'The Spider' halts toughest foe, keeps UFC crown

MANILA, Philippines - Anderson “The Spider” Silva reasserted his supremacy as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the mixed martial arts, beating his fiercest and biggest challenger in Chael Sonnen with a swirl of punches to score a second round TKO at UFC 148 to keep the middleweight crown.

Silva pounced on a missed spinning backfist attempt by Sonnen, who fell after that costly mistake. Silva pounded him with a knee to the head and a flurry of punches, forcing Yves Lavigne to stop the fight at 1.55-minute mark in the second of the scheduled five-rounder.

The Brazilian thus improved to 30-4-0 (win-loss-draw) while Sonnen, the number one challenger in the division, dropped to a 28-12-1.

With Sonnen now out of the picture following his defeat, Fil-Am Mark Muñoz could emerge as the next challenger for Silva assuming that the Filipino Wrecking Machine wins over undefeated Chris Wiedman at UFC on FUEL TV on Thursday (Phl time) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

Muñoz, a former All-American wrestler and a recent Manila visitor who fights out of Vallejo, California, has won his last four fights since bowing to Japanese Yushin Okami at UFC Live two years ago. It will be Muñoz’s first fight as a middleweight as he tries to improve to 12-2-0.

The 34-year-old Muñoz, who runs his own gym in California and is a Health Science degree holder at Oklahoma State U, will get to prove his worth against the 6-2 Weidman, unbeaten in eight MMA fights.

“I’m ready,” Muñoz told The STAR through email.

In other results, former light heavy title-holder Forrest Griffin spoiled future Hall-of-Famer Tito Ortiz’s bid of retiring with a bang following a unanimous decision victory.

“I gave it my all,” Ortiz, a light heavyweight champion from 2000 to 2003 told Griffin during the post fight interview at the Octagon. 

“I gave it my all. This is my last fight tonight. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, man,” he added.

Sonnen, the former top challenger, didn’t go out without a fight as the champion grappler took the fight to the ground to score and win the first round.