Amid applause and boos, Anderson beats Demian at UFC-112

Between applause and boos, Anderson Silva He defended his middleweight belt for the sixth time at UFC-112, an event that took place this afternoon in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The “Spider” began imposing his pace against the fellow Brazilian Demian Maia, but relaxed during the fight and ended up booed by the public. If favoritism was confirmed in the middleweight division, the same cannot be said among the lightweight divisions. Frank Edgar, surprised everyone and took away the Hawaiian's hegemony B.J. Penn in the category up to 70 kilos, becoming the new champion. The other Brazilians on the card came out with one victory and one defeat. Rafael dos Anjos did well and finished English Terry emo, while Renzo Gracie ended up being knocked out by Matt hugs.

Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia

Proving to be vastly superior in striking, Anderson raised the audience in the first two rounds with good boxing moves and powerful low kicks, while Demian was not involved in the fight and threw himself on the ground trying to put his jiu-jitsu into practice. However, in the following rounds, Silva limited himself to provocation and the “Spider's” certain arrogance made the crowd turn against him. In the last two rounds, Demian managed to overcome himself and after failing to put his jiu-jitsu into practice, he landed good punches on Anderson, who felt it, and made the crowd scream his name. But it was too late and the Minotauro Team athlete successfully defended his middleweight title, despite boos from the entire arena.

Frank Edgar vs. B.J. Penn

Moving throughout all five rounds, Edgar showed a lot of speed to overcome BJ's always devastating boxing. After a first round where the Hawaiian was superior, Frank found himself in the fight and landed more hand strikes, mixing with takedown attempts, while Penn relied on his powerful counterattack. In the end, victory for Ricardo Cachorrão's student in the unanimous decision of the referees.  

Matt hugs vs. Renzo Gracie

Returning to MMA after two and a half years away, Renzo started the duel against the former champion well Matt hugs. Using his boxing moves well, the Brazilian was better in the first round, however, as the fight progressed, Gracie began to feel his physical fitness and especially his thigh kicks. In the third round, already very tired, Hughes took the Brazilian to the ground on two occasions with low kicks and with 30 seconds left in the fight, the American knocked the Brazilian out with a sequence of boxing blows.

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Terry emo

Reliving the classic duels between jiu-jitsu and wrestling, the Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos gave a show to English Terry emo. After struggling with a guillotine choke in the first round, the Gracie Fusion black belt recovered in the second round and managed to impose his efficient ground game, reaching the north/south position. From then on, he went for the arm-bar. Check out the other results:

Main card:

- Anderson Silva derrotou Demian Maia in the unanimous decision of the judges;

- Frankie Edgar derrotou B.J. Penn in the unanimous decision of the judges;

- Matt hugs defeated Renzo Gracie by technical knockout in R3;

- Rafael dos Anjos finished Terry emo with an armbar on R2;

- Mark Munoz defeated Kendall Grove via TKO in R2;

 Preliminary card:

- Phil Davis finished Alexander Gustafson with a hand triangle on R1;

– John Gunderson x Paul Taylor – fight cancelled;

– Rick Story defeated Nick Osipczak via split decision;

– Paul Kelly submitted Matt Veach with a guillotine choke in R2;

– Jon Madsen defeated Mostapha Al Turk via unanimous decision by the judges;

– DaMarques Johnson defeated Brad Blackburn by TKO in R3.