MMA dominates the dojo this weekend…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Boxing is taking a week off (well, fights that would actually matter). But MMA has UFC 97 on Saturday, and I’ll be at the Bellator event tonight at Lloyd Noble Center.
The last couple of UFC events have made me cringe. “This is pay-per-view,” has been what I’ve been thinking.
Not this time. This is a solid card, and the Montreal fight crowd might be among the top five in the world. Boxing, MMA, doesn’t matter to that group. It’ll be an electric atmosphere.
The main event feature Boneman’s pound-for-pound best fighter, Antonio “Spider” Silva vs. Thales Leites.
Silva didn’t look good in his last fight vs. Patrick Cote, but he got the job done. Any lingering memories from that bout will be erased as I think Silva walks right through Leites.
The lack of contenders in the middleweight division really led Leites to getting this shot. Doesn’t mean he can’t pull off the upset of the year, but I wouldn’t bet .02 on it.
Leites is a great grappler and is solid on takedowns and would appear to give Silva some threat. But may be overstretching the bounds here, don’t think there is a real blueprint to beat Silva right now.
Silva is the real deal.
In the other main attraction, as fighters get older, the Boneman gets softer. It happened with Lennox Lewis and Roy Jones Jr. And it’s happening now with Chuck Liddell.
He’s no longer the King of the Hill or the most talked about fighter in the world. He’s no longer the man that will bring MMA into the mainstream media.
He’s just a fighter looking for that one more chance. I don’t know if it’ll happen vs. Shogun Rua, but I’m not 100 percent down on the IceMan this time around.
Liddell is getting older and Rua’s injuries have kept him from reaching his full potential.
There’s a term I use with my brother in boxing bouts like this: “Loser leaves the sport…please.” The term crossroads fight gets thrown out there too much, but this is definitely it.
One more hurrah for Liddell or a return to glory for Rua?
***
Tonight is the Bellator card from Norman. How important is it? Norman native Wayne Cole called me yesterday to say this might be the most important fight of his career. He can’t wait to fight in front of his hometown crowd.
Cole and former Central Oklahoma star Jared Hess are the local fighters competing tonight.
But I’m very interested in the setup, atmosphere, crowd, production values. The fights to me are way down on my list. Because if you have good fights but can’t present it right, eh, doesn’t matter.
Tickets are still on sale, from $20-100. The event starts at 8 p.m.
Bringing along a friend who isn’t too into MMA. Figure this might be the event where I show him “see, that’s why I love it.”
Back tomorrow with some Bellator thoughts.
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