Thiago Silva claimed a unanimous decision victory over Matt Hamill tonight at UFC Fight Night 29, but it’s not a performance either man will be particularly proud of.
Round One
Hamill starts with a kick and some punches following. Kick to the leg now.
He manages to knock Silva off-balance and he falls to the mat, but the Brazilian is quickly back up.
The two men trade leg kicks. Silva trying to push the pace now. Silva appears to hurt Hamill with a kick and he covers up defensively.
That gives silva confidence and he presses forward more aggressively and is starting to land some good punches now.
Hamill digs nicely to the body. Nothing more to follow it though and Silva resumes being the aggressor. Hamill thinks about a takedown, then abandons that plan. He lands another nice body shot.
Silva breathing a little heavy this early in the fight, but still offering up a good amount of offense. Hamill’s output is less frequent, but at times he’s landing some nice crisp shots, particularly to the body.
Round Two
Silva wings a few punches that miss. Hamill returns fire with a leg kick that causes Silva to stumble to the mat, though he’s straight up again.
Hamill looking to get loose with his strikes, but Silva unleashes some punches and that backs him up.
Hamill lands a brief takedown, but can’t keep Silva down. Silva back to working leg kicks and they are definitely having an impact.
Silva looking a bit tired, but he lands another leg kick that has Hamill wincing.
Nice little punching combo from Hamill, but he’s really not doing enough of that, fighting at a very measured pace so far.
Hamill looks to trip Silva, but only gets him to the mat for a second.
Perhaps both men are tired, but Silva’s being more aggressive and it pays off as he lands two hard right hands that leave Hamill wobbled. More punches follow and he drops to the mat. Silva tries to finish, but Hamill hangs in there and survives long enough to get back upright.
It looks like a few more punches could finish this fight, but Silva’s not got the gas tank to go all out for the finish, so Hamill has some time to recover. Hamill then works in some grappling towards the end of the round to show that he’s not completely out of this fight yet.
Round Three
Lazy punches to start the round and Hamill tries for a takedown, but Silva ends up on top with Hamill turtled up. He gets back up though and they are back to the striking battle.
Sluggish takedown from Hamill is stuffed easily by the hard-breathing Silva. Leg kicks from Silva still taking a visible toll on Hamill, but before he can really press home that advantage there’s a stoppage due to an eyepoke to the Brazilian.
Back to it they go and Hamill throws a leg kick. Silva whips two very hard ones in return. A few tired punches land from Hamill and another solid kick to the leg arrives in return.
Hamill bundles forward for a takedown, but has to settle for the clinch against the cage which he soon gives up on.
Gameplan is clear for Silva now as he continues to chop at Hamill’s lead leg and that forces his opponent to attempt the takedown again which fails.
This is really quite a sloppy fight if truth be told and Hamill looks completely gassed and is almost doubling over at times, barely able to keep standing.
Silva lands hard to the body and Hamill bends over again. Bizarre stuff now with Hamill looking as spent as any fighter we’ve seen in the Octagon for some time. The only thing that’s keeping this fight from being stopped is the fact that Silva is also fatigued and so is not trying too hard for the finish.
Another leg kick lands for Silva and it’s all Hamill can do to keep standing. The referee could stop this one at any time, but there’s only seconds left and so he let’s the clock run out.
Decision
Not a fight either man is likely to look back at with any real pride, but no doubt about the winner here, with Silva getting the unanimous decision verdict (30-27 x2, 29-27). Based on this performance I’d doubt we’ll ever see Hamill in the Octagon again.
