Sherdog.com’s 2014 Round of the Year

What makes a round the “Round of the Year?” Out of the literally thousands of rounds fought in major-promotion MMA in 2014, what makes one stand out as head and shoulders above the rest? Is it a round that locks in a new champion and defines the beginning of a new era in MMA gold? What about the swan song of a great champion singing his or her farewell to adoring fans while going out in a blaze of glory? Must the “Round of the Year” create a ripple effect heard ’round the world or is it just a round so awesome that it trumps all?

In the case of Sherdog.com’s 2014 “Round of the Year,” the latter was chosen in the form of round one between Matt Brown and Erick Silva in their UFC Fight Night headliner on May 10 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. Though there was no championship on the line, theirs was a significant matchup in the ridiculously tough Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division that could have made or broken two surging contenders’ quest for a title shot.

Entering the fight, Brown, a 2-to-1 underdog, was on a six-fight winning streak and in the midst of a shocking career resurgence Kenny Florian called “the greatest career turnaround in UFC history.” Silva, for his part, had won seven of his last 10 bouts and was expected to make a real mark in the hotly contested title race at 170 pounds. He was confident going in. “I’m way faster, I’m more aggressive, I’m more versatile and I trained a lot for this fight,” Silva said. If Brown was worried, he did not show it. “He will make mistakes, and if he makes the one wrong mistake, I’m going to put him on the floor.”

In typical fashion, Brown charged forward after Silva right out of the gate. The action was fast and violent from the outset, but Brown got caught with a body shot that brought him to his knees early in the round. This was not just any body shot, either; it was the kind of body shot that ends fights -- consistently -- with the fighter on the receiving end rendered helpless for the final few moments before subsequent head bashing results in the stoppage.

However, “The Immortal,” true to his nickname, survived the follow-up punches and elbows and forced Silva to seek another route to the jugular. The Brazilian came close to a rear-naked choke and then switched to a neck crank. There was a moment, a brief moment, in which Brown looked as if he might tap. All the anticipation, all the hype from a six-fight winning streak, all the noise from his hometown crown ... all of it nearly ended in that moment; but he did not tap. Somehow, Brown returned to his feet and started hurling and connecting on punishing elbows, bringing the arena to a deafening boil. The elbows kept coming, along with some painful knees. Silva started to wobble and retreat, trying to find somewhere to clear his head and survive a most unexpected of turnarounds. Brown cut off his escape, tossed him to the canvas and unleashed until the horn sounded.

It was dramatic; it was brutal; and it showed the incredible depth of heart within Brown and Silva. Each man withstood the best of what the other had to offer.

The fight advanced through a tough, Brown-dominated second round and finally into a third, where the Ohioan scored the technical knockout 2:11 into the frame.

However, the first round -- and Brown’s ability to endure -- had reporters across the globe and fans across the Internet proclaiming it was one of the best they had ever seen. UFC President Dana White summed it up nicely: “Brown’s mental toughness got him through one hell of a fight.” It was hard to imagine anyone disagreeing -- and few did, except, oddly enough, Brown himself. “I just did what I do,” he said. “I didn’t think it was that good of a fight. I didn’t feel my best at all tonight. It’s my first main event, in my home state, close to my hometown. The pressure got to me a little bit. Once I started feeling the groove of the fight, I started putting things together.”

Brown went on to face Robbie Lawler in a title eliminator, losing a five-round unanimous decision at UFC on Fox 12 in July. Silva, meanwhile, regrouped and submitted Mike Rhodes with a first-round arm-triangle choke at UFC Fight Night “Machida vs. Dollaway” on Dec. 20. The MMA community will look forward to more memorable moments from both welterweights in 2015, but until then, it is awfully fun to travel back in time to revisit the unforgettable spring night they shared together in the cage in Ohio.

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