top of his game when their match-up occurred, Henderson remains one of the best in the world, Liddell was on a slight downturn in his career, and Jackson and Franklin continue to be considered elite-level fighters.

Silva has now been relegated to fighting some lesser competition, and some might say that he's the gatekeeper to taking on the best of the best. But Wanderlei Silva doesn't seem too keen on having a moniker that denotes him as a "gatekeeper".

As evident in Silva's pre-fight interview for his battle with Michael Bisping, the philosophy that was sold to the fans was that we would see the return of the ultra-aggressive Silva that exploded onto the scene in PRIDE and devastated his opponents. We managed to see glimmers of the style that created "The Axe Murderer" on Saturday night.

Unexpectedly, Silva's style was similar to his past fights. He was patient, maintained range, and tried to find openings in Bisping's defense. A style that some fans have been critical of because it doesn't take advantage of Silva's best attributes. Despite those feelings, Silva had a outing he should be proud of at UFC 110. His takedown defense was solid, his scrambling ability on the bottom was phenomenal, and his increase in quickness was noticeable.

As each round winded down to the 0:10 second mark, a sudden cure for the nostalgia felt since PRIDE's demise came over me. We saw the style of fighting that put people in seats, or... as I like to think -- put us on the edge of our seats. Stalking and feeling the sense of urgency, Silva tried to bomb Bisping with everything he had toward the end of each round... and it paid off in a crowd-pleasing moment that probably brought tears to some of the PRIDE faithful out there.

A flurry on action at the end of round three overwhelmed Bisping and ended with a heavy overhand right that was reminiscent of highlight reels we've all seen in the past. Bisping may or may not have been out for a second, but it's tough to say Bisping would have survived the oncoming onslaught. Wanderlei Silva smelled blood once again, and it was beautiful to watch.

Silva is by no means going to contend for a title. He still has some weaknesses in his game that could be tough for him to overcome, but he continues to have immense power in his hands. As we all know, that's an attribute that can create chaos in terms of trying to figure out how a fight is going to turn out.

Silva is truly one of those fighters who can change a fight in a matter of seconds. But age is catching up with him. He may only have a few more years of fighting left in him, so let's all enjoy it while we can.

I can't say I was impressed by the performance, but for those final ten seconds of each round -- I was put back on the edge of my seat. That's all that I can ask from a PRIDE legend that sucked me into this sport years ago. Thank you, Wanderlei Silva.

[Repenter]

i really want to see him pull it all together. he hinted at his former aggression on saturday, but that's a great improvement over his fight with franklin. the akiyama match should tell us a lot about his future.

[Qball1974]

He sooo beat Franklin.

[maxp84z]

Originally Posted by Repenter

i really want to see him pull it all together. he hinted at his former aggression on saturday, but that's a great improvement over his fight with franklin. the akiyama match should tell us a lot about his future.

On thing Wand has been great at for many years is beating down Japanese fighters. If he loses to Akiyama he needs to call it quits for good. I mean, Akiyama HE'S JAPANESE! The Wand of old would eat him for dinner.

[The8thPlague]

I can't say I was impressed by the performance, but for those final ten seconds of each round -- I was put back on the edge of my seat. That's all that I can ask from a PRIDE legend that sucked me into this sport years ago. Thank you, Wanderlei Silva.

That pretty much sums up how I felt about the fight.

On thing Wand has been great at for many years is beating down Japanese fighters. If he loses to Akiyama he needs to call it quits for good. I mean, Akiyama HE'S JAPANESE! The Wand of old would eat him for dinner.

Also very true.

[mendler09]

sure silva didnt look good but he did show signs of the old Silva from Pride (lat 10 seconds of the fight where he was rlly agressive). I dont no why he was throwing so many leg kicks they werent really doing much...sure they do damage but cant win a fight with leg kicks..i wanna see him start thowing his knees which he made famous back in Pride...if you watch Best of Pride on Spike, every fight they show that hes in hes thowing knees and always moving forward...hes not doing that anymore hes always moving back..when he moved forward (last 10 seconds of the fight) he almost KO'ed bisping. hes gotta get back to that

[The8thPlague]

Originally Posted by mendler09

leg kicks ...sure they do damage but cant win a fight with leg kicks.

Hidehiko Yoshida(VS CroCop),
Hong Man Choi(VS CroCop),
Dan Evensen(VS Pat Barry),
Mike Patt(VS Brandon Vera), etc, might argue that theory.

[MrSpanky]

He needs to get comfortable pulling the trigger like he used to. The whole fight with Bisping he looked like he was about to eat his brain any second but he never really took the momentum of the fight. He did the last 10 seconds but if he's going to stick around longer he needs more of that and less just looking like he's going to do something.

[Pasha K]

Originally Posted by maxp84z

On thing Wand has been great at for many years is beating down Japanese fighters. If he loses to Akiyama he needs to call it quits for good. I mean, Akiyama HE'S JAPANESE! The Wand of old would eat him for dinner.

Well Akiyama originally is Korean lol, and he is actually a very solid fighter.

Japanese fighters Wandy has faced:

Fujita: Just famous for having a solid chin and for rocking Fedor, but he is not at all a great fighter.

Nakamura: He showed some good performances in PRIDE but not a Top 10

Yoshida: To be honest he is not very good in MMA

Yuki Kondo: Not a bad fighter, but nothing exceptional

Minowaman: I like very much this guy, but he is not a great fighter

Sakuraba: Ok, here I give all the credit to Wand. Saku at that time was awesome, and Wandy defeated him 3 times.

Kanehara: Who?

Iwasaki: ????

Tamura: Not an elite fighter

Otsuka: Horrible fighter

Oyama: ????

Matsui: ????

What I am trying to say with all this is that he has faced some decent Japanese fighters, but aside of Sakuraba, no one has the level of Akiyama (Actually Akiyama dominated Saku in their match, I know there was grease controversy but even in the stand up Akiyama was winning), so I dont think it will be easy for Wandy to defeat him. I think the fight will go to a desicion.

[TheKidInside]

bro...Besides the fact that i think Akiyama did NOT win his fight against Belcher...he cheated 3 times in his MMA career. Sakuraba is one of those times, that asshole applied 3 bottles of lotion all over his body and you want me to LIKE the guy and think he's "spectacular" ? LOL he has faced NO ONE...especially, not like Wandy.

War Wand! you're always going to be a champion!