UFC 112 a solid card with 2 of world's best

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It’s not often that Ultimate Fighting Championship cards feature two title fights, but that’s exactly what the fans are getting for the second straight pay-per-view this weekend when UFC 112 emanates from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, this weekend.

This card marks the first time the UFC has promoted an outdoor show, as an outdoor arena quickly has been constructed for this show, which features lightweight (155-pound) champion BJ Penn defending his title against Frankie Edgar, and middleweight (185-pound) champion Anderson Silva against Demian Maia. Also on the card, former UFC welterweight champion and UFC legend Matt Hughes makes his return after nearly a year off when he faces Renzo Gracie, who, at age 43, is making his UFC debut and is part of the legendary Gracie clan.

This is an interesting card because the challengers appear to be greatly outmatched and have little chance of winning in the two title fights. Right now, Penn (11-4-1 in the UFC) and Silva (10-0 UFC) are two of the most dominant fighters in the world, not to mention their own weight class. Both effectively have cleaned out their divisions and actively are looking for other challenges, including moving up in weight. Between the two, they have eight title defenses (five for Silva, who won his belt in October 2006, and three for Penn, who won his in January 2008). In those eight fights, those two were in less trouble than the Connecticut women’s basketball team.

Will that mean their heads won’t be in their fights this weekend? Highly unlikely. These two, along with being two of the best in the world, are destroyers, and will continue to do just that.

Now, while I totally expect both these fights to be total blowouts, it’ll be interesting to see how they get there.

Maia is a jiu-jitsu wizard who is a magician on the ground. The thing is, it’s going to be tough for him to get Silva there. Silva is one of the fiercest strikers in the sport and, if I were a betting man — which I am — I’d say Silva knocks Maia out in the first few minutes. There’s not a lot of evidence to suggest Maia (6-1 UFC) is going to be able to take Silva’s best shots, which he will receive. In Maia’s only UFC loss (to Nate Marquardt in August), he was sent spinning thanks to a Marquardt punch, being knocked out in 21 seconds. Some of Maia’s submissions are the best the UFC has seen, but every fight starts on the feet and that’s bad for Maia.

If he can get Silva to the ground, he has a chance. Silva is very good there, himself, and is very lanky, but Maia is in a different world. If Maia gets the fight to the floor, his chances of winning increase from zero to about 30 percent, in my book. That’s not good for Maia, and if Silva takes this one by first round knock out, the only sweat he breaks will be due to the hot weather outside.

In the lightweight title fight, Penn faces a young upstart in Edgar (6-1 UFC), whose only loss is to former MSU wrestler Gray Maynard. Since that loss, Edgar has won three straight, including impressive wins over Matt Veach and former champion Sean Sherk.

Edgar, a wrestler with improving boxing, shouldn’t be slaughtered by Penn, but he will be dominated. In his last two fights, Penn has been methodical in putting away Kenny Florian (fourth round rear-naked choke) and Diego Sanchez (fifth round doctor stoppage), but did it without a shadow of a doubt that he could put away the fight when he wanted. I expect a similar result here. Edgar is tough, but the absolute ugly beating Penn put on Sanchez in December does not give one much hope for Edgar. Penn will wear Edgar down with his striking and Edgar, who has to be mistake-free to even have a shot at winning, will make one and will get submitted in the third or fourth round.

Elsewhere, the fight between Hughes and Gracie is interesting going in, but I don’t expect many fireworks between two fighters who have seen better days. Any time a Gracie fights, ears perk up because the Gracies are legendary figures who basically started the sport of MMA. Hughes will take Gracie down, Gracie won’t be able to submit him and Hughes will work his way to a decision victory.

This should be a good show on the whole and one worth watching. There’s never a wrong time to watch two of the best in the world, and that’s what this card is allowing us to do.

Matt Bishop is a State News sports reporter. He can be reached at bishop20@msu.edu.

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