UFC Fight Night 14: "Silva vs. Irvin"

UFC Fight Night 14: Silva vs. Irvin

Event Name: UFC Fight Night 14: “Silva vs. Irvin”

Date: July 19th, 2008

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Venue: The Pearl at The Palms Hotel and Casino

Broadcast: Spike TV (9pm ET)

In the United States: SPIKE TV

In Canada: Rogers Sportsnet

In the United Kingdom: Setanta Sports

UFC middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva will move up to the 205lb light heavyweight division to fight James Irvin on July 19th for a speacial UFC event dubbed "Ultimate Fight Night 14". On the same night, "Affliction: Banned" will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. In addition to Fedor Emelianenko Vs. Tim Sylvia, the fight card features notables such as Josh Barnett, Matt Lindland, Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and others. UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (21-4 MMA, 6-0 UFC) will make his light-heavyweight debut and take on veteran fighter James Irvin (14-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) at the UFC Fight Night event. After tearing through every middleweight fighter put in front of him, the question remained, Anderson Silva has to ask him self what his next challenge will be. The only logical thing for "the Spider" is to move up to light-heavyweight to see if his skills can stand the test. Although James Irvin isn't necessarily the dream opponent that we'd all like to see Silva fight, it will be an interesting introduction into the new weight class. Irvin is a heavy hitter with a good chin. He doesn't spend much time on the ground and would much rather stand and trade punches. This plays well for Silva, as we know his striking is probably the best in all of MMA, but his ground game is also great as we saw in his fight with Dan Henderson. So if he gets in trouble on his feet, if he's overpowered by a bigger fighter, he can likely take it to the ground where Irvin isn't as comfortable.

Irvin, who made his UFC debut in 2005, is 5-3 in the organization and 3-1 in his past four UFC fights. He most recently defeated Houston Alexander with an eight-second knockout (via Superman punch). However, he's never been considered one of the division's top contenders, and on a few occasions, openly stated that he was possibly one loss away from losing his UFC contract.

Also, lightweight contenders Hermes Franca and Frankie Edgar will battle it out, a fight originally scheduled for UFC Fight Night 14 now has been added to the July 19th card. It was originally reported that a main event between Wanderlei Silva and Brandon Vera was possible, but reports, that Silva wasn't physically prepared for the bout. Brandon Vera will still fight on the card and take on UFC newcomer and former IFL vet Reese Andy.

The event will be held at The Palms Casino Resort and it is expected to be announced on The Ultimate Fighter tonight.

Main Card

• Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
• Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy
• Hermes Franca vs. Frank Edgar
• Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns

Preliminary Bouts

• Brodie Farber vs. Rory Markham
• James Giboo vs. Brad Blackburn
• Dale Hartt vs. Shannon Gugerty
• UFC Fight Night 14 Results

UFC Champion Anderson Silva destroys James Irwin

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was successful in his light heavyweight debut, knocking out 205-pound knockout artist James Irvin with a straight right and ground and pound 61 seconds into the opening round of the main event of UFC Fight Night 14. The eleven-bout event took place on Saturday, July 19th, at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I’m a Muay Thai fighter. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” said Silva after the fight. “I didn’t come up to the 205-pound division to disrespect any fighters, but if you stand up and exchange Muay Thai, this is what happens.”

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Be sure to get your UFC Fight Night 14 bets down early at Bookmaker Sportsbook, because the fight is here!