In the end, it was Thiago Silva who showed he was back after a year away from the sport, and Vera who may be on his way out of the UFC.
Two very aggressive light heavyweights, both Silva and Vera pack a serious punch, but the Brazilian apparently saw a weakness he thought he could expose in his opponent’s ground game and took the fight to the mat multiple times.
Silva pressed down on Vera will all his weight, and just hammered away throughout the fight. While he does have wrestling in his background, Vera simply could not stop the takedowns from Silva, who put him on the canvas at will.
The third round brought out more dominance from Silva, pressing Vera against the cage and getting him down, where he proceeded to punch and slap him about the head and body. The open palm strikes from Silva may have brought the biggest damage of the entire fight as he snapped Vera’s nose.
When Vera stood up after the fight his nose was pointing in about three different directions, none of them in the right way.
Thiago Silva scored a dominant win with all three judges giving him the nod, and one judge even giving the American Top Team fighter a 10-8 round for his overpowering performance. The win gets Silva back on track after an injury filled 2010.
Meanwhile, Brandon Vera drops his third fight in a row, and may very well see his career in the UFC come to an end with another tough loss.
