Bookmaker odds heavily favored Anderson Silva on Saturday at UFC 112 and he delivered with a win over Demian Maia although it was far from impressive. It was better than the performance of BJ Penn though who was thoroughly dominated even though he was the offshore betting against Frankie Edgar.
Bookmaker numbers favored Silva and Penn by extremely high margins. Silva dominated early against Maia and then simply quit fighting. He hung on for the victory but it was not inspiring. He had Maia beaten after the second round but he didn’t finish him off. “I’d like to say he lost his mind tonight and he got crazy,” said UFC president Dana White, “But this is the third time this has happened. This isn’t the first time.” Silva did the same thing in the past in wins over Thales Leites and Patrick Cote. Silva got the win but he has proven that he is not a fighter you want headlining and event.
The other feature bout in UFC 112 had Frankie Edgar taking on BJ Penn. This was a bout in which Edgar pulled off the huge offshore betting upset as he dominated Penn from start to finish. All three judges had Penn winning the fight and only one had it competitive. Penn was not expected to struggle in this bout against Edgar but that is exactly what happened. The one concern for Penn going into the fight was his condition and after the first couple of rounds that proved to be a problem. Edgar really controlled the bout in the final three rounds.
The main card in UFC 112 bookmaker odds also had another dud as Matt Hughes totally outclassed Renzo Gracie. Hughes proved that he still can fight in the UFC while Gracie should have stayed retired. The best of the main event bouts was probably the one between Kendall Grove and Mark Munoz. Early in the bout it was Munoz in serious trouble but he recovered and scored a second round TKO against Grove. The win vs. bookmaker lines by Rafael dos Anjos was also entertaining as he defeated Terry Etim.
The undercard featured an impressive win by Phil Davis against Alexander Gustafsson. Also winning in UFC 112 vs. the bookmaker odds were Jon Madsen against Mustafa Al Turk, Paul Kelly over Matt Veach, DaMarques Johnson over Brad Blackburn, Rick Story vs. Nick Osipczak. Paul Taylor withdrew for medical reasons and his fight against John Gunderson was cancelled.