Por Guilherme Cruz
Foto Josh Hedges
Quando tudo parecia perdido, Anderson Silva mostrou a Chael Sonnen, no UFC 117, que ser um faixa-preta de Rodrigo Minotauro não é o mesmo que ganhar a faixa como brinde no McLanche Feliz. Antes de voltar ao Brasil, ocampeão peso médio do UFC conversou com a TATAME e analisou a luta, quando sofreu por mais de 20 minutos até vencer.
“Eu não consegui me movimentar como eu me movimento, rápido... Mas ele está de parabéns, fez uma grande luta... Foi um ‘lutão’. Acho que, tanto para mim quanto para ele, foi bem bacana, foi uma luta que as pessoas gostaram de ver”, comentou Anderson, agradecendo à arte suave por sua 12ª vitória no octagon. “Todo mundo está acostumado a ver o Anderson vencendo sempre, sem passar por nenhuma situação de risco, mas foi bom. O Jiu-Jitsu me salvou”.
Numa entrevista exclusiva, que você confere clicando aqui, o melhor lutador do planeta comentou a promessa que havia feito a Rodrigo Minotauro momentos antes da luta, a homenagem de caminhar rumo ao octagon trajando um quimono e criticou as brincadeiras feitas sobre Steven Seagal, que foi comparado pelos fãs ao pé-frio Mick Jagger. “É uma brincadeira de mau gosto, ele é um grande mestre. Eu acho que as pessoas têm que ter respeito”.
By Erik EngelhartPhoto Josh Hedges
UFC 117, which happened tonight on Oakland, California, had five Brazilians on its main card. The confrontation was against the Americans, and Brazil won only two fights at the end of the evening, one with Junior Cigano and another with Anderson Silva, who had a historical fight, on which the Brazilian lost all rounds, but presented, out of nowhere, a great submission technique with only two minutes left for the bout to end. The other Brazilians on the card were Ricardo “Big Dog”, Rafael dos Anjos and Thiago “Pitbull” Alves, and they all ended up being beaten. Check below the full coverage of the event and stay tuned on TATAME to check a photo gallery of the event and interviews with all the fighters of this historical edition of UFC that the Brazilians will never forget.
Cigano beats Roy Nelson and gets a chance for the belt
The fight between Junior Cigano and Roy Nelson was busy. On the first round, the “chubby” guy defended himself as he could and showed a good power of assimilation, resisting to hard blows of the Brazilian. On the second round, Roy tied it up, but Cigano continued to be better and punished the American with hard uppers. On the last round, Cigano kept on the domain of the bout, but the American showed a lot of heart and worshiped the Brazilian’s win, which came on the judges’ decision. Cigano will now confront the winner between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasques, who will fight for the belt at the end of the year.
Matt Hughes submits Ricardo Big Dog
The Brazilian Ricardo Almeida had loss his chance to “revenge” his master Renzo, who has been beat by Hughes on UFC 112, but it didn’t happen this time. The American fit a great punch on the Big Dog, who suffered a knockdown and tried to get Hughes’ legs, but the American legend fit a good sequence of chokes and submitted the Brazilian with a guillotine yet on the first round.
Clay Guida beat Rafael dos Anjos
Coming from three wins in a row on UFC, Rafael dos Anjos started well his fight and won the first round, on which he showed a great evolution on the stand-up game. But, on the following round, Clay Guida balanced things and got a tiny advantage over the Brazilian, and got him down. On the third round, Guida got Rafael down and after pressuring him against the grid, he obligated the Brazilian to give it up. Apparently, Rafael broke his jaw with a punch of Guida and when he suffered the pressure on the half guard, he couldn’t resist the pain and was forced to give up.
Ficht beats Pitibull by points
A fight we’ve been all waiting for didn’t have a good outcome for the Brazilian. It was the bout between Thiago Pitbull and Jon Fitch. Without fighting since July from last year, the Brazilian lacked conditioning and had his game blocked by the American, who, once again, got the win on a unanimous decision of the judges. Fitch dominated all three rounds, applying good takedowns and getting points on the top of Pitbull. Jon Fitch, who had beaten the Brazilian in 2006, stick to his game plan and used a strategy, as he always does, and won his seventh fight on the decision of the judges and will have the chance to fight against Georges St Pierre for the welterweight division of the event.
Anderson suffers, but submits Sonnen on a historical fight
On the first round of the main event of the evening, things did not happen like everybody expected. Chael Sonnen ran over Anderson, was better while they were standing, connected hard punches and almost got a knockdown. After that, the American tried to go for the Brazilian’s legs and punished him on the ground and pound game, almost finishing the bout yet on the first round.
On the second round, Anderson wanted to do something more, but once again Sonnen but him down and punished Anderson through the whole round with hard elbows and the Brazilian resisted as he could. On the third round, the story repeated itself and Chael kept punishing the champion on the ground and pound game, blocking the Brazilian. On the fourth round, Anderson tried to go for it, but Sonnen reverted the situation and kept Anderson’s punishment. On the last round, Sonnen kept the massacre over the Brazilian, but, again, the unexpected happened: at the end of the fight, Anderson surprised the American with a triangle and submitted Sonnen on a historical fight and kept his belt. Anderson showed that his entrance wearing a kimono had a purpose after all. At the end of the “war”, the Spider said: “Nogueira’s brothers, Jiu-Jitsu!”.
FULL RESULTS:
UFC 117
Oakland, California, United StatesSaturday, August 7th of 2010
Main card:
- Anderson Silva submitted Chael Sonnen with a triangle at 3min5s of R5;
- Matt Hughes beat Ricardo “Cachorrão” Almeida at 3min15s of R1;
- Clay Guida beat Rafael dos Anjos by TKO at 1min51s of R3;
- Jon Fitch beat Thiago “Pitbull” Alves on a unanimous decision of the judges;
- Junior “Cigano” dos Santos beat Roy Nelson on a unanimous decision of the judges;
Preliminary card:
- Tim Boetsch beat Todd Brown on a unanimous decision of the judges;- Phil Davis beat Rodney Wallace on a unanimous decision of the judges;- Rick Story knocked out Dustin Hazelett at 1min15s of R2;- Dennis Hallman beat Ben Sauders on a unanimous decision of the judges;- Johny Hendricks knocked out Charlie Brenneman at 40s of R2;- Stefan Struve knocked out Christian Morecraft at 22s of R2.
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