UFC 108 Preview: The Main Card

Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva

The Breakdown: After watching Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans talk epic amounts of smack about each other for months, we’ve been handed a bout between Evans and Thiago Silva thanks to Hollywood’s inability to form an original thought. While the semi-manufactured intrigue of the main event flatlined as soon as Jackson saw what a movie studio check looks like, the quality hasn’t suffered a bit: Silva’s pressing style makes for an interesting clash with Evans’ preference for fast-twitch counterpunching.

There is a reason why Evans relies so much on his movement and one-shot power, and it’s because he lacks the defensive discipline to get into exchanges. A sturdy chin and the threat of his power have served him well, but it doesn’t change the fact that Evans got poleaxed when he tried to trade with Lyoto Machida at UFC 98 and struggled whenever Forrest Griffin pressed him in their bout at UFC 92.

Forcing exchanges by using intelligent pressure is the backbone of Silva’s game. His talent for landing short, accurate punches in close quarters makes him particularly dangerous for Evans, who would much rather have the distance he needs to measure his punches. Although Evans’ movement can be frustrating to opponents, it isn’t particularly refined and relies more on speed and natural balance than anything else.

What makes this a difficult fight for Silva is that even if he gets inside on Evans, he still has to worry about getting caught by one of the most powerful pound-for-pound punchers in the sport. The beauty of Evans’ style is that he can seemingly waste excruciatingly long stretches of time shuffling his feet and bobbing his head before exploding into a full-blown assault that can overwhelm anyone. Striking just the right balance between aggression and good old common sense is what will decide if Silva can find a way to throttle one of the most frustrating opponents you can draw in the game today.

The X-Factor: In a division where strikers are increasingly becoming the norm, both Evans and Silva are more than capable of getting grown-man work done on the mat. While Evans seems to have all but ditched his wrestling due to the physical toll involved with being an undersized light heavyweight trying to drag down behemoths, Silva has no qualms about hitting the ground and working his roundly underrated jiu-jitsu skills to the fullest.

It’s hard to imagine Silva scoring a takedown on Evans through anything other than sheer strength. If it happens, though, Evans better hope his guard has improved significantly since the last time we saw it. By the same token, if Evans is forced to resort to his wrestling, he’ll have to do something more than simply hope for Silva to let him posture up and drop bombs over Baghdad.

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The Bottom Line: The best way to break down this fight is to make a half circle motion with your hand and then make a line connecting the end and beginning of that circle. Evans’ punches are loopy, which means they take longer to find home, while Silva stays straight and tight with his form, which gets his strikes to their target that much faster. The threat of a half-circle brain-buster will keep Evans in this fight, but it won’t save him from a unanimous decision loss.