UFC 97 - Anderson Silva vs Thales Leites Review

On this Saturday night, one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighters ever to grace the octagon, will fight at UFC 97 "Redemption" at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. The main will be headlined by the accepted pound for pound king Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs Thales Leites. Both fighters are Brazilian natives; however what separates the two is that Silva is regarded as a heavy favourite to defend his title successfully. Most MMA analysts are giving Leites little or no chance to be crowned the new UFC Middleweight Champion.

There is a consensus amongst most MMA pundits that the only chance Leites has of winning the fight is by going to the ground and utilising his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Leites has arguably the best Jiu-Jitsu in the entire middleweight division, if not the UFC. You can look to see Leites trying to get the fight to the ground and attempt to submit Silva.

Anderson Silva will do what he does best. He will most likely keep the fight standing up and utilise his devastating Muay Thai. Despite Silva being a great striker he has shown great submission skills. This is evident of his fight with Dan Henderson, who he submitted with a rear naked choke. This made him only the third person ever to submit Henderson. The other two are the Nogueira brothers, both Silva's training partners.

Regardless of the perceived one sided fight, this is an interesting match-up. If one thing is for sure, MMA has a habit of undermining expert opinion.  What better time than at UFC 97 against the pound for pound best fighter.

If the above fight outlined does not satisfy your  violent appetite , other featured bouts include Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell vs. Maurico "Shogun" Rua and top Brazilian light heavyweight prospect Luis Cain taking on Steve Cantwell.

Tune in on Saturday to see how the action unfolds at the UFC 97 - Redemption event.