UFC 77 “Hostile Territory”
UFC 77 in Cincinnati, Ohio,“Hostile Territory”. Former middleweight champion and hometown hero, Rich Franklin, will look to reclaim his 185-pound title from current titleholder, Anderson Silva.
The October 20 showdown at the U.S. Bank Arena will be almost exactly one year to the day that “The Spider” crushed “Ace” en route to championship glory at UFC 64: “Unstoppable” on October 14, 2006.
UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva will travel to the hometown of the man he took the title from, Rich “Ace” Franklin, to defend his crown against the popular former titlist in a highly anticipated rematch entitled UFC 77: HOSTILE TERRITORY. This event will take place at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday, October 20.
Anderson 'The Spider' Silva is a Brazilian professional mixed martial arts fighter and the current UFC Middleweight Champion.
Silva has dominated the UFC since arriving in June of 2006, beating Chris Leben handily at Ultimate Fight Night 5 before getting his shot at Franklin at UFC 64, a fight Silva won by TKO in the first round. Silva and Lyoto Machida are the only two people to put a blemish on Franklin's record. Silva has since went on to beat Travis Lutter at UFC 67 and Nate Marquardt at UFC 73 with neither contest going the distance.
Silva's record currently stands at 19-4. He is also the current Cage Rage World Middleweight champion, the longest-reigning champion in that promotion. He has competed in other promotions like PRIDE Fighting Championship, Shooto. Once a member of the famed Chute Boxe Academy, he later left and formed the Muay Thai Dream Team. As of late November 2006, he formed a new team called Black House (Casa Preta in Portugese) with Assuerio Silva, Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, and Carlos Barreto.
Although known primarily for his skills in Muay Thai, Silva is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,
which he earned in 2005 from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Rich Franklin
(24-2) fought a good portion of his career as a light heavyweight before moving to the middleweight division.
At UFC 53, he stopped UFC champion Evan Tanner to capture the middleweight crown. He made his first title defense against Nate Quarry at UFC 56, winning by first round KO, and his second defense against Canadian David Loiseau at UFC 58 showed his championship heart as he won a five round decision despite fighting much of the fight with a broken hand. Franklin faced Anderson Silva in his third UFC title defense, but was stopped by the Brazilian in the first round. At UFC 68 in March, he returned to the Octagon™, and in front of his home state crowd, stopped Jason MacDonald at the start of the second round. At UFC 72, Franklin defeated Yushin Okami by unanimous decision to earn a rematch with Silva and a shot at redemption.
Evans Vs. Ortiz 2, are relatively even money again. Pick 'em. I'll be picking Ortiz because I think he'll be better prepared this time and he wont hold the fence. Back at UFC 73 these two fought to an unanimous draw because Ortiz had been warned about grabbing the fence, yet in the second round did it again to prevent Evans from taking him down to the mat.
The one point penalty led to a draw, even though Ortiz should have won two rounds and the fight in all three judges's minds. Don't think that means Ortiz is going to have his way this time. Evans is still a young and inexperienced fighter who will have learned from his first match and should be better this time around. Of course Ortiz still thinks he deserves the limelight and isn't going to get much more of it if he loses to an unproven fighter like Evans. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.
Also on the UFC 77 card will be a heavyweight matchup between former UFC Champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia and unbeaten Brandon “The Truth” Vera. This fight will mark the first fight for Vera since a contract dispute with former management sidelined him for almost a year. The dynamic Vera (8-0) is excited to get back in the Octagon, and he expects to pick up where he left off last year by defeating Sylvia and every opponent afterward until he becomes the UFC heavyweight champion. The 6 foot 8 Sylvia (25-3), only the second man in UFC history to win the heavyweight title twice, would like to eventually join the man he lost the crown to in March, Randy Couture, as the only fighters in history to win the title three times. A win over Vera will push him firmly in that positive direction.
UFC 77 marks the UFC’s second fight in Ohio this year and its first fight ever in Cincinnati.
UFC 77 “Hostile Territory” Winner
77 HOSTILE TERRITORY Anderson Silva is 2nd round winner over Rich Franklin. The UFC Middleweight Champion stopped the attack in the Octagon for a second time from the mixed martial arts fighter Rich Franklin from his hometown Cincinnati at the full house U.S. Bank Arena October 20, 2007.
During UFC 64 in October 2006, Silva stopped Franklin during the first round.
Franklin entered the Octagon very confident to the music “Welcome to the Jungle”. The fans were so excited to see him that they let out a roar and gave him the confidence to see the champion enter. The opening song for Silva was “Ain’t no sunshine” by DMX. The reception for Silva wasn’t spectacular as the crowd booed.
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