 Brown Belt
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Southern California
Posts: 4,269
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The Fallen
This is a follow up to my old "The Undefeated," thread from a couple months ago. Here, I will document the fall from grace of some of the previously undefeated prospects.
Losing. It's the one thing no fighter, no professional athlete of any kind, ever wishes to face. Yet face it they must. Because in a sport where anything can happen at any minute, where dominance could come crashing down with a well-placed right hand, or slick submission, or an judge's opinion, losing, like death, becomes inevitable. No matter how good, how slick, or how impressive you are, sooner or later, if you fight at a high-level competition, YOU WILL LOSE. What chance does any fighter have of staying undefeated, when even the mighty Fedor Emelianenko has tasted defeat? And so it has come to be, that these previously unbeaten fighters, have been met with the cold hard reality of defeat.
ANTONIO SILVA: He was the next big thing at the HW division. Massive, even for a HW, incredibly strong, and exceptionally quick for his size, Antonio Silva was making waves. After exploding into the MMA scene with a surprising 48 second destruction of feared UK Cage Rage HW Tengiz Tedoradze, Silva continued his ascent with vicious wins over MMA veterans like Ruben Villareal and the then 9-0 Tadas Rinkevicius. Silva proved he was a force to be reckoned with, however, when he stepped up to face the Big Cat, Tom Erikson. In a little under 3 minutes, Antonio Silva completely annihilated Tom Erikson in a way no one had ever done before, stopping him with a TKO. Silva's utter domination of Erikson skyrocketed him into HW contention worldwide. After attaining the height of his young career, Silva was scheduled to fight devastating striker Eric Pele, in a fight that he came in as a huge favorite. Unfortunately for Silva, his brutal winning streak came to a crashing halt at the literal hands of Pele, who dropped Silva with a short punch, and pounced on for the ref stoppage. The fight was laced in controversy, as calls of an early stoppage mounted. However, the damage had been done. Silva had lost his unblemished record, and his invincible aura. The Pele fight not only showed that his chin was susceptible, but that he could be beaten.
SINCE THEN: Since then, Silva has regathered himself and had one fight, against notorious toughman Wesley Cabbage Correira. On the biggest stage of his career in the newly founded EXC, Silva made his road back from defeat with a highly impressive victory over Cabbage. Silva displayed fantastic skills, landing a beautifully timed flying knee that stunned Cabbage, and then came in for the kill with strikes.
WHAT NEXT?: Silva has bounced back well from his controversial loss, and actually looks better than ever. With a solid win over a solid opponent, Silva looks poised to make his mark in the HW division. Although it was a great win, Silva has still yet to prove himself against today's HW elite. With his chin now suspect, and his undefeated aura dissipitated, Silva has to make a name for himself with credible wins. To prove that he really is one of the best in the world, he will need to beat one of the best in the world. A fight between a fighter like Aleks Emelinanenko (which had been previously rumored, but never materialized), would be the perfect fight for Silva at this juncture in his career.
THALES LEITES: Quietly making his move on the MMA world by racking up wins in smaller organizations, Leites was first noticed when he came out of nowhere to submit then rising star himself, Gustavo "Ximu" Machado. Leites became the first person ever to finish Machado by submission. With his name now out there, Leites continued his impressive streak with wins over seasoned MMA veterans like Ronald Jhun, Jason Guida, and Osami Shibuya, all of whom were exceptionally more exeperienced than the relative rookie Leites. Leites proved his will to power by defeating all of them, and then moving on to cement his status by submitting Vale Tudo legend Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons. With that win, the largest MMA organization in North America took notice. The UFC snatched up the hot prospect with intentions of pitting him against top MW contender Nathan Marquardt. The fight never materialized, and Leites was instead matched up against another young up-and-comer in Martin Kampmann. The fight was considered a big step down in competition, and Leites was considered the favorite to win. In a fight that was intended to be his coming out party, Leites was derailed by the highly impressive Kampmann. Leites dropped the superior striker Kampmann early on, but could not finish. Perhaps becoming too confident after the knockdown, Leities opted to stand with Kampmann, in a decision that would lead to his downfall. Kampmann recovered, and began to pepper the less refined Leites with shot after shot. Leites showed a tremendous chin, but took uncanny amounts of punishment at Kampmann's superior striking technique. Shot after shot after shot was landed, and when Leites finally decided to go for the shot, his gas tank was already done. Beaten and gassed, Leites could do little more than survive, getting dropped twice in the later rounds, on his way of losing a decision to Kampmann.
SINCE THEN: Leites has not fought since his heartbreaking loss to Kampmann, but he is scheduled to face Pete Sell at the next UFC event. Leites showed heart and an impressive chin to take the punishment he did against Kampmann and not get finished, but he also showed glaring weaknesses. Kampmann showed that with superior striking and strong takedown defense, Leites could be held at bay.
WHAT NEXT?: Leites' next fight is against UFC and TUF veteran Pete Sell. Sell is in many ways similar to Leites in that both guys are great grapplers with solid chins, and a penchant for the stand-up game. Both guys have lost due to their willingness to play their opponent's game. This is a fight that Leites could, and realistically, should win. He has the superior ground skills, and a good enough chin to at least withstand Sell's striking until he can get the fight where he wants it to be. This is most likely, a make or break fight for either fighter. Both are coming off losses, and if Leites wants to punctuate on his opportunity, he must win this fight in impressive fashion. Otherwise, I would not be surprised to see the UFC lose interest in a failed venture.
TYSON GRIFFIN: Griffin made a huge splash with a win over highly touted FW Urijah Faber in only his third professional MMA fight. Faber was undefeated at the time at 8-0, and Griffin, coming in as an unknown, stopped him. Griffin's stock skyrocketed with the win, and he continued to rack up victories until he was given the chance to fight on a big stage, against a big name opponent in Duane BANG Ludwig. Griffin did not disappoint, and again stopped his much larger and more experienced opponent with strikes. After his win over Ludwig, the UFC began to take notice of the natural 145'er, and offered him a chance to fight in their newly reinstated LW division. Griffin took the opportunity, and successfully made his debut with a win over David Lee. Griffin was looking impressive and was marked as the next big thing in the UFC's LW division. However, his road to glory would be cut short after his second UFC fight. Griffin came in against mutually undefeated Frank Edgar as a favorite, but soon realized he was in for a war. Griffin and Edgar traded shots and takedowns for three rounds, with Griffin NEARLY securing a beautiful rolling kneebar during the last moments of the fight. However, it was not to be, as Edgar held on for the unanimous decision win.
SINCE THEN: Griffin has not had a match yet since then, and it is unsure when he will make his return to the Octagon. Griffin fought a great fight, but just appeared to be outmatched by Frank Edgar. The Edgar fight raised some questions about Griffin's ability to compete at the 155 lb weightclass. Griffin is a great fighter, but he is severely undersized at LW. He had trouble against a great wrestler like Edgar, who was more or less his size.
WHAT NEXT?: Griffin's still young, and the Edgar fight did not exactly hurt his name. It was easily the fight of the night at UFC 67, and was close despite the unanimous ruling. Griffin's got all the tools to be great, except one: size. He is just too small for the division. Larger LW's who cut down like Sean Sherk and Joe Stevenson would simply overpower Griffin, who probably has to gain weight or doesn't cut that much to make 155. I know the UFC was looking at Griffin as a prospect, but with his undefeated streak gone, and the plethora of talent they have at the division, I don't know what their plans for him are. To be honest, I think his best bet for a title would be to move over to the WEC where they have a 145 division and beat Faber again for the championship. Griffin could beat anyone at 145, but against 155er's I believe he is just too small.
That does it for this edition. Will do more later.
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And on the 8th day, Man created God
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