HarthorneWingo wrote:
How'd Silva look?
Brunson didn't give Silva a lot to work with as a counter puncher. When Silva did open up, he looked scary but it was few and far between. The stats are misleading though, it was a close fight in my eyes even with the striking discrepancy. Brunson was too timid and Silva took more strikes but pushed the action pretty much the entire time.
My usual event reviews are gonna turn up in my sig from here on out, here's the silva/brunson excerpt
Following the theme of lackluster fights, Silva and Brunson was marked mainly by tentativeness. Brunson, fresh off taking a KO from his sloppy striking in the Whitaker fight, seemed completely unwilling to engage. This meant opportunities for big exchanges were limited. Brunson’s caution paid off as he outstruck Silva, but the excitement came predominantly when the Spider pushed the pace periodically. From a perspective of landing strikes, it feels impossible to argue that Brunson didn’t win the fight. Where Silva did manage to have an impact however was octagon control. Silva was consistently standing his ground or forcing Brunson to give way during aggressive flurries which swayed the judges. Silva won the fight 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in spite of being outlanded 118-54 and being taken down twice. Silva did stuff 9 takedowns however and Brunson’s unwillingness to take risks cost him the decision. Brunson’s claim that he “outclassed” Anderson Silva is a stretch, but he did do enough to warrant a close decision and gave Dana White the opportunity to drop one of his favorite phrases “don’t leave the fight in the hands of the judges.” This fight did little to improve the stock of either fighter, but seeing Silva walk away with his first official win in years was a nice consolation. The man is arguably the GOAT and controversial decision or not, seeing his joy in victory was a nice moment.
