Looking Ahead To Matt Hamill vs. Thiago Silva At UFN 29

UFC Fight Night 29 is set to go down this Wednesday, headlined by Jake Shields vs. Demian Maia. The card will also feature a 205lb. match up between Matt Hamill and Thiago Silva, on Silva’s home turf.

Silva had a rough streak in the UFC as of late, scoring only two wins in five years. The skid started for Silva after his first pro loss: a KO at the fists of Lyoto Machida at UFC 94 snapped the Brazilians 13 fight surge.

After a quick knockout of Kieth ‘china chin’ Jardine at UFC 102, Silva lost a disappointing decision to Rashad  Evans at 108. He did beat the snot out of Brandon Vera at 125, only to have the result changed to a NC after Silva’s urine sample was confirmed as ‘not human’.

The lack of human DNA in Silva’s pee can surely only be a sign that lizard people are among us, or that Silva was on the rage jabs. You decide. Anyway, Silva served a one year suspension and returned with another UD loss, this time to future title shotter Alexander Gustafsson.

TS would bounce back with a submission win against Stanislov Nedkov in November 2012, only to have it overturned for hanging with the Diaz bros. Testing positive for Marijuana. Finally Silva made it back to the win column against Rafael Cavalcante and now he looks to fight off the superior wrestler Matt Hamill.

Hamill recently returned from a year long retirement to beat Roger Hollett at UFC 152. His pre retirement highlights include a savage KO win over Mark Munoz, a ‘victory’ over Jon Jones, and a win over former MW boss Tito Ortiz.

Hamill had originally called it quits after losing a decision to Rampage Jackson and getting knocked out by Alexander Gustafsson. His return bout in 2012 was rather unmemorable, and Hamill has been inactive in the 12 months since.

So what do we expect from these two at UFN 29? I expect Hamill to do everything in his power to take down Silva and keep him on his back. Silva’s striking is nasty and has tallied 12 career KO’s from 15 wins.

Hamill’s wrestling is very high level and, although he does have six knockouts, I don’t think he wants to test his chin for too long against Silva. TS has to keep this fight standing, I don’t think that he will be able to put together any offense from his back.

Silva is very underrated. Ignore the fact that he is mostly horse meat, the guy has only lost to former champions and the latest title challenger and he was unbeaten for the first four years of his career.

That being said, he is going up against someone who is very hard to count out. Hamill is a true inspiration; a deaf athlete who has accomplished more than most people could in two lifetimes. He has quite a good chin and may be able to use it to weather any early storms.

My opinion is that Hamill will dictate where this fight takes place, but Silva may be able to hit the button in the process.