Silva Grounds Alexander in One; Herman Avenges Defeat at UFC 78

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By Thomas Gerbasi

NEWARK, NJ, November 17 – Houston Alexander was everywhere in the weeks leading up to his UFC 78 bout against Thiago Silva, with newspapers and websites telling his story with a fervor, but when the two 205-pounders stepped into the Octagon at the Prudential Center Saturday night, it was Silva who carved his own name into the headlines as he stopped the light heavyweight knockout artist in the first round.

“My strategy was to fight him for three rounds, but thank God I was able to finish him in the first,” said Brazil’s Silva, who ups his unbeaten record to 12-0. Alexander falls to 8-2.

The crowd was electric from the moment Silva and Alexander entered the arena, with Nebraska’s “Assassin” getting a huge roar when introduced. And as expected, it didn’t take Alexander long to rush Silva, but the crafty Brazilian wrapped his foe up until broken by referee Dan Miragliotta. Again, Alexander began his aggressive stride forward and Silva tried to stall the action, only to get taken to the mat. Silva quickly worked his way out of trouble though, and he got into the mount position, the roughest spot Alexander has been in during his short UFC career. While on the canvas, the crowd chanted ‘Hous-ton, Hous-ton’ to try to rally their favorite, but Silva would not be denied, and a series of heavy-handed ground strikes forced Miragliotta to call the bout at the 3:25 mark.

Welterweight contender Karo Parisyan didn’t thrill the fans in attendance with his bout against PRIDE vet Ryo Chonan, but he did do enough to get the victory as he scored a three round unanimous decision over the Japan native.

Scores for Parisyan, who improves to 26-4, were 30-27 across the board. Chonan falls to 14-8 in his UFC debut.

The most important thing is that I got the win, but I wasn’t happy with my performance,” said Parisyan, who referred to personal issues for his less than stellar outing.

Neither fighter opted for the ‘feeling out’ process to begin the bout, with Parisyan scoring with a left to the head that brought the action to the canvas. There, the fight stagnated though, with referee Kevin Mulhall soon restarting the action. With 2:25 left, Parisyan got a roar out of the crowd with a thudding slam of Chonan, and this time, ‘The Heat’ made a concerted effort to force the action, though the PRIDE veteran wouldn’t allow him to get enough momentum to end the bout.

Chonan’s striking and defense were more effective in the second round, with a big right hand and a follow-up kick being the key weapons. Parisyan stayed back and countered, eventually getting the fight back to the canvas as the second half of the frame approached. And though Parisyan kept the bout there until the bell, he was far from effective there.

After a slow opening minute and a half to open the final round, the bout hit the canvas and the two traded position in an effort to pull ahead, but no clear victor in these exchanges emerged, and once the combatants stood, a similar stalemate was reached. With 1:30 left, Parisyan did land a couple of clean punches to the head, but unfortunately that was the extent of sustained action until the end of the bout.

In middleweight action, up and comer Ed Herman avenged a 2004 loss to Joe Doerksen, knocking out his foe in the third and final round.

“That was beautiful,” said Herman, 16-4, who was previously submitted by Doerksen. “That was the first KO of my career.”

Doerksen (39-11) put Herman on the defensive early with his striking before ‘Short Fuse’ settled in against the fence and took his opponent down. After a brief stay on the mat, Doerksen emerged with a cut over his left eye and Herman moved in, taking the fight back to the canvas, where he worked his ground and pound game effectively for the rest of the round.

By the toll of the second round bell, Doerksen’s eye was almost swollen shut, and Herman secured another quick takedown. With slightly more than three minutes left, referee Kevin Mulhall restarted the stagnant action, and Doerksen was given new life as he took Herman’s back. After some dicey moments, Herman apparently escaped trouble and resumed his ground attack, but with seconds left, Doerksen sunk in a deep triangle choke that was only interrupted by the bell.

Herman staggered to his corner after the round, but Doerksen still looked the worse for wear as the third round commenced, and the Ultimate Fighter season three finalist made sure there would be no last second heroics from the Canadian as a single left hook put Doerksen flat on his back. The bout was halted by Mulhall moments later at the 39 second mark.

Unbeaten lightweight prospect Frankie Edgar thrilled the New Jersey crowd in the main card opener, scoring the biggest win of his young career by scoring a shutout three round decision over Spencer Fisher in a bout that made up in dominance what it may have lacked in explosive action.

“I would have stood more and I felt I connected on a couple of right hands, but the takedowns were there and I’m not going to give them up if they’re there,” said Edgar.

After some brief standup, Edgar was able to dump Fisher on the mat 30 seconds into the bout, and though Fisher was able to get back to his feet, the local hero put him right back on the mat seconds later, and ‘The Answer’ began to land with strikes from inside his opponent’s guard. As the round closed in on the final 90 seconds, Fisher got to his feet again, showing the wear of battle on his face. A missed kick would again bring the fight to the canvas though, and Edgar finished off a strong opening session with some more ground strikes.

There was more of the same in round two, with Fisher getting brought to the mat again almost immediately. And though Fisher would inevitably fight his way back to a standing position, Edgar wouldn’t let ‘The King’ get too comfortable before he would put him on his back and commence firing with a steady stream of punches that weren’t hurting Fisher, but they were wearing him down and scoring points.

Round three was a carbon copy of the previous two, with Fisher having no answers – pardon the pun – for Edgar’s attack, and the decision, 30-27 across the board, was no surprise.

With the win, Edgar improves to 8-0. Fisher falls to 21-4.

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