Erick Silva will face Jay Hieron at UFC 156 on Superbowl weekend. Widely considered a future star in the welterweight division, Silva will be returning for the first time since his decision loss to Jon Fitch at UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar last month.
Both men need this win badly. One is fighting for his job and the other to retain his weight as a top draw in the sport. They won’t be alone on a card of big names that weekend. Jose Aldo will headline the card against Frankie Edgar, Alistair Overeem will fight Antonio Silva in a big comeback fight for Overeem who has been out on suspension for the better part of the year.
Rashad Evans will fight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and right after Silva leaves the cage, the man who beat him last in Jon Fitch will fight Demian Maia which will be a very interesting match up between two top contenders among the welterweights.
Fitch came in to his fight with Silva and accomplished what he’s best at which is his ability to constantly take his opponents down and grind his way to victory. In the first round Silva threatened Fitch with strong striking and even had a rear naked choked securely in place before the round ended, yet Fitch was able to weather the storm and break free.
It was obvious by Silva’s posture early on that he wasn’t concerned about anything Fitch brought to the table since he refused to bring his hands up or get out of the way of anything Fitch threw at him. He also threw leg kicks at Fitch which was a bad idea and cost him minutes of getting taken down and roughed up. That mentality might have been his downfall.
It didn’t take long in the second round for Silva to gas out and Fitch take over. Fitch was noticeably tired as well because even though he was rag dolling Silva on the ground, he was unable to put him away with strikes as both men seemed ready for the fight to end.
Not to take anything away from Fitch’s performance though. He shook hands with Silva after the fight and graciously told reporters after the fight that Silva was the future of the sport and it just wasn’t his night. Both men walked away with the “Fight of the Night” honors.
A decision loss to a strong wrestler in Fitch is exactly what Silva needed if he plans on beating the champ someday. If he thought Fitch was tough, wait until he runs in to GSP’s ground game. He can ask former Interim champ Carlos Condit about that.
Silva’s next fight will be against a far less ranked opponent in Hieron who although is a seasoned professional fighter, only has one fight in his UFC career where he dropped a decision loss to Jake Ellenberger at UFC on FX 5 last month as well.
Yet Silva may have been given too strong of a test too quick so this will be a good come back fight for Silva, unless he underestimates Hieron as well.
Watch an unofficial UFC 156 preview in the video below.
Video courtesy of YouTube uploader SandmanMMAPromotions, content by the UFC.