Class time for Silva, Griffin
If the octagon is a classroom for learning the realities of fighting, one of this year's biggest lessons was the B.J. Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre fight in January.
When you have two fighters at the top level against one another, size plays an important role, as the bigger man, St. Pierre, was totally dominant.
Saturday's fight between Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin at the nearly sold out Wachovia Center for UFC 101 is the latest weight-class lab experiment. This time the smaller man, middleweight champion Silva, is one of the most complete and talented fighters in the world.
His opponent, Griffin, a big light heavyweight who cuts from 240 pounds, is a former champion himself, but certainly not the same level of dominant fighter at his weight class that Silva is.
The unique match came about almost immediately after Silva (24-4) won a dull fight in extending his UFC record-breaking winning streak to nine fights with an April win over Thales Leites. It was the second straight Silva pay-per-view main event that had little action, following a similar October match against Patrick Cote.
"I don't know if you're going to get Anderson out of his game," said Griffin. "You know, he's a cool, calm, relaxed guy, very focused. He seems to have a good game plan for every fight and stick to it. Despite his status as one of the world's top pound-for-pound fighters, Silva has never proven to be a major pay-per-view draw. The last two fights only made him an even harder sell as a main eventer.
It would take something out of the box to get people interested in paying to see Silva.
"You know sometimes when you're standing outside of the octagon, it's a lot different than when you're inside the octagon," Silva said through his manager and interpreter, Ed Soares. The prescription called for a dose of Griffin (16-5), fresh off a promotional tour for his comedy book called "Got Blood?" that resulted in him being one of the more unlikely New York Times best-selling authors. With the exception of Clay Guida, nobody in UFC is more synonymous with the term "great fight."
Griffin's 2005 match with Stephan Bonnar is generally considered the greatest fight in company history. And every year since, he's had at least one bout under consideration for fight of the year.
In 2006, it was a war he lost on a close decision to Tito Ortiz. In 2007, it was his upset win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, then considered by many as the best light heavyweight in the world. Last year it was his title win over a heavily favored Quinton Jackson. His biggest fights of the last three years were all matches he was not really expected to be competitive in.
Most fighters would be unhappy drawing Silva, particularly facing him without a championship at stake and while trying to put together wins to get back in the championship hunt.
But Griffin didn't flinch when told he was fighting Silva.
"Well, I said, 'Sure,' " said Griffin. "I said, 'Cool, sounds like a good idea to me.' It's a good situation."
Griffin indicated the positives are facing a tough opponent and having the potential to have a great fight.
"I know if I bring the game that I'm capable of to the fight, it'll be a good fight, and people will be excited about that. So no worries," said Griffin
On paper, it would appear Griffin doesn't have the knockout power, the speed nor the versatility to compete with Silva standing, as the Brazilian has six finishes by strikes in his nine matches, utilizing punches, kicks and crushing knees. Griffin also is coming off surgery for a broken hand, suffered in his title loss on Dec. 27 to Rashad Evans.
Silva has ranged from a 13-to-3 to a 5-to-1 favorite on the books despite moving up from his usual weight class.
The ground is more interesting, and where Silva's temper flared on the UFC's Countdown show that aired earlier in the week. Robert Drysdale, Griffin's jiu-jitsu coach, predicted Griffin by submission.
"This guy is a fool," said Silva through an interpreter. "Who is this guy? He's an idiot."
Silva is a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but that's the weakest part of his game. He has lost only a few rounds in his three-year UFC career, but all have been contested mainly on the ground. Nobody has even been competitive with him standing.
Griffin is significantly bigger and stronger than any of Silva's opponents and would seem to stand his best chance of getting the fight to the ground and using his size to control his opponent if he gets them there.
"He trains with a lot of different guys in a bunch of different sizes," said Soares. "And so he's used to training against bigger guys. But the biggest challenge is facing a guy like Forrest, who's an aggressive guy, who's been a champion of the light heavyweight division."
Silva has been defensive of the tongue-lashing White gave him after his last performance and the boos from the crowd, blaming the fight on Leites not wanting to exchange.
"You know he went in there to do his job, and he's got his strategy," said Soares. "At the end of the day, yes, he's there for the fans. But he's the one that's putting his body and his life in danger every time he steps into the octagon. So a lot of times, when people aren't as educated in this sport, it's really hard for them to understand. But he feels he went in there and did his job, and if people are booing, it's from a lack of understanding of the sport because he went out there and executed a good game plan. It was just unfortunate that his opponents didn't fight back."
That almost assuredly won't be an issue with Griffin, but Griffin is unlikely to become the free-swinging fighter of four years ago against such a skilled counter-puncher.
"I think what you can't do is be a big, slow guy that follows him around and be too aggressive about trying to attack him," said Griffin. "He's still a great counter-fighter, and that's why his last fight wasn't so exciting, because he's a tough guy to attack. But you've got to come in smart and just try to land punches, not big ones, little ones. Just laying out something, you know, just make contact and stay as loose and relaxed as he does."
He sees this as a completely different fight than his loss to Evans.
"With Anderson, it's the reach," he said. "You're worried about the incredible length with both his feet and arms. With Rashad, it was the explosiveness, inside power. So it's obviously a different game plan."
If Griffin scores the upset, that should fast-track him to the front of the line against the winner of the Oct. 24 fight with current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida vs. Rua. Win, lose or draw, Silva, as soon as he's ready, is expected to defend his middleweight title against Dan Henderson.
With a near sellout for the company's Philly debut and an advanced gate of $3.3 million, the show has already set the record for the largest live gate for a combat sport in the state of Pennsylvania.
