UFC 153 results: Anderson Silva flawless in return to light heavyweight

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 | 10:35 p.m.

Anderson Silva treated Stephan Bonnar like a child in the main event of UFC 153 Saturday night.

Silva dropped his hands, put his back to the fence and let Bonnar hit him a few times. The middleweight champion’s message to the local light heavyweight veteran came across clearly.

“You can’t hurt me,” Silva may as well have grabbed a microphone to announce to Bonnar and the crowd at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena.

The greatest fighter in mixed martial arts history made this matchup look even easier than it was billed. When Silva finally felt compelled to press the action, he came forward and fired a knee into Bonnar’s chest that led to a TKO victory at 4:40 of the first round.

Silva stayed perfect in the octagon and won his 16th straight UFC fight, a record mark that’s still growing and in no danger of being broken anytime soon.

“I’m not the best,” Silva said immediately after the win. “I just believe I can do things that people think are impossible.”

It was Silva’s first fight at 205 pounds since he beat Forrest Griffin more than three years ago. “The Spider” also vowed it would be his last.

As demand for a superfight against light heavyweight champion Jon Jones continues to build, Silva gets more adamantly opposed to the idea.

“I’m not going to fight at 205 again,” Silva proclaimed. “I fought at 205 to save the event. I fight at 185 pounds. I was doing this just to save the event and put on a show for everyone.”

For a card the promotion had to salvage with several last-minute injury-replacement bouts, UFC 153 turned out exceptionally well. Silva’s teammate and probably the second most decorated Brazilian fighter of all-time, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, prevailed in the co-main event.

Nogueira forced Dave Herman to tap out to an arm bar at 4:31 of the second round.

“I feel so happy because this man said jiu-jitsu doesn’t work and jiu-jitsu is a Brazilian art,” Nogueira said.

Both Silva and Nogueira have secured their place as an all-time greats in the sport. Four other fighters who aspire to reach the same championship level, and have the talent to do so, picked up victories on the main card.

When Jones inevitably moves to heavyweight, two of his most likely successors on the light heavyweight throne are Phil Davis and Glover Teixiera.

Davis submitted Wagner Prado at 4:29 of the second round with an anaconda choke at UFC 153, while Teixiera pounded Fabio Maldonaldo for two whole rounds before the cageside doctor called off the fight.

Demian Maia and Jon Fitch each moved their names up a notch in the welterweight division. Maia got back to his slick Brazilian jiu-jitsu roots as he slithered onto Rick Story’s back and choked him out 2:30 into their bout.

Fitch put on the performance of the night, taking the best of favored hotshot prospect Erick Silva but ultimately outlasting the Brazilian. Fitch won a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) that included a lopsided final five minutes after the younger Silva nearly pulled off a rear-naked choke in the second round.

“I would have beaten anybody tonight,” Fitch said. “I don’t care what weight class or who it was. My family needed this win and I needed this win.”

Find the rest of the results from UFC 153 below.

Rony “Jason” Bezerra and Sam Sicilia marched forward and let loose for nearly 10 minutes to thrill the crowd in the final preliminary bout of the evening. Jason had a noticeable power edge from the beginning. It eventually paid off as Jason got past Sicilia with a second-round TKO.

Perhaps the two biggest lightweights in the UFC engaged in a wild battle that saw both fighters nearly earn stoppages. Ultimately, Gleison Tibau pulled out a close unanimous-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Francisco Trinaldo.

Diego Brandao dropped Joey Gambino with big strikes in the first and second rounds, but the Brazilian had to settle for a more anticlimactic victory. Brandao defeated Gambino by unanimous decision — taking every round on every scorecard — in their featherweight fight.

Sergio Moraes submitted Renee Forte by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:10 of the third round. The welterweight bout was even through two rounds before “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” runner-up out-grappled the newcomer in the final frame.

Chris Camozzi beat Luiz Cane by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a middleweight bout. The fight, spent entirely on the feet, was the second straight close contest to start the night.

Reza Madadi defeated Cristiano Marcello by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) in a lightweight bout to open the card. Marcello landed more strikes, but Madadi did more damage and came closer to finishing.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.