The bout between Wanderlei Silva and Cung Le drew attention because of its storyline. It was a pairing of a “past his prime’ legend and a precision striker who defeated lesser competition in a different organization. Tonight’s fight at UFC 139 came at an important crossroads in their respective careers and many believe this would be “The Axe Murder’s” final fight under the UFC banner.
Once again Silva proved the doubters wrong.
Keeping with his notorious, hard-charging style, Silva came out of the gates gun blazing and was able to survive after being rocked by Le early. As the AKA fighter pursued, Silva was able to regain his bearings and landed a flurry that backed Le up. The first round was a back and forth with both fighters scoring and Silva opening up a cut on Le’s eyebrow.
As the second round got underway, Silva’s aggression made all the difference as he began to find a home for his powerful hands. Le started to show the wear and tear of Silva’s assault and once Silva realized he was hurt, the Brazilian’s legendary killer instinct took over. He wobbled Le with a right hand and as Le bounced off the cage, Silva grabbed onto his neck and began launching knees. With a rapid flurry of knee stirkes, Silva dropped Le and then pounced on his downed opponent for the finish.
The victory comes at an important time for Silva as the masses across MMA were calling for his retirement. The win puts him back on track after a 27 second knockout loss to Chris Leben this summer and tonight’s performance against Le, should earn Silva another night in the Octagon.
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