· UFC 126: What We Learned

“UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort” aired live Saturday night from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev. The highly anticipated fight card did not disappoint, as a current champion once again sent shock waves across the MMA landscape, while an up-and-coming superstar solidified his standing as a legitimate contender. But before we get into the nuts and bolts of UFC 126, first we have to ask ourselves the all-important question: What did we learn?

Torres Has Quietly Started A New Win Streak

Back in 2009 Miguel Torres was mentioned in the same breath with the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Just as the WEC hype machine was pushing him into the consciousness of the casual MMA fan, he ended up on the wrong end of a Brian Bowles beating, squashing the pound-for-pound argument. With that loss he not only lost his WEC bantamweight championship, but also his aura of invincibility; he had, incredibly, only lost one bout out of 38 before his stunning defeat to Bowles. It didn’t help matters when Joseph Benavidez overwhelmed him as well in Torres’ subsequent outing, submitting him via guillotine choke at WEC 47 in March of 2010.

But in his UFC debut, Torres used his 13-inch reach advantage over Manual Banuelos to take another step in polishing his previous luster. Over a methodical three-round affair he earned a dominant unanimous decision over Banuelos, with each judge awarding him 30-27 scores.

Though not as compelling as past Torres wins, he fought strategically with his jab to keep Banuelos at a distance. By the end of the 15-minute fight, Banuelos’ crimson mug told the story. Unable to get close enough to inflict any real damage on Torres, Banuelos endured a frustrating battle as Torres peppered him with inside and outside leg kicks, along with the persistent jab.

With the win Torres has started a new streak of two straight. He also seems to have changed his game plan, forgoing his aggressive striking and ground attack for a more measured approach. Many fighters, after suffering devastating knockout losses, reinvent themselves in this manner. Though not as fan-friendly but certainly more savvy, a cautious strategy coupled with his obscene amount of experience could presage a return to bantamweight glory for Torres.

Ellenberger Thwarts A First-Round Submission Assault To Triumph

Jake Ellenberger’s bout with Carlos Eduardo Rocha could not have started out any worse for him. Ellenberger decided, repeatedly, to take the fight to the ground with the Brazilian submission technician in the first round, and he almost paid the price for that tactical decision.

Rocha, working from multiple dominant positions during the first frame, hunted for submission after submission. Things looked bleak for Ellenberger as Rocha patiently hunted for a leg-lock. Ellenberger, to his credit, ultimately escaped to his feet, but another ill-advised takedown late in the round put him in a dire position again as Rocha slickly transitioned to a kimura. Somehow Ellenberger avoided tapping out, surviving to see a second round.

Ellenberger, though, had learned his lesson. For the final two rounds he fought standing, and he won the war on the feet, landing far more significant shots than Rocha did. And though he did utilize his takedowns he did so in a more calculated manner, waiting until the end of both rounds to wrestle Rocha to the canvas in an attempt to shore up his standing with the cage-side judges.

In the end, Ellenberger earned a split decision from the judges, with two of them scoring it 29-28 for Ellenberger, and the lone dissenter ludicrously scoring the bout 30-27 in favor of Rocha. Ellenberger, now 3-1 in the UFC, showed grit in surviving the Brazilian’s submission onslaught, but also an in-cage intelligence by shifting his obvious game plan mid-fight. He will prove a tough out in the UFC’s competitive welterweight division.

Fate—And Another Dominating Performance—Places Jones In Title Bout

In a crucial match-up of up-and-coming light heavyweights, Jon Jones shined again against Ryan Bader. Bader, undefeated coming into the bout, looked bewildered inside the Octagon against the sturdy and determined Jones, who put the “The Ultimate Fighter: Season 8” winner out of his misery in round two.

Bader immediately became the hunted, as a serenely calm Jones stalked him. Jones then notched an immediate takedown and worked to side control before threatening to finish Bader with a north-south choke. Bader refused to tap and Jones relinquished the choke, but it was a precursor of what was to come in the second frame.

After initially standing to start the second round the bout returned to the ground when a Jones trip landed him in Bader’s half-guard. He initially worked for a Brabo choke, then switched to a nasty neck-torquing guillotine that forced Bader to tap at the 4:20 mark of the second frame.

After the bout it was revealed that Rashad Evans sustained a knee injury in training that would force him out of his upcoming title tilt with current Light Heavyweight Champion Shogun Rua at UFC 128 on March 19. Taking Evans’ place, only six weeks from now, will be the electrifying Jones. While there are certainly fans and pundits that feel it’s too early for Jones to make this significant leap, especially on short rest, you can place this writer's vote firmly in the perfect timing column.

Jones has not only defeated his opponents; he has overwhelmed them. The common catchphrase that follows him around is entirely accurate: he is the new breed of fighter. What’s scary is his youth still allows for dramatic improvement in all facets of fighting, as evidenced by his continually creative submission game. And as the UFC continues to hype up a potential Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva super-fight (more on that later), they now, almost organically, have a better and more evenly matched mega-bout with Rua vs. Jones in their premiere division.

Everyone’s heard the saying “The future is now.” In MMA, that saying is even more appropriate. And currently, in the MMA world, the future is Jon Jones.

Griffin Still Knows How To Grind Out A Victory

In the co-headliner, Forrest Griffin shook off significant cage rust to earn a unanimous decision over Rich Franklin. All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Griffin, who returned to the Octagon after a hiatus that lasted more than a year.

Griffin was aggressive early, taking Franklin down and pounding on him with punches and elbows in Franklin’s full guard for the bulk of the first frame. A more varied second round saw Griffin briefly shift to Franklin’s back then later wobble his legs with a left hook. Though Griffin notched another takedown in the third round, Franklin got the better of the standing exchanges, which is probably why the judges scored a round in his favor.

Though a logical fight, and one between two wildly popular fighters, it did not set the world on fire. In fact, many prognosticators had predicted exactly how the fight would play out, with it going the full fifteen minutes and landing in the hands of the judges. But the reason the fight was a logical one to make is the same cause for concern for these two fan favorites: they are both in no man’s land, and the MMA cognoscenti know that the two fighters are rungs below the elite, and are running out of opponents to face at light heavyweight (or even catchweight, for that matter).

This is not to say that both fighters do not deserve praise. The huge-hearted Griffin, glass chin or not, always garners adoration from fans for his never-say-die style. The same goes for the cerebral Franklin, who after getting chased out of his ideal weight class by Silva should be admired for stepping up to face fighters who significantly outweigh him by the time the bell rings. But it doesn’t change the fact that it feels like both men are strangely living on borrowed time, and that the UFC has milked their popularity almost dry. They both forged a bold path in the early era of the UFC’s renaissance to have successful MMA careers, and the promotion will always be indebted to them. But at the same time, the UFC can only mask their current mediocrity and recent failures against elite fighters for so much longer.

It’s Time For Silva To Vacate His Middleweight Title

There’s no reason to spend any time here being overly descriptive about Anderson Silva’s unparalleled performance on Saturday night. He kicked Vitor Belfort right in the face, toppling him to the canvas. The extra two punches he landed on the downed Belfort are already gone and forgotten, with the awe-inspiring front kick to the jaw instantaneously and firmly ingrained into MMA lore.

This is the Anderson Silva fans crave. And it’s the type of performance that breaks down barriers for a sport that still, shockingly and hypocritically, faces resistance. Though nascent, the sport (like any sport) still has its share of banality. But like any transcendent moment, whether it’s catching a football on the side of your helmet in the waning seconds of a Super Bowl, or hitting a walk-off home run and limping around the bases in the World Series, we want to see excellence from the best against the best with the highest stakes possible on the line. So likewise in MMA, you not only achieve immortality by winning repeatedly, but also by having these moments of brilliance when fans witness something previously thought impossible. Front-kicking a lethal striker in the face and knocking him out is impossible. Or so we thought. Just like Anthony Pettis’ cage-bounce head-kick on Ben Henderson in the WEC’s final card last December, it’s a giddy reminder that there are still things that await us that will astound us. That’s why we love sports. It's also why we must praise Anderson Silva for providing it, consistently, within the construct of MMA.

His past awkward in-cage antics aside, Silva can now be called the greatest ever if you want to make the argument. With fourteen straight wins (nine of them UFC middleweight title defenses) he is doing things that might not ever be matched in modern MMA. Just look at the merry-go-round of champions in every other division and that alone, not even taking into account his spectacular finishes, almost makes an open-and-shut case.

That’s why it’s time for him to move on, and moving on means moving up to light heavyweight. There’s been no greater title turnover than at that weight class in recent history. If Silva can step up and dominate there—which he has already shown he is perfectly capable of doing—and ultimately become champion, then now we’re talking about a feat that would be one for the ages.

So with all due respect to middleweight workhorse Yushin Okami and welterweight sensation Georges St-Pierre, these potential altercations for Silva shouldn’t be sold as competitive endeavors. But they will be, and many fans will take the UFC's bait. In short, Silva wins either of those bouts with ease. That's why this writer is already thinking bigger. If Silva makes the leap up a weight class, then there's a distinct possibility of the current legend facing the future legend, which is Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones. And that, my friends, is a fight that would stand the MMA world on its head.