The best and worst from UFC Vegas 12: Hall vs. Silva
The UFC returned to its APEX facility for UFC Vegas 12 last night, and in the main event, Uriah Hall turned out the lights on the career of the legendary former UFC Middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
The show as a whole was one of the UFC’s better efforts in recent weeks, with eight finishes in 11 bouts, and gave us plenty of talking points.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC Vegas 12: Hall vs. Silva.
#1 Best: Silva’s final bout gives us a classic UFC moment
Okay, so Anderson Silva’s legendary UFC career didn’t end in the way that he probably hoped it would. Despite mesmerizing Uriah Hall with his famed striking throughout the first two rounds of their main event clash, eventually, his diminishing reflexes and durability caught up with him.
Hall dropped ‘The Spider’ in the waning seconds of the third round and then sealed the deal with another big right hand early in the fourth. However, what will be remembered from this fight won’t be the knockout – it’ll be the massive show of respect after the fight was over.
A tearful Hall apologized to Silva, who he clearly idolized during the early days of his career while Silva was UFC champion. It was a truly emotional moment – rare in the modern-day UFC – and could probably be looked at as the UFC’s equivalent of the famed Shawn Michaels/Ric Flair exchange in WWE a few years back.
Silva should now head into retirement with his head held high. He didn’t win, but he didn’t look terrible either, and the end to the fight felt like a real passing of the torch. Hopefully, the next time we see him in the UFC will be to enter the promotion’s Hall of Fame.
#1 Worst: Ontiveros’ injury shows the inherent danger of MMA
Charlie Ontiveros wasn’t actually supposed to be competing last night. Kevin Holland was initially pegged to face Makhmud Muradov, but when the Uzbek fighter was forced out due to a positive COVID-19 test, the UFC brought in debutant Ontiveros to take his place. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for him.
Holland was clearly the more powerful fighter from a physical standpoint, and after ragdolling Ontiveros early on, he slammed him down midway through the first round. From there, things took a scary turn. The referee quickly came in to stop the fight before Holland landed any blows, and it was clear that Ontiveros was hurt by the slam.
Apparently suffering from severe pain in his neck, Ontiveros was then strapped to a spineboard and removed from the arena. As of the time of writing, we have no update on Ontiveros’ health, but obviously, the hope is that he’ll be able to make a full recovery with no lasting issues.
However, the scary scene showed the inherent danger of MMA – something that’s often forgotten under the bright lights and prestige of the UFC.
UFC President Dana White once asked the infamous question “do you wanna be a f*cking fighter” – a quote that was re-used on a trailer for the returning TUF last night – and after seeing what happened to Antiveros last night, for most people the answer should probably be no.