UFC 97 Main Event - The Spider Silva vs. Thales Leites

UFC 97: Redemption is no longer rapidly approaching – it’s here. On Saturday night, we’re going to see a massive card as the UFC heads back to Montreal, Canada to put on a show for the ‘eh’ sayers.

The headline fight of the night will be a fight between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites, which according to sportsbook odds makers and sports betting handicappers, should be quite the beat down.

Silva is unquestionably the pound-for-pound king in the UFC but if ever was a time to have an inkling of doubt, now would be that time.

Silva opened the door for plenty of criticism during his last fight against Patrick Cote, which had a betting line higher than his current line against Leites.

While Silva was expected to make very quick work of Cote, Cote proved to be quite a thorn in Silva’s side, not allowing for any kind of rhythm in the fight. There was plenty of dancing and not much fighting, which was a big surprise to the sports betting fans that expected Cote to be seeing stars very early in the first round.

The fight was very even when Cote injured his knee and prematurely had to give up.

The good news is Silva wasn’t very happy with his performance, as evidenced by the fact that he went back stage and fought two more rounds with his trainers afterwards.

The real question with Silva will be how interested is he because he’s already made mention of retirement, albeit three or four fights down the road. If he is focused to beat Leites, there isn’t much that will stop him from doing that.

Although Leites will be getting a marquee fight, it’s questionable whether he even deserves one. He’s sort of at the top of a scrap heap of mediocre Silva challengers but his track record is far from impressive. His best win was against Nate Marquardt and that win was definitely scrutinized. He barely won a split decision in that contest but Marquardt was docked points earlier in the fight, which likely means that Leites wouldn’t have won the fight otherwise.

Leites isn’t a complete scrub; he has a really good ground game and make a lot of people tap out if it heads to the mats. But tapping out Silva is another story.

Silva is one of the best in the business at striking, which is where he’ll look to keep this fight.

Silva has a lot on the line this weekend. He can tie the UFC record for most consecutive wins (9) and title defenses (5) with a win so look for a quick result to this one.

Pick: Silva -600 by first round TKO.