UFC 77 – Hostile Territory – Results
Well, I was almost perfect with my picks this time. Yes, I picked Anderson Silva to win over Rich Franklin and Tim Sylvia to win over Brandon Vera. The only fight I lost was the Jorge Gurgel fight.
The Anderson Silva fight was somewhat predictable. Rich Franklin kept saying it would be a war and while the fight did last longer than the first encounter but it was far from a war. Silva displayed how his game is on a whole different level than Franklin’s or any other middleweight he has fought since coming to the UFC. He dismantled Chris Leben and dominated both Nate Marquardt and Travis Lutter. It’s hard to imagine that anyone in that division will be able to take the belt away from Silva anytime soon. Franklin is now in a very odd position in that he can appear to defeat anyone else in the middleweight division other than Silva. Franklin can continue to fight the same guys reproving himself and then become the #1 contender again. Facing Silva again would be futile unless Franklin made some serious improvements to his skills. Franklin is a big guy for a middleweight. He could try going up to light heavyweight to test his skills there for a while. At least he would see some new competition. Frankin is already cutting to get to 185 so he could easily get to 205. It will be interesting to see what will come next for Rich.
The crowd is never happy with Tim Sylvia even though he has defeated just about every heavyweight out there. When Sylvia fought Randy Couture and lost his title, he was still ailing from major back problems and while Sylvia still didn’t look fantastic against Vera, he did enough to neutralize Vera’s threats and keep his talents at bay. The funniest part of that fight was Vera’s post fight interview when asked if he would drop to light heavyweight after losing, Vera asked the crowd if they felt that Sylvia had kicked his ass to which the audience resoundingly responded with boos and Vera indicated “then I guess I will stay at heavyweight bitches!!!!”. What a great way to end the fight. It was probably more entertaining than the fight itself.
The only pick I lost was the Jorge Gurgel fight. After watching Jorge’s last fight where his cardio looked great and he kept the pressure on for all 3 rounds, showing great heart, I knew he would come into his hometown and put forth a good effort. Unfortunately, Alvin Robinson had too much firepower and talent and own handily. What was really classy and loyal was seeing Gurgel corner Rich Franklin even though his face was battered and taped up.