[Fingolfin]

I just read this on another site. It seems that Arlovski might have injured his knee in the first round. That would certainly explain why he did not shoot in for the take down. Not to take anything away from Tim - but did anyone else hear anything about this?


Sylvia and Ortiz win and Silva signed to UFC - 7/9/2006
by Elias Cepeda

If you turned your eyes away from either one of their first two fights against each other you could have missed it, but in their third go at it, observers needed to carefully count punches in order to determing who won the 5-round war between Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia.


The fight was almost exclusively a kick-boxing match as the pair traded blows, never once going to the ground and rarely even in the clinch, for 5 grueling rounds. In the end Tim Sylvia retained his title by unanimous decision, but it was far from a blow out.

In fact, the judges' scorecards show that if Arlovski could have won the 5th round in the eyes of at least two of the three judges, he would have won a majority decision. After four rounds, two judges had it scored even, Sylvia having won the second and fourth rounds and Arlovski having won the first and third rounds. The other judge had Arlovski down three rounds to one, so it would have been impossible to win it for Arlovski on that card, but unanimity is not needed and if Arlovski could have out pointed Sylvia in the 5th in the eyes of at least those two judges who had it even after four, he would have regained the title on a majority decision.

Many were suprised that Arlovski's expected speed advantage over Sylvia didn't seem to last throughout the fight, and also that he did not attempt any takedowns or throw many leg kicks, which he has used with brutal effectiveneses throughout his career.

A partial explanation may be an injury to Arlovski's knee that his camp is reporting occured in the first round.
Although it is unclear to what extent Arlovski's knee may have been damaged, he did have to go to the hospital after the fight. If Arlovski did indeed suffer a serious knee injury in the first round the fact that he and Sylvia went all 5 rounds
would be even more impressive.

Although the fight went the distance it was not for lack of knockout power punches being landed. Both men repeatedly connected with power on each other's chins, Sylvia with a few uppercuts and straight crosses, and Arlovski with several over hand rights to the jaw of Sylvia.

Yet each man, though stunned at times, withstood the other's punishment, and niether appeared to get winded, even in the later rounds. In the end, an increasingly impressive Tim Sylvia out pointed Arlovski, who at fight's end was bleeding under his right eye and on the lieft side of his face.

Sylvia's hand speed looked improved, especially his jab which he brought back crisply throughout the fight, instead of letting it drop as he has done in the past.

Especially in the later rounds, Sylvia was effective at not letting Arlovski get free hits as he countered many of the former champ's power shots, and he also deftly faded away from quite a few of Arlovski's big swings in the last two rounds.

Sylvia's strategy combined effective coutnering and persistant stalking of Arlovski with quick lead shots landed at opportune, if sparse, moments.

Arlovski, the crowd and odds favorite now looks to find a place slightly below the top of a heavyweight division most expected him to dominate. And Sylvia likely looks forward to Jeff Monson, the rightful number one contender in the division.

[Title Fight Productions]

I thought maybe he broke his right hand in the 3rd because he thru about 6 total right hands in the 4th and 5th!!

[Death Angel]

BS. He got rocked and did not want to fight to win. He just tried not to lose. One punch at a time and moved away.

[Hydroblunt]

Originally Posted by Fingolfin

I
In fact, the judges' scorecards show that if Arlovski could have won the 5th round in the eyes of at least two of the three judges, he would have won a majority decision. After four rounds, two judges had it scored even, Sylvia having won the second and fourth rounds and Arlovski having won the first and third rounds. The other judge had Arlovski down three rounds to one, so it would have been impossible to win it for Arlovski on that card, but unanimity is not needed and if Arlovski could have out pointed Sylvia in the 5th in the eyes of at least those two judges who had it even after four, he would have regained the title on a majority decision.

Pure nonsense, there was no way AA was taking that on a decision and anyone who has half an understanding how the politics of champ vs challenger work (especially in UFC), knows that. It would have to be an obvious domination to get a decision and if either fighter would have put the effort forward needed for a dominating performance, the fight would not have went 5 rounds.

AA never had to shoot, all he had to do was keep chopping down the tree and maybe try a hook & uppercut here and there. But he did not even try to slightly mix it up, not even a 2-1 instead of 1-1-2.

And I cannot stand these pathetic attempts to try to say that Sylvia had a good gameplan to stick to. He could have had AA KO'ed or TKO'ed and he did not scrape up enough balls to risk a little slip under AA's overhead rights. Instead he chose the safety of a sure decision win. The aggression factor easily went to AA, because Sylvia rarely attempted to strike first. His whole gameplan consisted of swaying away from the overhead right and throw a 2-3 punch combo for a counter. It was to the point where he was taking 3 straight jabs to the face just to have his timing safe for a sway away from the overhead right.

AA must have been injured, that was just ridiculous. But still, that 1-1-overhead 2 stopped working early on, why not mix it up. The fighters fell into such a predictable pattern that even the shots they landed were expected and did not have the impact needed.

[hollowpoint]

Tim is the man now bring on pride

[metrobo&ballzak]

Scorecards are it whether one guy is the champ or not. Arlovski's knee had to be really screwed to the point where he couldn't throw a right. Sylvia was getting so lazy there in the later rounds just having to deal with AA's left. I didn't get why AA didn't go for a takedown either. And no leg kicks from AA either. I was thinking there was no excuse for his lack of effort and he didn't deserve the win over the current Champ but the injory report changes that. Let's see Sylvia defend his title some.

[VoLTesV]

Originally Posted by Hydroblunt

Pure nonsense, there was no way AA was taking that on a decision and anyone who has half an understanding how the politics of champ vs challenger work (especially in UFC), knows that. It would have to be an obvious domination to get a decision and if either fighter would have put the effort forward needed for a dominating performance, the fight would not have went 5 rounds.

AA never had to shoot, all he had to do was keep chopping down the tree and maybe try a hook & uppercut here and there. But he did not even try to slightly mix it up, not even a 2-1 instead of 1-1-2.

And I cannot stand these pathetic attempts to try to say that Sylvia had a good gameplan to stick to. He could have had AA KO'ed or TKO'ed and he did not scrape up enough balls to risk a little slip under AA's overhead rights. Instead he chose the safety of a sure decision win. The aggression factor easily went to AA, because Sylvia rarely attempted to strike first. His whole gameplan consisted of swaying away from the overhead right and throw a 2-3 punch combo for a counter. It was to the point where he was taking 3 straight jabs to the face just to have his timing safe for a sway away from the overhead right.

AA must have been injured, that was just ridiculous. But still, that 1-1-overhead 2 stopped working early on, why not mix it up. The fighters fell into such a predictable pattern that even the shots they landed were expected and did not have the impact needed.

woohoo great post! the 1-1-2/overhand was readable after the 1st round...why in the world he kept repeating the same pattern OVER and OVER bewildered me. AA was looking for that one Golden Shot. He didn't attempt to follow up even after he connected with a cross/overhand...

that was one bad boxing match for 5 rounds.

[Girljock]

Hmm...might explain why the leg kicks stopped.

[VoLTesV]

Originally Posted by hollowpoint

Tim is the man now bring on pride

seriously...i never would SAY this...and use to even believe that AA and Sylvia had a chance against Fedor. but after watching that fight, I really think they both would get destroyed thoroughly by Fedor.

[Jpeeezie21]

excuses, excuses- in Tims words WHAT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!