I never thought I'd see Vanderlei frightened of anyone in the ring, but there he was, in the second round, backing into a corner and looking scared.
This isn't a knock on Wandy, and some of it might have been his fear of losing rather then his fear of Hunt, but that was there and it was all over his face.
Hunt is going to be a force in MMA.
Wandy was and will be THE FORCE in MMA. He just won't fight impossibly strong un-KOable HW's from now on.
Nog would sub him in the first round and fedor would beat the hell out of him. Fedor would take him down at absolute will and pound on him until he gave up. He needs work to be a force in mma.
I got a totally different impression of Silva's mental fortitude during the fight. That he was backed into a corner doesn't necessarily mean he was scared. I saw him him stepping back and processing the situation. Silva's smart. He knew he was getting rocked and was trying to find a way to switch gears out of it.
If anything, to me, this fight showed how fearless Silva really is.
Nog would sub him in the first round and fedor would beat the hell out of him. Fedor would take him down at absolute will and pound on him until he gave up. He needs work to be a force in mma.
In the first round when he was backing up and staying close to the ropes, I would agree he was playing it smart, and trying new tactics.
In the second round, it looked more like he was out of options, and was indeed very, very concerned about how the fight was going, and laying back in the corner out of desperation, hoping Hunt would charge in so he could take him down.
One crazy part was after Hunt knocked him down in the second round and bombed at him from the guard the ref moves it to the middle. But Silva is still badly stunned and instead of getting up scoots to the middle. It was like he thought if he got up theres a chance the ref would decide he's too hurt and stop the fight. The ref accually asks him at that point if he's ok and he nods.
The only time he looked worried was the final round when he was too tired to go for takedowns properly.
"Nog would sub him in the first round and fedor would beat the hell out of him. Fedor would take him down at absolute will and pound on him until he gave up. He needs work to be a force in mma."
Well, he need work to be a threat to the two top HW's ever, ya. So what?
He's well ahead of the curve, is probably the strongest guy in PRIDE right now, and has replaced Fedor as MMA hardest hitter.
Hunt WILL BE a huge force in MMA if he keeps at it.
I think that Silva could´ve gotten a pretty easy decision if he had played it more safe. He had many good positions thart he lost cos he wanted to try and stomp and soccerkick instead of just doing an steady grinding on the ground...
I think Wand was hurt & recovering-I totally agree about mindset though cause at that point Wand actually waited to counter punch Hunt & then take him down. That should score points for ring generalship