The feeling about the main event of UFC Fight Night 33 was how it wasn’t going to decision. You have Mark Hunt, who is a K1 champion and is the most powerful striker in the division not named Junior Dos Santos. Then you have Antonio Silva, who has knocked out Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko. That pretty much earns you legendary status in MMA, when you can do that.
These two heavyweights have ridiculous punching power, along with being very accurate with there striking compared to other heavyweights. You rarely see either of them get reckless; even Hunt’s wild hooks are usually on target. This was set up to be a quick fight, where someone was going to drop early. That wasn’t the case and we witnessed the greatest heavyweight fight in UFC history.
Mark Hunt versus Antonio Silva brings life back into the heavyweight division
It seemed like Silva was going to finish him off early, after landing a right hook. Similar to his fight with Dos Santos, Hunt was reeling in the first round. It really seemed like the fight was going to stop, since Silva is so devastating when it comes to ground-and-pound. Who can forget how he punished Fedor for the entire second round when they fought?
What everyone seems to forget looking back on this fight was a leg kick that Silva landed near the end of the second round. It was clear that Hunt wasn’t moving well and he awkwardly took it. By the fourth round, I already forgot it happened because he seemed to be moving just fine. That’s how tough he is. For the first two rounds, Silva fought brilliantly and picked his spots. He was using his reach very well, which is what you need when the fight is standing against Hunt.
As the fight progressed, you saw how tremendous Hunt’s grappling was. I still believe that to this day, his loss to Sean McCorkle at UFC 119 made him a better fighter. We’ve seen his grappling and ground game improve dramatically, especially when you look at his fight against Stefan Struve. People believed he would be finished, if he went to the ground with Struve. He ended up getting out of an arm bar, survived a second round onslaught from Struve being on the bottom of full mount, and people began to recognize that Hunt had become an all-around mixed martial artist.
When Hunt was going for takedowns and actually managed to convert on a few of them, everyone had no idea what they were watching. He has come a long way from being on that major losing streak to now competing in main events on the biggest stage. How he repeatedly reversed Silva’s position against the cage was even more surprising. Nobody expected Hunt to get the better of Silva when it came to grappling. He was one step ahead in that department for the entire fight.
Most people believed that if Silva was going to win, he’d had to have take Hunt down and pound him into a stoppage. That nearly happened in the fourth round, when Silva managed to get on top after a wild exchange. You have to wonder if it were the first or second round, would Hunt survive from Silva having him in full mount. Other than one mini barrage, he never really exploded and went for the actual finish. It was just some punches, before one barrage where Hunt started to bleed badly. Hunt’s hair turned red at one point, which goes to show you how brutal the fight was.
As shocking as Hunt’s grappling was, another thing occurred which was equally shocking. I’ve always questioned Silva’s ability to take a punch dating back to being knocked out by Daniel Cormier. He got knocked down twice, before being finished by Cormier who was still relatively unknown at the time. Silva was coming off the huge upset against Fedor, yet got picked apart by a five foot ten wrestler. The losses to Velasquez were also concerning, based on how definitive those fights ended. Then you put him against someone like Hunt, who has been on a knockout tear. It seemed like a bad matchup for him and that’s why I picked Hunt to win early.
Nobody could ever question his ability to absorb punishment again. I’ve never seen a fighter stay standing, after taking countless left hooks from Hunt. That’s his signature move that broke Struve’s jaw. How Silva remained standing was just as shocking as Hunt’ impressive grappling. Those were two elements of the fight that surprised me the most. When Hunt hits someone clean, they either back away or fall to the mat. That only really happened twice in the fight, which is remarkable.
I’ve always been a firm supporter of the heavyweight division. I still get excited to see them collide, regardless of who they are. In recent months, the division has been criticized for the amount of one-sided fights, sloppy technique, and heavyweights gassing out by the second round. Several people have stated how concerned they are for the future of the heavyweight division. It still is a concern, but this fight has brought buzz back into a stagnant division. For the first time in months, we saw a competitive heavyweight battle. Dos Santos-Hunt was actually my favorite UFC heavyweight fight of all time for how competitive it was and that it actually went into the third round.The dynamic of having two of the best strikers fight and knowing that one punch or kick could end the fight instantly made it so memorable. This has now obviously surpassed it.
I’m not expecting the heavyweight division to start having these memorable back and forth battles. They are meant to be finished early, based on how powerful they are. This was just an entertaining change, where we saw heavyweights fight like lightweights. Sure they were both fatigued in the fifth round, but you have to take into account that both fighters are over 265 pounds and aren’t built for 25 minutes of action. The fact that they managed to still go for the finish in the fifth round was remarkable. It was just an ultimate slugfest, where you wished you were in that arena and I’m sure hardcore fans are going to do what they can to see the rematch. I’m not going to get into if it was fight of the year, you can decide for yourselves.
As for the judging decision, I didn’t have a problem with it like most people.I did have Silva winning 48-47 (first, second, and fourth). That being said, the second and fourth round were so close that you could make the argument that Hunt won those rounds. The fight was that close and a draw seemed to be the fair result. What was surprising was that two judges gave a 10-8 in the fifth round for Hunt. They should have given a 10-8 in the third round, when he was clearly more dominant. Silva mounted a nice comeback in the fifth round landing a huge knee, although it was attributed to getting a break after sustaining a huge cut. You could see how reenergized he was after they resumed the fight.
The reason why it should be have been scored 10-8 in the third round was because he was knocked down and Hunt had him on the ground for two minutes. Silva was dominated and had zero offense in the that round. Then again, these are the same judges that gave Ryan Bader’s victory over Anthony Perosh a 30-27 decision when Perosh was dominated for the entire fight. It’ll be a never-ending battle when it comes to judging, but that’s for another discussion. What they got right is most important and that’s by ruling this fight a draw. It was too close to award a true winner, when both fighters fought like winners. Now we’ll get to see the rematch in 2014, which could honestly main event a pay-per-view at this point. That’s how incredible it was
After his performance, Silva’s stock is up again and got back at some of the critics, who saw him as a gatekeeper at this point in his career. Hunt will always be a huge commodity, but now you have to believe he could be a win or two away from a title shot. How he isn’t ranked in the top ten of the heavyweight division is just another justification of why nobody should take the UFC rankings seriously. Eric Jackman better known as @NewYorkRic couldn’t have said it better, when it comes to Mark Hunt in 2013.
@NewYorkRic- In 2013, Mark Hunt gave us that jaw-shattering KO against Struve, a FoTN against JDS, and tonight’s classic.
To see a 39 year old heavyweight continue to defy the odds is incredible to witness. Just when you think he’s completely gassed out, he comes right back with more punches. He even added some elbows to his arsenal last night. There was one elbow that actually busted Silva open and the fight had to be stopped, due to the enormous cut. I’ve never seen Hunt use elbows before, so it completely off guard when he started to use them. The same can be said for Silva using knees. He landed multiple knees right into Hunt’s forehead. It was just that night, where everything came together and it turned into the fight that you’ll be talking about for years to come.
2013 has been the best year in UFC history. We’ve witnessed so many tremendous fights that I’m starting to lose count. There are still two events left, including Matt Brown against Carlos Condit, which is a guaranteed stand-up war. Hopefully there will be some DVD made about this year of fights, because I’ll purchase it the day it comes out. This year has been that special and it’s mainly because of fights like this.
You can follow me on twitter at @Allen_Strk & @MMASucka for all news & updates.
