By Sergio Non, USA TODAY
PHILADELPHIA — Middleweight champion Anderson Silva's killer instinct turned out to be alive and well after all — it just needed someone willing to risk it.
Heavily criticized after failing to knock out or submit his last two opponents, Silva answered all questions about his killer instinct with a one-punch knockout of former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin just 3:23 into the first round of their bout Saturday at UFC 101.
AS IT HAPPENED: UFC 101 play-by-play
Fighting in the 205-pound division for the second time in his career, Silva outclassed his opponent from the opening bell. Griffin tried to use feints with his hands to set up kicks or straight punches early, but Silva simply bobbed, weaved and taunted his opponent while waiting for openings. He put Griffin on the mat twice with punches before throwing a short, straight right hand that caught Griffin on the chin and dropped him for good.
The decisive victory came after months of criticism leveled against Silva for a perceived lack of aggression while cruising to wins over Patrick Cote and Thales Leites, neither of whom tried to outstrike Silva on the feet as Griffin did. UFC President Dana White said he was embarassed by Silva's decision victory over Leites at UFC 97, in April.
Silva praised Griffin for going toe-to-toe on the feet. "It's a different kind of fight," Silva said through a translator. "Forrest stood there and tried to exchange."
Griffin quickly left the cage before the official decision was announced, and did not appear at the post-fight news conference. He has done the same thing after previous losses, White said.
"We've seen it before with him," White said. "He's an emotional guy. He came into this fight very confident that he was going to beat Anderson Silva. ... He might be in Georgia by now. He ran out and I haven't seen him since."
In the evening's main event, lightweight champion BJ Penn re-asserted his dominance over UFC's 155-pound division with a fourth-round rear-naked choke of Kenny Florian.
Penn dominated every phase of the fight. He beat Florian to the punch consistently and appeared to get the better of almost every exchange in the clinch. Penn stuffed all of Florian's takedown attempts and succeeded in his only one. Once the fight hit the ground, Penn quickly climbed Florian's back and gradually worked in the choke that forced the challenger to tap out.
Penn viewed the win as redemption, following the defeat to St. Pierre.
"After you get a loss like I had, it's very important to come back," Penn said. "I really wanted to come back and show everybody that I am a fighter."
Saturday was Florian's second attempt at winning UFC's lightweight belt. He lost a five-round decision to Sean Sherk in October 2006.
In other action:
• Ricardo Almeida outgrappled Kendall Grove for three rounds en route to a unanimous decision. Grove tried to use his greater height and reach to outstrike Almeida and punish him with knees in the clinch, but Almeida persisted with takedowns and eventually put Grove on the ground, where he dominated positions throughout. Grove only threatened once, with an armbar that came close to stretching Almeida's arm completely, but the eventual winner twisted free.
Almeida, a highly decorated competitor in jiu-jitsu and submission grappling, said his initial plan was to try to match Grove's striking, but the size difference convinced him to take it to the ground.
"The later the fight went, the difference got to me," Almeida said. "I wanted to stand with him more, but I had to go with my bread and butter."
• A controversial stoppage cost Amir Sadollah his first fight after winning Season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter. Johny Hendricks, a two-time NCAA Division I champion in freestyle wrestling, floored Sadollah with an uppercut within the first 30 seconds and drilled him in the head several times, but Sadollah appeared to be reaching for a takedown as referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in to stop the fight. Most of the audience booed as the replay was shown.
• Aaron Riley won a unanimous decision, winning every round 10-9 over fellow lightweight Shane Nelson on all three judges' scorecards. Riley mixed up his strikes early, dropping Nelson to the canvas at least once, before settling in with a diet of takedowns to stifle Nelson for 15 minutes.
• Point Pleasant, N.J., native Kurt Pellegrino used his wrestling to keep Josh Neer grounded for most of their fight, which opened the pay-per-view card. Pellegrino took down Neer early in each round and simply ground away at him for long stretches with short elbows and small blows to earn the unanimous decision. Neer failed to generate much offense until the final 20 seconds, when he elbowed Pellegrino repeatedly to open a cut, but far too late to help him on the scorecards.
Results from the preliminary fights:
• Alessio Sakara def. Thales Leites via split decision
• John Howard def. Tamdan McCrory via split decision
• Matthew Riddle def. Dan Cramer via unanimous decision
• George Sotiropoulos def. George Roop via 2nd-round kimura
• Jesse Lennox def. Danilo Villefort via 3rd-round TKO (stoppage due to cut)
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