In wake of Jose Aldo’s recent foot injury, Anderson Silva has stepped up on short notice and will now headline UFC 153 against Stephan Bonnar in his home country of Brazil. And in the co-main event, Fabio Maldonado replaces an injured Rampage Jackson.
In wake of Jose Aldo’s recent foot injury, Anderson
Silva has stepped up on short notice and will now headline UFC 153 against
Stephan Bonnar in his home country of Brazil. And in the co-main event, Fabio
Maldonado replaces an injured Rampage Jackson as he looks to take on the highly
dangerous Glover Teixeira.
UFC
153: Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar
The ongoing blows continued to worsen for the UFC
last week when it was revealed that featherweight champion Jose Aldo would have
to be pulled from the UFC 153 headliner due to a motorcycle accident.
Shortly after the accident, we were all reassured
that the injuries from Aldo’s wreck were minuscule and that he would be able to
resume his standard training regimen for the remainder of his camp. However,
head trainer Andre Pederneiras later revealed that Aldo’s mobility was indeed
being affected by the accident, and that the 3 week window until UFC 153 on
Oct. 13th simply wasn’t enough time for the champion to fully regain
optimal movement with his right foot.
In regards the recent injuries plaguing the UFC, Dana
White phrased it best at last week’s press conference.
"The only way it can be explained is: it's a
string of horrible luck. We don't lose the first two fighters on the card
falling out, we got the main (Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar) and co-main event
(Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira) falling out, which is the worst
thing that can happen”
Wasting little time, the UFC’s quick solution to
Aldo’s sudden injury was to put middleweight champion Anderson Silva in against
Stephan Bonnar, who if nothing else, has undeniably proven to be one of the
more durable light heavyweights in UFC history.
At the moment, UFC odds currently list Silva at -1200 over
Bonnar, which is by far the highest price we’ve seen on the champion during his
7 year career with the UFC.
Despite Bonnar’s lack of relevance over the last few
years, to his credit, he hasn’t suffered a legitimate loss since 2009 and
currently rides a 3 fight win streak into his match with Silva.
Bonnar clearly isn’t being given much of a chance
from the fans, and rightfully so, but If
there’s one thing he can hang his hat on it’s the fact that he’s the physically
stronger man facing a 37 year old champion who hasn’t fought at 205 pounds in
over 3 years. With the right type of
grapple-centric attack early in the fight, I could see Bonnar earning, at best,
one round on the scorecards.
Fabio
Maldonado replaces injured Rampage Jackson in Co-Main event
For those who were bummed out about Rampage having
to pull out of the UFC 153 co-main event, here are several reasons why I feel
Fabio Maldonado is a much more unique and deserving opponent to Teixeria.
First off, despite officially sporting a 1-2 record,
Maldando is still arguably undefeated in the UFC. The two decision losses he suffered
against Kyle Kingsbury and Igor Pokrajac both could have easily gone the other
way with a separate set of judges on the night.
Moreover, his unique brand of boxing has the potential
to cause problems for just about anyone in the division, including Teixeira.
The scouting report on Maldonado’s striking tells us
that he beautifully times his short left counters off his back foot, he stays
extremely active with a menacing left hook to the body and that he puts some of
his best combinations together when he has his opponents backed into the cage,
which is unquestionably, where he does his best work.
The negatives, meanwhile, stem from the complacency
we’ve seen from him in the clinch and his overall willingness to absorb clean,
hard shots from his opponents, which has the potential to be his undoing against
a Glover Teixeira brand of punching power.
Also, he needs to stay a bit more reserved and
measured with his right hand to avoid being taken down by the stronger
Teixeria. Looking back at Fabio’s most recent fight with Igor, the first time
he was taken down was result of him overcommitting with an overhand right which
allowed Igor to duck under and secure a takedown with a body lock. Once on his
back, he put himself in several vulnerable positions that a more seasoned
grappler like Glover probably would have capitalized on.
Based off the few times we’ve seen Maldonado
controlled on his back and considering the short notice in which Fabio accepted
this fight, we can expect Glover to
rightfully open as the clear favorite against his fellow Brazilian. However,
Glover’s extreme, over the top hype from the casual fan could end up giving us
favorable dog odds on Maldanodo. If Fabio creeps into the +175 or higher range
I would be willing to back him with our UFC
Predictions for the upset.