Probably the biggest fight card this year has come around quick.
UFC 112 BJ Penn vs Frankie Edgar Anderson Silva vs Demain Maia
Its special for two reasons, first event held in Abu Dhabi and outdoors and secondly important as two titles are on the line. BJ Penn arguably the best ever lightweight defends against New Jersey wrestler Frankie Edgar.
The second title defence is arguably pound for pound number Anderson Silva defending against fellow Brazilian and Brazilian Ju Jitsu expert Demain Maia.
In other stand out fights UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes take on BJJ legend Renzo Gracie. In the other second stand out fight raising lightweight star Brit Terry Etim takes on another Brazilian on the card – Rafael dos Anjos.
The first title fight is between the best lightweight, stand up, BJJ and grappling star title holder = BJ Penn and number one contender Frankie Edgar, who’s strengths are wrestling and an ever improving stand up game.
BJ is defending his title for the first time since his destruction of Diego Sanchez. BJ’s best display to date was highlighted by his complete dominance of once highly considered welterweight Sanchez.
BJ controlled every movement of the fight and could have probably finished off his contenders in minutes if the truth be told. His title defences include the clear number two UFC lightweight Kenny Florain and once feared Sean Sherk.
BJ Penn also added before his step up to take on GSP, Marv Marinovich as his strength and conditioning coach, we have already witnessed the rewards of having Marinovich and co have brought in the Penn camp.
The inclusion of condition coaches and return of self believe makes the two weight champion heavy favourite against the lesser known but must be respected Frankie Edgar.
Edgar is on a 3 fight winning streak since losing to Gray Maynard, he has beaten Hermes Franca, Sean Sherk, Matt Veach. Edgar is well known for fight of the night wins and his strong wrestling. It has been widely reported that Edgar has been working on his BJJ with team mate Ricardo Almeida, for me he is going against one of the best BJJ practitioners around in BJ Penn, he would have to use all his purple belt skills defensively in my opinion as Penn has some of the quickest and most patient moves in the UFC.
Edgar is also known for his ever improving stand up which will also be tested to extreme levels by BJ who again has some of the best boxing skills in MMA.
For me this fight is a good one for the fans but a fairwell to BJ Penn as he will make strides into the welterweight division after defending his title. If Edgar wins (which I cannot see) he will face the winner of Florian and Maynard if that happens in the summer.
Onto the next title fight, the best pound for pound fighter Anderson Silva defends his middleweight crown against Demain Maia, it was supposed to be Victor Belfort’s title chance but unfortunately due to injury he had to pull out of the fight.
Anderson Silva’s last two title defences have been just that, defences, and for me why shouldn’t he just go for the win in his defences. His last two middleweight opponents have been Patrick Cote who had to retire through injury and Thales Leites who just wanted to cuddle the matt and not stand up with the spider.
However in his two fights at light heavyweight we have seen the real Anderson Silva, the boxing and stand up king…. Silva knocked out Forrest Griffin with basically a left jab and destroyed a dangerous opponent in James Irwin.
The other defences include good wins over Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson.
Maia on the other hand has been very impressive on the ground with his BJJ but stand up isn’t quite there. His record however is 6 wins and only 1 loss in the UFC.
Maia has beaten the likes of Dan Miller, Chael Sonnen, Nate Quarry and Jason MacDonald. His lose was to Nate Marquardt in 21 seconds with the first proper punch of the fight.
The up points for Demain Maia is his ground skills and being able to stop fighters like Sonnen, he also has a nack of taking fighters down, taking their back and submitting them in a double quick time.
The down side is Anderson Silva is a step above all the other fighters Maia has faced, Anderson Silva BJJ is underrated and has submitted numerous fiighters himself. Silva’s stand up, especially his boxing is of a great standard and has a great skill of controlling fighters and fights.
For both title fights the challengers have almost no chance of getting to the championship rounds let alone winning the fights.
Maia for me has the edge over Edgar in his chances as his BJJ is outstanding however getting Anderson Silva onto the ground and beating him….not happening.
Edgar is out of his depth with Penn, Penn is better in every area apart from wrestling which will be null and voided in my opinion.
In the other fights I think it could be a big night for British fighters, Etim is by far the most talented on the card and will be interesting to see his developments. Gracie is being written off but its been shown time after time that Hughes doesn’t like a submission artist with his back. The other Spider Kendall Grove should show his class over the improving wrestler Munoz, Munoz has been improving since his training in Brazil.
Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia – Anderson Silva win, round 1 TKO
B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar – BJ Penn win, round 2 submission
Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie – Gracie win via rear naked choke
Terry Etim vs. Rafael dos Anjos – Etim win, round 2 TKO
Kendall Grove vs. Mark Munoz – Grove win, round 2 submission
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Phil Davis – Davis win
Paul Taylor vs. John Gunderson – Taylor win
Nick Osipczak vs. Rick Story – Osipczak win
DaMarques Johnson vs. Brad Blackburn – Blackburn win
Paul Kelly vs. Matt Veach – Veach win
Jon Madsen vs. Mostapha Al-turk – Madsen win (Al-turk to be dropped from UFC)
Danny Denhard