Anderson Silva, Ed Soares excited about UFC 112

Dent · **Posted:** Sun Feb 14, 2010 1:11 am

Anderson Silva, Ed Soares excited about "old-school" matchup in new UFC 112 title fight

For at least one day, one of the world's top pound-for-pound fighters was just like every MMA fan in the world: He was wondering who the UFC would pick for him to fight next.

UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva (25-4 MMA, 10-0 UFC) found out on Thursday, along with pretty much the rest of the MMA world, that title challenger Vitor Belfort had been forced to withdraw from a planned UFC 112 bout on April 10 in Abu Dhabi due to a shoulder injury.

Then on Friday, Silva found out just hours before the UFC made its official announcement that Demian Maia (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) had agreed to fill in. "The Spider" smiled, and his mind was immediately brought back to the early days of the UFC.

"I think it's a very interesting matchup," Silva told MMAjunkie.com for The Dallas Morning News through his manager, Ed Soares. "I think it's MMA's best striker against MMA's best grappler. I think it kind of brings back the old-school UFC of standup fighter vs. grappler."

The UFC brass agrees with the assessment, and Friday's official announcement of the fight noted precicesly the same observation.

"Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA's best striker and MMA's best grappler," UFC president Dana White stated in the release.

While White is an occasional source of hyperbole, it's hard to argue with him on this point.

Silva owns 15 of his 25 career wins by knockout or TKO, and many of them have come in devastating fashion (as Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin, James Irvin, Chris Leben and Nate Marquardt can attest). Meanwhile, in addition to his extensive credentials in the grappling world, Maia has put those talents to work in the cage, as well, claiming four "Submission of the Night" bonuses in his seven UFC appearances.

"Anderson was very motivated to fight Vitor," Soares said. "He was taking that camp very seriously, and now he's going to be taking the Demian Maia camp very seriously.

"I think Demian is a professional. He's a great person. He's a very humble guy, and he's a very talented guy. This is the classic, old-school MMA fight where it's the world's best grappler against the world's best striker. It's got that old-school feel."

BUT WHY MAIA?

When Belfort went down, the UFC was left with a difficult decision to make.

Silva, one of the world's best and most recognizable fighters hasn't fought since August. But a recent string of round-robin contests left the middleweight division without a clear-cut contender who was ready to take the fight on eight-weeks' notice.

Chael Sonnen (24-10-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC), riding the strength of three-straight wins in the UFC over quality opponents (Marquardt, Yushin Okami and Dan Miller) and bolstered by a recent barrage of verbal jabs at Silva, appeared the leading candidate. But UFC officials determined the damage Sonnen endured in his UFC 109 win over Marquardt was too great for him to overcome in time for UFC 112, so they turned to the last man to beat Sonnen: Maia, who submitted Sonnen in the first round of a February 2009 contest.

"I think it's a shame that Chael wasn't able to take the fight because I know with all that crap he was talking about Anderson this and Anderson that it would be interesting for him to put all those things he had to say into the octagon," Soares said. "But then again, you've got Demian Maia here who is a guy who submitted Chael stepping up here and taking the fight on less-than-two-months' notice.

"We appreciate Demian stepping up and taking the fight on such short notice, and now you've got two of the best at what they do stepping into the octagon."

However, the knock on Maia is that Marquardt dispatched of him via knockout in just 21 seconds in an August 2009 contest. Soares admits the timing of the loss is unfortunate, but he believes the nature of the one-punch finish actually should hamper Maia's contender status less than Marquardt's own positioning after being dominated for 15 minutes by Sonnen at UFC 109.

"It's a bummer to have a loss two fights ago," Soares said. "But a situation like that, that can happen to anybody. That just goes to show you that if anybody gets hit in the chin with a four-ounce glove, you can go down.

"And it wasn't like he got beat up for three rounds. He literally got caught, and anybody can get caught. I think it was unfortunate, but I don't think it takes away from Demian Maia as a fighter."

And, Soares contends, Maia proved in his own UFC 109 win against Miller – a win the submission ace earned largely on the feet rather than through his actions on the ground – that his standup game had improved dramatically.

"Demian obviously has improved his stand-up game quite a bit," Soares said. "I'm not going to say he's an A-plus striker now, but you definitely can see that his striking game has improved. It might not be in his best interest to stand with Anderson, but I think he can stand with Anderson a lot better than he was able to six months ago.

"He seemed like he knew how to move around the octagon much better, and he looked like he felt a lot more comfortable using his hands. He wasn't just desperate to take his opponent down. I think that's going to be important. I think that's going to present some challenges."

Soares doesn't mean to suggest that "MMA's best grappler" ought to try and turn the bout with Silva into a Muay-Thai fight, but he does believe the refined skillset makes for a more entertaining matchup.

"I'm not saying Maia's striking is going to be as good as Anderson," Soares said. "Right now, in this day and age, I think Anderson is the best standup fighter in the world. I think it's going to be difficult for anyone to say, 'I'm going to stand with Anderson.' But I think that the way Demian's striking has been improving is going to make the fight more interesting because it's not like we're expecting him to just go in and shoot. That's what everyone is thinking, but I don't think he's going to do that.

"I don't think the bell is going to ring and Maia is just going to jump in and shoot. He's going to have to exchange a little bit, and that's going to be interesting."

THE LEITES EFFECT

Save for the 21-second disaster against Marquardt, the Maia bandwagon has been steadily gaining steam for quite some time.

Silva has shown time and time again that he can out-strike even the best of challengers. But those observers eying a potential kink in Silva's nearly impenetrable armor frequently point to a 2007 contest with Travis Lutter in which Silva found himself briefly mounted.

If Lutter, who missed weight for the matchup, could put Silva on the brink of disaster, then maybe jiu-jitsu is the champ's Achilles' heel?

Enter Thales Leites.

Leites earned a title shot with Silva in April 2009. The Nova Unaio fighter was 14-1 at the time, and he counted submission wins over Jose Landi-Jons and Gustavo Machado among his pre-UFC accomplishments.

Theoretically, he could prove a real threat to Silva on the floor. Reality resulted in a 25-minute snoozefest with Leites largely refusing to engage Silva on the feet.

Soares doesn't believe Maia will approach the April 10 fight in the same manner.

"I think a lot of times, people look at the glass as half-empty, and some people look at it as half-full," Soares said. "A fight is a fight, and every fight is different.

"I think Thales Leites was a great fighter. It's hard to say, but I think Demian Maia is a little bit of a different type of fighter. Demian goes in there, and he's the best at what he does on the ground. Anderson is excited to test himself against what the world considers to be the best grappler in MMA."

Soares also believes Maia, despite the loss to Marquardt, may have proven more on his way to the top with victories over a higher quality of foe than Leites ever faced.

"I think it's going to be a great fight," Soares said. "The guy's got a 12-1 record, and he's beaten some great guys. I think he's dangerous, and it's going to be good."

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

So whether or not Maia can present the type of challenge for Silva that many fans long for remains to be seen. But with the convoluted triumvirate that is the UFC's Maia, Marquardt and Sonnen, the organization was forced to make a move. Now that a contender has been named, Soares believes Silva will once again prove ready to impress.

"Demian and Vitor are both very tough fighters, but they're different types of fighters," Soares said. "I'm sure Anderson is going to make a few adjustments to his training camp on what he's going to do, but for the most part, Anderson goes out there and does the same thing for every fight. Then he just changes certain details depending on who the opponent is."

And Soares believes Maia is the best opponent for Silva right now.

"The UFC is the biggest organization in the world for a reason," Soares said. "They know what's going on behind the scenes, and basically, it makes sense.

"The fight with Vitor Belfort, it was the right time to make that fight happen. That's why they put the fight together. At this point, unfortunately there weren't a lot of options, but I think that Demian Maia was a very good replacement. He's the best at what he does, which is grappling. He's the best. No one can deny that."

As for Silva, who will train in Brazil for the remainder of his camp before traveling to Abu Dhabi about two-to-three weeks before the fight to get used to the time and climate changes, he's excited for this "old-school" fight as the UFC ushers in a new era.

"I just appreciate that Demian Maia stepped up and took this fight," Silva said. "It's going to be a history making UFC, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

"This is going to not only be the first UFC event in Abu Dhabi, but also the first UFC event that's going to be held outdoors, and I'm very happy to be part of that milestone in UFC history."

Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/17937/anderso ... -fight.mma

Anderson Silva, Ed Soares excited about UFC 112

Who is online