Verbal Submission: UFC 134: Rio Preview

Music to listen to:  Choro by Jeito Moleque

Quick preview of UFC 134: Rio

Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami:  The only reason that Okami is getting the title shot is that he owns a controversial victory over Silva and there aren’t any viable challengers in the middleweight division for the Brazilian.

Okami is a talented fighter and has one skill set that is essential to beat Silva, wrestling.  However, I don’t think that Okami is a good enough wrestler to take advantage of Silva’s weakness and training with Chael Sonnen won’t be enough.

The best hope for Okami is that Silva comes into the fight distracted with the concept of fighting in Brazil, the champion’s home country or has lost motivation.  However, I don’t think that will happen.  If this fight was anywhere else than Brazil, I would say that Silva may overlook Okami but between wanting to get revenge for his last official loss and battling in Rio will make him hard to beat.

Prediction: Silva by fourth-round TKO

Forrest Griffin vs. Shogun Rua:  I’ve made cases for both men winning.

I think Griffin doesn’t get enough credit for his actual fighting skills and has become known as a brawler who just uses conditioning and a high work rate to earn victories.  His standup and especially the jiu-jitsu has improved over the years.

However, Rua is still the superior striker and arguably has the better ground game in this fight.  I look at Rua’s defeat to Jon Jones as the combination of someone facing a younger, superior opponent while recovering from a major knee surgery.

Prediction: Rua by decision

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub:  If you’re a longtime MMA fan, you know that Big Nog is at the end of his career and its nice to see him finally fight in his homeland for the first time in his career.  However, Nogueira hasn’t fought in 17 months and has lost two of his last three fights.

This will most likely be the coming out of Schaub in relation to becoming a part of the heavyweight title picture.

Prediction: Schaub by third-round TKO