By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Bellator 250 and UFC Fight Night: Hall vs. Silva were both this past weekend. We had a new champion crowned in Bellator and we’ve likely seen the final fight of Anderson Silva’s career. Let’s get to the rundown.
Bellator 250
GOOD- Dalton Rosta vs. Ty Gwerder
Rosta controlled this fight with his grappling. This fight was solid but also unspectacular. He had a gameplan and executed it well, and that got him the decision win. Good win for Rosta.
GOOD- Brandon Girtz vs. Henry Corrales
Corrales peppered and beat up Girtz all throughout this fight on the feet. He just kept beating him to the punch while avoiding big shots from Girtz. That gave him the split decision, good win for Corrales.
GOOD- Gegard Mousasi vs. Douglas Lima
Lima is the current Bellator Welterweight Champion and he moved up to middleweight to challenge for the vacant Bellator Middleweight Champion. I’m a fan of both of these guys but I started getting restless in the second round. And things didn’t get any better. Mousasi came forward and landed while Lima played defense. It was just eh. Hell, Lima didn’t even seem to start really fighting until the fourth and fifth rounds. It was like he morphed into Lyoto Machida or something. I was expecting his corner to start screaming at him to wake up. By the time he started getting going, it was too late. Mousasi won the decision and became the new Bellator Middleweight Champion. Good win for him.
UFC Fight Night Hall vs. Silva
GOOD- Thiago Moises vs. Bobby Green
Moises got some nice strikes in, as well as some good grappling, and that was the difference in this very close fight. Moises won the decision, good win for him.
GOOD- Kevin Holland beats Charlie Ontiveros
This fight ended as Holland slammed Ontiveros right on his head. It looked like Holland’s shoulder smashed into Ontiveros, who verbally submitted. They stretchered Ontiveros out but he was later diagnosed with a strained neck so thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Good win for Holland.
GOOD- Greg Hardy stops Maurice Greene
Hardy gassed hard as he almost put Greene away in the first round. He didn’t get the stoppage, but he did bet the hell out of him. The second round started with Hardy knowing he almost got him before and he finished him off with more power shots about seventy five seconds into the second round. Good win for Hardy.
GOOD- Bryce Mitchell vs. Andre Fili
Mitchell took Fili to the mat in every round, and he worked his ground-and-pound successfully. Fili got in some good shots from bottom, though. Ultimately, though Mitchell just did too much damage and he got the nod from the judges as a result. Good win for Mitchell.
GOOD- Uriah Hall stops Anderson Silva
Hall is a poor man’s Silva. He’s shown tremendous potential and had dynamic moments in the cage, but he’s also had some real turds in there as well. He’s always had the potential but never truly delivered on it. I know that comes off as petty hating but I really don’t mean it that way. This was his sixteenth win in the cage, I respect that greatly. He’s got good wins in his career. At the same time, I got to be real, he’s had some bad losses as well. This looked like it was going to be another bad loss after the first few rounds but then Hall opened it up a bit more and got going. He almost finished Silva at the end of the third round but Silva made it to the bell. The fourth round saw Silva come out aggressively but Hall dropped him with a good right hook and followed up with punches to force the ref to jump in.
This should be a confidence-building win for Hall, one that he builds on and goes on a title run. And I hope he does that, this is his third win in a row. I’ve said this before about Hall but I hope it happens for him this time.
As for Silva, this looks like the end of the road for him. He spoke before this fight about this likely being his last fight. And he showed flashes of his past self, especially early in the fight. However, he last won a fight in February 2017 against Derek Brunson. He’s 1-7 with 1 No Contest in his last nine fights. Before the win against Brunson, Silva had last won in October 2012. That’s not a typo, he’s won one fight in the last eight years. Granted, most of those losses are against big names like Daniel Cormier and Israel Adesanya but he’s also forty-five years old.
Silva has done plenty in his career. There’s controversies to discuss but also some of the most explosive highlights in sports history. You could write ten thousand words about Silva’s career and still leave some things out. This wasn’t the storybook ending for Silva, but if you stick around long enough, that’s almost impossible to get. Maybe if he fights another legend he’ll get that highlight reel finish to walk away on, but he’s done enough. He should probably just walk away and enjoy his health.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank and you can check out my blog at https://3pr117238763.wordpress.com/ where I talk about wrestling, sports, and videogames. Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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