Bonnar can’t handle Silva in UFC 153

The Las Vegan’s light heavyweight bout against Anderson Silva went by the script as Silva knocked out Bonnar in the first round of UFC 153 in Rio de Janeiro.

After taking a bizarre stance with his back against the cage for the fight’s first several minutes, Silva tripped Bonnar to the mat and lunged forward to land a knee square to Bonnar’s body as he tried to get back to his feet.

Bonnar immediately curled up on the mat and covered his face, only to have Silva land a series of punches until the fight was stopped at 4:40 of the opening round. It was the first time Bonnar has been stopped in his 22-bout career.

Silva explained his bizarre early actions basically by saying he was trying to show he was capable of anything.

“I’m not the best,” he said. “I just believe that I can do things that people think are impossible.”

Silva’s Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title was not on the line in the fight, which was booked as a late replacement contest when the card was struggling for a headliner.

After the win, he reiterated his previous assertion that he will go back down to 185 pounds. The move was only a temporary solution to help ensure the event would go on as planned in his native Brazil. “I’m not going to fight at 205 again,” Silva said.

The 35-year-old Bonnar essentially came out of retirement for what he called the biggest fight of his career. The fight was going well for him early as Silva stumbled and Bonnar immediately pinned him against the fence. He kept the fight there for a bit, but when Silva finally pushed him away, the antics began.

Silva moved back to the cage and stood flat-footed, delivering a few shots and dodging several others. Finally, he had enough of the shenanigans and moved in for the finishing sequence.

Also, heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira returned from a nine-month layoff due to injury to submit Dave Herman with an armbar in the second round.

Nogueira, a former heavyweight champion and a beloved figure in Brazil, appeared completely focused on getting a submission against Herman, who spent much of the buildup to the fight dismissing the effectiveness of jiujitsu. Herman was particularly fond of saying that jiujitsu didn’t work on him.

It was a night of mixed results for the card’s two Brazilian rising contenders.

Light heavyweight Glover Teixeira punished Fabio Maldonado for two rounds, tearing open his face with punches and elbows until cageside doctors mercifully called a stop to the fight before the bell rang to begin the third round.

Things didn’t go as well for welterweight Erick Silva. Though he nearly finished Jon Fitch in the second round, Fitch survived a choke attempt and dominated the third round against an exhausted Silva to win a unanimous decision.

In a light heavyweight bout, Phil Davis manhandled Wagner Prado before stopping him with a second-round anaconda choke.

Brazilian Demian Maia looked strong in improving to 2-0 since dropping to welterweight in July. He took down Rick Story in the opening seconds and held him there before securing a fight-ending choke midway through the first round.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.