I didn't see the PPV, but reading the recaps, Forrest Griffin gets his ass handed to him by Silva. Never even landing a punch. Gets knocked down, Silva helps him up, then knocks him down and OUT. Forrest gets up, runs out of the Octogon, gets booed out of the building and is gone.
The whole thing was pretty crazy to watch. I really hate Silva's "I'm just going to put my hands down by my sides and dodge your punches" move he does to mock opponents, but I do give him his due as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. His casual dodging of Forrest's last two punches followed by a off-balance straight jab to knock him out looked like something out of Dragon Ball Z.
While it's not the case that Forrest Griffin "didn't even land a punch," the few he did land appeared to have absolutely no effect on Silva. None. And that's even scarier, I think.
I don't know what to think about the way Griffin bolted from the cage after the fight. It didn't look spontaneous. I've got a buddy who's claiming Forrest took a dive, but I'm either still too hopeful or not yet jaundiced enough to have any time for that theory.
I felt bad for Amir Sodollah; I thought the stoppage was early and that the ref did not do a good enough job of being in the correct position to make the call.
I also feel bad for Kenny Florian. He's a good fighter and has entertained me on several occasions. But he was clearly not up to the challenge of BJ Penn. I hope Penn can find some additional competition in his own weight class, because he's ineffective at welterweight, but almost boringly dominant at lightweight.
The rest of the card was solid fights that entertained me for my PPV dollar.
Griffin's people have said he bolted because of partial hearing loss and a dislocated jaw and that he needed knew he needed immediate medical attention.
Silva is just a beast. Griffin's no joke, but he looked terrible in there.
Sotiropoulos had a sweet ground game. Roop was fighting on short notice and was a TUF also-ran, but I'd love to see Sotiropoulos in there against someone with a comparable skillset.
Thread rated: 5.21
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