 vs
UFC
77 Hostile Territory
Tim Sylvia vs Brandon Vera
Saturday October 20, 2007 10PM EST
Vera (-200)
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it now at Bookmaker.com
Most
readers know that I can not stand Tim “The Maniac”
Sylvia (23-3). I think he’s way overrated as a
fighter and virtually has no skills other than his height and
weight. He should be fighting in the circus against Giant Silva
on a weekly basis at the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey freak
show tent. When Sylvia faces a smarter fighter that has some real
skills, he will lose, just like he lost to Frank Mir (UFC
48: Payback), Andrei Arlovski (UFC
51: Super Saturday), and Randy “The Natural”
Couture (UFC
68: Uprising). When he fights big dumb strikers with
no all around ground game, he will dominate them like he did with
Cabbage, Assuerio Silva, Gan McGee and Wes Sims, but like I have
said a million times before, this is MIXED martial arts not a
tough man competition.
Brandon
“The Truth” Vera (8-0) will win this fight
but this will not be as easy as most people think. This will be
Vera’s biggest test in the heavyweight division and he might
have trouble with his size. Vera was touted as the next best thing
but his ego might have gotten the best of him. He had contract
disputes with the UFC and he has not fought since last year (Nov
18, 2006 at UFC
65: Bad Intentions). He will be rusty going into this
fight. Normally I would pick Vera hands down over Sylvia but this
might go the distance, so you are betting on the Over/Under take
the Over.
The
Maniac is too fat, too slow and has very little skills on the
ground. His only upside is that he’s big and he can take
a punch. Sylvia throws punches that are awkward and hard. Vera
has stated that he wants to be the first MMA fighter to hold both
the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight titles at the same time.
He has the skill and striking ability to do it but we will see
how good his chin and cardio is when he fights Sylvia.
It
is hard to say how Vera would fight since he has had a long lay
off. The Truth is one of the best fighters out there as he is
knowledgeable in all disciplines like Wrestling, Judo, Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai. He has a great background as he trained
at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado
for wrestling which shows that he will have incredible strength
to fight such a big load like Sylvia.
With
the recent signings in the UFC heavyweight division there is less
and less room for big untalented fighters like the Maniac. If
he does lose to Vera, he might fall out of the heavyweight picture
for good. He does not have the cardio speed or ability to compete
with Vera. His only chance is to KO Vera but Vera is way too smart
to fall into his game plan.
Bottom
Line: At the start of the bell Vera will be cautious
from the lack of fighting he has done over the past year. There
will be a feeling out process and he will avoid Sylvia’s
only weapon in which are those looping crosses and low leg kicks.
In the second round the ring rust will be gone and Vera will be
able to take Sylvia and hold him down due to his wrestling background
and eventually tap him out with a rear naked choke.
Don't
let the UFC door kick you on the way out Sylvia
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