DATE: Saturday, April 18, 2009
TIME: 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view (PPV)
CARD:
THE FIGHTERS:
Anderson "The Spider" Silva (23-4)
6 ft 2 in
185 lb
33 years old
Silva is an extremely well rounded fighter, who's striking ability highlights his game. Silva's striking is smooth and elusive, and he is also considered to have one of the best Thai clinches in MMA, further enhancing his finishing ability. The fluidity and brute force of Silva's strikes, aided by his tall and lanky frame, have caused many to call him the best striker in all of MMA. Silva is also one of the best ground fighters in the world, especially off of his back. Silva is coming off of a Cote fight where many felt he didn't take his opponent seriously which angered Silva. Silva has already proved his dominance and may continue to do so with a victory over Leites.
Thales Leites (14-1)
6 ft 1 in
185 lbs
Relatively unknown by many fans, but this BJJ black belt was brought in by B.J. Penn, and has only one loss in the octagon. He's never been knocked out or submitted, and has a solid chin. Leites like many of Anderson's opponents is the underdog but I feel that he has a better chance than people are giving him.
Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell (21-6)
6 ft 2 in
205 lb
39 years old
Chuck has been one of the biggest names in mma for many years and is already solidified himself as a legend. He has lost 3 of his 4 most recent fights with 2 of them coming by knock out and dropping a decision loss to Jardine. Chuck has been faulted for not changing up his style in the past couple of years and has a lot of people thinking that Chuck might not have it anymore. However, Chuck has recently been working with American Top Team and did show some change in the fight against Wanderlei in which he took him down twice. Beating Shogun puts Chuck right back on track to get a title shot.
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (17-3)
6 ft 1 in
205 lb
27 years old
Shogun was once ranked as the number 1 light heavyweight in the world, especially after his amazing performance 2005 Pride GP. Shogun's last two matches have left many wondering if the old Shogun is gone and if he even still has that same fire and tenacity, but Shogun was coming off of two injuries one to his knee and one due to a ruptured ACL, both are being speculated as the reasons for his poor cardio in the fights against Griffen and Coleman. Shogun says he's going to have his cardio ready for the match against Chuck and has quoted Wanderlei saying that if Shogun has the cardio he can win this fight.
Official UFC event site:
Prefight Interviews
Chuck Liddel on training at ATT
Hype Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PoMkM36Qwo&feature=player_embedded
Highligh Videos:
Anderson Silva Highlight Video:
http://www.vimeo.com/755748
Chuck Liddell Highlight Video:
http://blip.tv/file/1796512/
Mauricio Rua Highlight Videos:
http://blip.tv/file/1807033/
http://www.livevideo.com/video/2B9C82866C70448A985A81AAFE22EB92/the-shogun-from-brasil.aspx