Not that many needed convincing, but Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world.

There was a little bit of doubt in the minds of some due to Silva’s performance against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, but on Saturday at UFC 148, Silva removed all doubt.

Silva stopped Sonnen at 1:55 into the second round with a barrage of strikes that Sonnen couldn’t respond to, as he defended his UFC Middleweight Championship for the 10^th time.

Sonnen won the first round, as he took Silva down quickly and held him down for five minutes, but Silva showed great takedown defense in the second and used his pinpoint accuracy with his striking to end the fight.

With Sonnen past him for good, there really is no viable challengers left to Silva. Sonnen seemed to have the best style to beat Silva, and the champ still ran through him.

Silva is now 15-0 in his UFC career and just adding to his legacy as the greatest UFC fighter of all time. Perhaps a change in weight class is in order to challenge him, or perhaps he should just retire on top of the world.

In the co-main event, Tito Ortiz saw his career come to an end in a unanimous decision loss to Forrest Griffin.

Ortiz (16-11-1) a former UFC champion and now Hall of Famer, seemed to tire early in the fight, which opened the door for Griffin to pepper him with strikes. Ortiz landed a few big punches and a few takedowns, but Griffin had a 3/1 edge on total strikes and was the more active fighter.

Ortiz is going out at the right time, as he clearly is not among the best in the division and this performance proves it. For knowing it was his last bout, he didn’t have much of a spirited effort to win. For a man of his stature and his talk about being the people’s champion, he sure didn’t go out on his sword.

Griffin didn’t look at that great either, but he was definitely looking to finish the fight at the end.

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A light heavyweight rematch between Mauricio Rua and Forrest Griffin is set for Brazil this August at UFC 134 according to HeavyMMA.com.

A light heavyweight tilt rematch between Forrest Griffin and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is set for “UFC Rio.”

UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to MMAFighting.com earlier today.

The two first met back at UFC 76, the event where Rua made his debut with the promotion. The former PRIDE superstar failed to capitalize, however, as he was submitted by Griffin in what was one of the more improbable victories in the history of the UFC.

Since then, Griffin has earned and lost the 205 lb. title, while Rua has done the same. The Brazilian is coming off a technical knockout loss to Jon Jones which lost him the title, while Griffin is still on the road back with consecutive wins over Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin.

“UFC Rio,” also known as UFC 134, is set for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 27 and features a middleweight title fight between champion Anderson Silva and top contender Yushin Okami.

Read the full article.

UFC 126 takes place tonight from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and this card is stacked from top to bottom with intriguing and exciting bouts. Here are my picks for tonight’s main card.

UFC Middleweight Championship: Anderson Silva (27-4) vs. Vitor Belfort (19-8) – This is the first time Silva will be facing a striker that may have equal or greater hand speed than him, so this could be his toughest test to date. However, Silva is much more of a complete fighter, as he mixes in kicks, knees, elbows, and has a black belt in jiu-jitsu. While Belfort has one-punch KO power, I think Silva finds a way to get past him and puts on another impressive performance.

Light Heavyweight Bout: Forrest Griffin (17-6) vs. Rich Franklin (28-5) – Both of these guys are former champions in the UFC and both are trying to stay relevant within the organization. This should be a good scrap as both fighters always bring the fight. Franklin should have the edge in striking with his awkward style and angles, but Griffin has a big size advantage and I expect him to use that to smother Franklin and score takedowns, which will earn him a decision victory.UFC Light Heavyweight Bout: Jon Jones (11-1) vs. Ryan Bader (12-0) – This is a fight of the top two young up-and-comers in the division and the winner will be thrust into the top 5 of the division. Jones is such a unique fighter in terms of style and length while Bader is a great wrestler with good power in his hands. I think Jones has more ways to win this fight and will be able to stay off his back against Bader. I see Jones landing a big knee when Bader comes in for a shot, which sets up a TKO finish in round two.

UFC Bantamweight Bout: Miguel Torres (37-3) vs. Antonio Banuelos (19-6): Torres is one of the top bantamweights in the world and he has changed up his training in hopes to becoming a more complete and patient fighter. I see him picking apart Banuelos, who will look to grapple. I see Torres landing a nice combination in the second round before dropping Banuelos and jumping on him to secure a choke for a submission victory.

UFC Welterweight Bout: Jake Ellenberger (23-5) vs. Carlos Rocha (9-0) – Rocha is a very dangerous and slick submission fighter, but I see him struggling with Ellenberger’s wrestling. I look for Ellenberger to land takedowns and ground strikes while avoiding submission attempts to earn a decision victory over Rocha and continue to move up the welterweight ranks.

Spencer Kyte of HeavyMMA.com chats with former TUF winner (and former light heavyweight champ) Forrest Griffin about hepatitis, being heckled by teenage girls and fighting Rich Franklin.

Heavy: I’ll be sure to include the fact in the interview.

Griffin: That is important.

Heavy: So that everybody is aware and everybody knows, Forrest Griffin does not have hepatitis.

Griffin: Actually, you just go ahead and tell all the single women that I do have hepatitis so they stay away.
Heavy: Perfect. I think my wife might want me to share that plan from now on too.

Griffin: Just drop it casually, like, whenever you’re talking to women. What I always do is the “you know my wife” thing, just to make sure it doesn’t get awkward. Then you can just drop my hepatitis things too.

Heavy: In the year-and-a-half I’ve been married, I’ve become very skilled at the “my wife and I” any time there are single women around. She’ll be glad to read that.

Griffin: Well there is some exciting news for me, are we recording this, because this is the good shit?

Heavy: I am, we are; we’re ready to go.

Griffin: Good. Alright, well, I actually just had a very uncomfortable experience. I guess I was going to Starbucks the same time the school here let out, and I got cat-called by a bunch of teenage girls. It wasn’t as fun as you would imagine. It was actually kind of degrading.

Read the full interview.

Nate Lawson of HeavyMMA.com reports that Anderson Silva will fight Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 in Las Vegas on February 6.

The card is set to be headlined by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and top contender Vitor Belfort, while a light heavyweight clash between Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin will serve as the co-main event. Also on the card, fast-rising light heavyweight contenders Jon Jones and Ryan Bader will face off to determine who continues to rise in the competitive division.

Also on the pay-per-view portion of the event, former longtime WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres makes his UFC debut against Antonio Banuelos, while lightweight sluggers Paul Kelly and Sam Stout will face off in the first bout on the main card.

While several preliminary bouts have been rumored, including a lightweight tilt between Gabe Ruediger and Paul Taylor, as well as a welterweight contest between Jake Ellenberger and Carlos Eduardo Rocha, none have been made official as of yet.

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