MMAVu

I wonder if it was by coincidence that the UFC matched the recently under-performing Anderson Silva up against Forrest Griffin in Philadelphia? In Philly, where they have some of the most rabid and fanatic fans on the entire planet.

Anderson can expect a near-riot if he puts in another uninspired performance like at UFC 97 or UFC 90. He won those fights, but did little except avoid losing, that he lost some of his aura with those two wins. Granted, his opponents did not engage with Silva, but you can’t fight “to not lose” like Tim Syl…what’s-his-name, you have to push and put your opponent away, like Silva did in all his previous fights.

Griffin will not just stand back like Patrick Cote, or flop on his back like Thales Leites did before him. Griffin will engage, take a few shots, and likely get put away by Silva, if he isn’t successful in taking Silva down and grinding on him a bit. Griffin isn’t known for his shot or his wrestling, but if Travis Lutter can take Silva down and mount him, so can Griffin. Expect this fight to end in the first or second round via TKO, in Silva’s favor.

Main event:

UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian – BJ by TKO.

Main card:

205 lbs: Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva – Silva by TKO

170 lbs: Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks – Sadollah via arm bar

185 lbs: Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida – Almeida via rear naked choke. Speaking of which, I’d like to get that new ring girl in a rear naked choke myself.

155 lbs.: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Josh Neer – Neer via decision

Under card (May not be broadcast):

170 lbs: John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory – Tamdan, by sub

170 lbs: Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer – Riddle via decision

155 lbs: George Sotiropoulos vs. George Roop – George by TKO

170 lbs: Danillo Villefort vs. Jesse Lennox – Who?

185 lbs: Alessio Sakara vs. Thales Leites – Expect Thales to be booed like crazy, but he’ll win via submission

155 lbs: Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley – Riley, because Nelson is a bit of a punk. There you go; I’m expecting a cut of your winnings.

So Kenny Florian finally gets his second crack at the 155lb title this weekend after falling short against Sherk in 2006. Much credit has to go to Kenny, he said he wanted to basically clean out the division until he was the clear-cut top contender, and he has done just that. Along the way, he defeated Roger Huerta, Joe Stevenson, Joe Lauzon and some Japanese dude who’s name I can’t spell.

However, standing in front of him is BJ Penn, and despite how much Kenny has improved…BJ seems just a bit better than Kenny in all aspects. BJ has deceptive boxing, and hits like he has a  roll of quarters in his hands. Kenny landed multiple shots on Huerta, including punches, knees, elbows and kicks, but all that seemed to do as piss of Huerta. Either Kenny was playing the out-pointing game, or his strikes had little effect on Huerta.

Wrestling-wise, Kenny is over-matched as well; while neither guy is known for their wrestling, BJ is able to stifle top wrestlers like Matt Hughes and GSP (for a while anyways). Ground game? Forget about it. Kenny is 8/10 while BJ is 10/10. The guy is the best grappler at 155lbs.

The only potential advantage Kenny has, is cardio. Even then, he has to make it to the third round in order to cash in on that potential advantage.

So while Kenny’s determination to win has finally matched his physical skills, he will come up just short again, falling to strikes in round 3.