Silva edged past Bisping 29-28 on all three judges's scorecards in the co-main event of UFC 110 today in Sydney. It was a close contest that saw Silva start out trying to fight carefully for most of the first 14:30 before entering the berserker mode that earned him the nickname "Ax Murdererer" during his glory years as a titleholder in Pride Fighting Championships
With 10 seconds left in the bout, Silva launched himself forward with winging left and right hands. A left hook and right hook to the head near the fence wobbled Bisping, and another right hook to the side of Bisping's head and neck sent him down on all fours.
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The final round ended soon after Silva pounced on his fallen opponent, and Bisping appeared to be fine following the bout. But Silva's flurry left a lasting impression of a fight that was otherwise in doubt until then.
"I feel the reason he got the decision was the knockdown right at the end," Bisping said. "You know I'm a little bit bummed out about it, but Wanderlei's a great opponent."
Every round was close. Bisping frequently switched the direction of his lateral movement and kept Silva off balance by alternating between throwing jabs, kicks and punch combinations to set up takedown attempts.
Bisping's wrestling deposited Silva on the mat multiple times, but the ex-Pride champion always scrambled to his feet quickly. Silva threw more power punches and had the only serious submission attempt of the bout, a guillotine choke for the final 15 seconds of the second round.
He knocked down Bisping in the second round, and ended the first round by attacking with one of his trademark bursts to have Bisping retreating. But Bisping connected solidly with several punches in the first round and got the better of the early exchanges.
UFC 110 marked Silva's introduction to the 185-pound division after spending most of his career fighting at 205 pounds. The show was UFC's first event in Australia.
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