Fight Analysis for UFC 79 Nemesis

By Clark Arroyo, mmavideoz.com

I was really looking forward to this fight card. It was tough luck that the NFL had the biggest game in years (that includes every Super Bowl maybe ever!).

Everyone I’ve spoken to for the last week kept talking about Liddell vs. Silva. I was so hyped for them to get it on, nothing else mattered. My kid stayed in stinky diapers until the fight was over. Both fighters came out with a lot of respect for each other, circling ring center. I was very surprised that Silva did not do much kicking. Liddell was giving ground waiting for the typical Silva attack so he could counter. The counter is what has made Liddell as great as he is. He is patient, and again he proved to be just that and then bam he caught Silva with a right and shook him badly. Silva backed up to the fence and very gamely fought off the Liddell onslaught, and bought enough time to clear his head. Silva was really trying to get used to Liddell’s speed, style and timing. Silva didn’t work on setting an agenda in the first round and couldn’t really touch Liddell with his hooking punches. Liddell keeps telegraphing his right hand, and his corner scolds him for it. Round to Liddell easily

Second round was what we wanted to see, with both fighters loosened up. They finally get into a heated exchange and Liddell goes down with what Joe Rogan claimed was a slip. The second time Liddell went down there was no slip, just fist on face. Liddell proved to be in excellent shape and came back very quickly. It seemed that Silva had began to figure out Liddell, but really his hooking punches did not land with much accuracy. I wondered why Silva didn’t even try to take Chuck to the ground, and sure enough Silva gets pinned to the fence and Liddell is able to open a cut over the eye of Silva. Silva being cut is no big deal. With all the scar tissue on his face, a hard slap can open him up. Even with the cut Silva is beginning to land hard blows that catch Liddell’s attention more than once. I gave this round to Silva

The final round was all Liddell. He came out with a nice takedown that caught Silva completely off guard, and Silva is unable to keep the action on the ground. For a man with a black belt in jiu jitsu, I was shocked at how easily Chuck took that sequence. Then Liddell begins to counter Silva lunging windmill punches with a simple one, two combo right down the pipe over and over. Then Chuck catches Silva with a spinning back fist that slams into the side of Silva’s head. To Silva’s credit, he takes it and weathers Chuck’s attempt to knock him out. After Chuck tries to KO Silva and fails, he’s totally gassed. His legs don’t move well and it looks like he’s moving around on stilts for the last minute and a half, but Silva can’t do anything about it because he’s tired, hurt, bleeding while throwing wide punches without my steam behind them. Chuck ends the fight the smart way by taking Silva to the ground and buys time until the fight ends

Fight to Chuck Liddell

To me it looks as though both of these fighters are at the end of the road. They gave it all they had, and it was worth the money. However, both these men will soon become trail horses that new up and coming fighters will take on to build their names.

Main Event: St. Pierre vs. Hughes

I love both these guys but this wasn’t close. I was surprised that it even went two rounds. St. Pierre was training for a berth on the Canadian wrestling team before he got the call to replace Matt Serra. Hughes is a 4 time all American wrestler, whose skills even beat Royce Gracie.

It wasn’t ever close. Hughes going for takedown attempts with St. Pierre looking to land hard shots. When they were on the ground George mounted at will and kept slamming Hughes’ head into the mat from the mount. He was also able to land his forearm to the face of Matt when they were on the ground (this was a grey area, because George managed to land his elbow to Matt’s face many times which he was warned for 3 times) He was able to counter Hughes every time there was a takedown attempt. Then finally St. Pierre ends the night with a sweet sweeping judo throw, went for a Kimura then made a nice transition to an arm lock which had Hughes screaming to the ref to stop the fight.

At the end of it Hughes was talking retirement, and rightfully so. He’s a one dimensional fighter who at this stage of the game is not going to be able to remake himself by acquiring new skills. He is what he is, and will never get better. He is however, a warrior and a great competitor with tons of class. Matt Hughes and people like him are the reason that MMA is now a respected sport. I also wanted to make the comment that based on my observations that Georges St. Pierre maybe the elite of not only his weight class, but perhaps the best pound per pound fighter on the planet right now (yes that also includes you Floyd Mayweather!). George is a talented fighter who has no flaws. It was simply a masterful performance who didn’t even want to except his interm title belt, he wants the belt he had before.. Matt Serra is in a load of trouble

My biggest surprise of the night was that Manny Gamburyan was able to get such a great ankle lock that snapped his opponents leg like a twig. The fight was in it’s opening stages with both fighters still relatively dry. Why don’t more guys try leg bars and ankle locks? Then again he has Gocor for a coach. I’ve been to their dojo, and all the fighters there are judo/sambo guys first and perfect stand up down the road.

Biggest disappointment goes to Sokoudjou. This guy is the fighter of 2007? He looks like a guy who didn’t train, and must have read every article that people have written about him. Not only did he lose the fight, but I think his opponent Michada stole his milk money. I don’t want to see him again until he can at least win a ROC match. Get out of my face Sokoudjou. I pay to see fighters, and after that “performance” you don’t qualify.

-Clark Arroyo ,mmavideoz.com