10 Things We Learned at UFC Rio

Tackling the talking points from the UFC’s return to Brazil

UFC 134 was a memorable night, delivering a fantastic card of fights and perhaps the best crowd in company’s history. It also gave us a great deal to talk about today. Here are the stories that piqued our interested after the UFC’s weekend in Rio.

BEST EVER, PERIOD.

The gap between Anderson Silva and the rest of the pack just keeps getting wider with each virtuoso performance the Brazilian puts forth. Saturday night, he made another elite middleweight contender look like a rank amateur, dropping his hands before dropping Yushin Okami with a jab.

Silva is on another level, and has been for some time. We lost sight of that in his perplexing display at UFC 112 and uninspired bouts against Patrick Cote and Thales Leites, but it has come back into plain view in his last two outings.

Forrest Griffin joked that Silva might need to face two men simultaneously to be challenged, and while we all laugh at the notion, the truth behind the comedy is that Silva stands in a class by himself, and there might not be anyone who can challenge him in the cage.

NOT TO BELABOR THE POINT, BUT…

It’s sublime watching a focused and motivated Silva inside the cage.

As you watch him stick-and-move, figuring out his opponent’s rhythm, growing more confident with each slipped punch, you’re watching a master create a beautiful, violent symphony.

Some people see him effortlessly dodge Okami’s punches as he did Griffin’s two years ago in Philadelphia, and believe it can’t be that he’s that good; that much faster than his opponent, one step ahead of every strike.

He is, on all fronts.

There is no one like him in the sport today, and there might not be another like him any time soon.

SHOGUN NEEDS TO FIND SOME CONSISTENCY

Mauricio Rua looked solid in his first fight since losing the light heavyweight title to Jon Jones at UFC 128. The instant he caught Griffin and had him hurt, “Shogun” pounced, and pounded out the victory.

As far as sub-two-minute performances go, it was pretty solid. It was also true to Rua’s pattern.

The 29-year-old Brazilian usually follows up a clunker with a strong showing. While it’s great that he is able to bounce back after every poor performance, finding some consistency would be even better. Rua’s on a short list of contenders in the 205 pound division, and against the competition he’s set to face, he can’t afford any lackluster outings.

Getting a quick and decisive win over Griffin is great, but what he does for an encore is more important. If he can remain healthy and repeat Saturday’s performance next time out, he could be in line for another crack at the championship he lost in March.

FADING FORREST

While we wonder what’s next for Silva and speculate if anyone will be able to beat him, the same question must be asked of Forrest Griffin from the opposite side of the win-loss ledger. Griffin was dominated on Saturday night, beaten clean and beaten quick, leaving many to wonder if he has any left in the tank.

After a week spent explaining the he hasn’t enjoyed fighting for some time and admitting that his head was elsewhere, it showed in the cage. Now Griffin has to sort out where he goes from here.

This loss dropped him from being a true contender and put him into that purgatory-like state populated by the likes of Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin; too famous and perhaps too proud to fight unknowns and up-and-comers, but not quite good enough to still hang with the elite of the division.

Three years ago, he won the light heavyweight championship. He’s been fading ever since. The question is can he stop the slide or is this the beginning of the end of “The Original Ultimate Fighter?”

NO LOSERS IN FIGHT OF THE NIGHT

Technically speaking, Ross Pearson did lose, but his split decision defeat to Edson Barboza in Saturday’s Fight of the Night was a victory in all other regards.

The former TUF winner showed grit and continued development in going toe-to-toe with the unbeaten Brazilian. You could even make a case for him winning the fight; the fight stats have him coming out ahead two rounds to one. To some it looked like another case of flashy strikes earning slightly higher marks than their less showy siblings. For what it’s worth, I had it 29-28 Barboza; Pearson won the first, without question.

High marks to Barboza as well. The undefeated Muay Thai practitioner fought a beautiful, technical fight, snapping out kicks with speed and power, showing why he is considered one to watch in the lightweight ranks. He also showed solid takedown defense, something he’s going to need to keep improving as he climbs the ladder in the wrestler-rich 155 pound division.

Both Pearson and Barboza should get a step up in competition coming out of Rio. Or we could just let them do it again; I don’t think anyone would complain.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCKS, IF JUST FOR ONE NIGHT

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had never fought in his homeland before. Saturday night, he made it a truly memorable event, knocking out rising contender Brendan Schaub in the opening round after an 18 month layoff.

In just over three minutes, we saw various elements of vintage Nogueira. As he’s done so often in his storied career, “Minotauro” weathered an early storm, then put his trademark boxing on display; a crisp one-two snapped Schaub’s head back, setting up the knockout blow.

Nogueira says he’s ready for another run at the heavyweight title after multiple surgeries and many months to heal his aching, oft-injured body. At 35-years-old, it’s hard to see him fighting his way back to the top of the mountain, but that’s what made Saturday night so special.

Three miles from his gym, in an arena he drives passed every day, Nogueira came home and turned back the clock, showing the form that once made him a champion.

TOO SOON FOR SCHAUB

Not many people gave Nogueira much of a chance against Schaub. The former TUF finalist had rattled off four straight wins, collecting three knockouts along the way, and appeared to be too (insert adjective of choice here) for the veteran to handle.

Along the way to the arena, we all seemed to forget that Schaub had yet to prove he truly belonged in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division. If we all agree that Mirko Cro Cop is no longer even a shadow of his once dangerous self, why were we convinced that a third round finish of the former Pride star made Schaub head and shoulders better than Nogueira on Saturday night?

Whether it was overselling Schaub, underselling Nogueira, or some combination of the two, it’s clear now that there are still some holes that need to be filled in the young heavyweight’s game. He still has the potential to do good things long term, but he’s not ready for a move to the top tier of the division just quite yet.

WORTH THE WAIT

Stanislav Nedkov has been under contract with the UFC for over a year, a pair of injuries — on his own, one to an opponent — delaying his debut until Saturday night.

The Bulgarian made it worth the wait by taking the best Luiz Cane had to offer early before blasting him with a right hand of his own and pounding out a victory in the final minute of the opening round.

Perhaps slightly undersized for the light heavyweight ranks, “Stucky” didn’t appear affected by his surroundings or the first fight jitters. Instead, he stood in with Cane, taking shots as he found his range and timing, then uncorked a fastball than caught the Brazilian flush. A drop to middleweight in the future wouldn’t surprise me; he’s a stocky 5’11” and looked like there was room to tighten things up going forward.

Either way, now that he’s finally made his debut, Nedkov is one to keep an eye on in the future.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ROUSIMAR PALHARES?

Seriously? This guy is the right amount of crazy and kind of shady to be very, very dangerous.

For the second time in three fights, “Toquinho” stopped fighting for no apparent reason, proving what we thought was a one-time brain cramp against Nate Marquardt was really a chronic condition.

On the positive front, his stand-up and conditioning looked much improved against Miller, and could make him a real threat in the middleweight division. His proclivity for pushing the limits of the rules is worrisome, however; he should have been docked a point in the second for grabbing the fence, and we all remember his failing to release a nasty heel hook against Tomasz Drwal.

If he ever finds the few cards his missing to make a full deck — and that’s a ginormous if right about now — Palhares could be a player in the 185 pound ranks.

THE UBIQUITOUS BAD OFFICIATING TALKING POINT

Let’s get one thing perfectly clear, right here, right now: 30-25 is a joke.

I don’t know who submitted that scorecard or how they scored each round, but of the possible combinations that produce those totals, none come close to being representative of the action in the cage. My best guess is that the judge scored the fight 10-8, 10-8, 10-9 for Palhares. In that case, only the middle stanza is acceptable to me; I had it 10-9, 10-8, 9-10 on my scorecard at home because you can’t get a 10-8 when you get dropped by a straight left near the end of the round.

That particular judge was not alone in having a momentary lapse of intelligence. Both Mario Yamasaki and Marc Goddard had some questionable stand-ups on Saturday night, bring fights back to their feet, taking fighters out of advantageous positions in the process.

I know a lot of people don’t like grappling and want to see nothing but stand-up warfare, but ground fighting is a part of the sport, and fighters need to be allowed to operate there without worrying about referees standing them up the second they stop punching or trying to advance their position. I’ll have more on this topic later in the week.