UFC Silva vs. Irvin: what the h**l was that?

Question

For those who saw the free Anderson Silva versus James Irvin a few nights ago:

I was very disappointed with this fight. Silva is obviously ten times better than this guy, and it took him zero effort to block his kick and counter with a right hook for the KO. I know it's a free fight, but come on. At least give Silva someone that has a CHANCE against him. Is it just me, or have all of the free fights been rigged lately? It seems like the matches are seriously unbalanced in favor of the more popular (and often more experienced) fighter. Comments? Agree or disagree?

Answer 1

Silva beat him with skill

i want to see silva vs chuck luddel

Answer 2

Anderson Silva walks around at 220 lbs so its not like it took him a big effort to cut the weight to get to 205. Plus James Irvin has not competed against top notch LHW's so what made people think the skill sets were similar was crazy. Anderson is a freak of nature and has beaten the best and proven time and again that he is unbeatable in the middle weight division, and to conclude he only fought that fight against Irvin as a warm up for his middle weight title defense.

Answer 3

The problem the UFC has with Silva is there really arent many people who realistically have a chance to beat him. That's why they had to market it as "come watch the greatest fighter on earth" rather than "come find out who will win." The biggest problem with Anderson Silva is that he is so good its nearly impossible to put him in "come find out who will win" fights.

He's going to face Cote (more than likely) this fall and that's going to be a "come watch the greatest fighter in earth" fight. Outside of the top guys at LHW it's impossible for the UFC to give Silva a "tough" match.

Answer 4

The fight was put together on short notice because Affliction had Fedor in their main event.  That is the only reason this fight happened.  The main reason Irvin was picked was similar to what everyone else said, others most likely turned it down and Irvin saw it as a big break to fight a superstar.

Also they couldn't pick an opponent that was too skilled.  Dana and the Fertitas couldn't have their middleweight champ, one of the best strikers in the world and in contention for best pound for pound mma fighter in the world, lose on such an important night for mma.  (important because of the amount of talent on the Affliction card, especially with Fedor fighting)

I expect his next 185 fight to be against Okami since their fight was a DQ.

Answer 5

Dana White originally wanted to have some bigger names fight Anderson.  Everybody else turned it down, so somehow James Irvin's name came up.  He never said who it was that turned down the fight.  Apparently there were SEVERAL top fighters that turned the fight down.

Answer 6

You also have to realize that this fight was put together in a month.  Many of the top fighters turned down the fight because they don't want to face Anderson Silva on short notice.  Irvin probably didn't feel like he had anything to lose, so he took the fight.