Wanderlei Silva defeats Brian Stann

Wanderlei Silva gave us another memory to cherish at the Saitama Super Arena. In what was a fantastic brawl, full of spirited exchanges, Silva gave us the fighter that fans think of when the name “The Axe Murderer” is uttered. Silva, 36-years-old, has been through wars and on the unfortunate end of some vicious KO’s in his career. Most thought that Brian Stann, 32-years-old but with nowhere near the same amount of ring wars (actual war is another story), would be enough to shut Silva’s lights out in 2013. Something special happened though, we witnessed brutal exchanges that saw both men touch the canvas in the first frame. One memorable exchange brought back memories of Leben’s KO of Silva in 2011, except this time Silva was able to survive Stann’s uppercut onslaught. Stann’s nose was busted badly, but it seemed like Stann had the momentum going into the second frame. However towards the end of the second stanza, Silva hit a great one-two on Stann for the lone knockdown of that round. With a minute remaining, Silva’s legendary killer instinct kicked in and he was able to put the final nails in the coffin to win at 4:08 of the second round.

The fight is currently in the running for “Fight of the Year”, along with it being another great upset for 2013. Stann, through this loss, really endeared himself to fans due to the fight quality and his classy post-fight response.

The other major highlight of the evening was Mark Hunt defeating Stefan Struve via TKO at 4:08 of the third round. Hunt broke Struve’s jaw after a back and forth tilt, a fight that was much welcomed after 8 straight decisions. With this TKO win, Hunt will now fight on May 25 against the number two heavyweight on the planet, Junior Dos Santos.