It was as if Anderson Silva put Yushin Okami in a trance during their middleweight title fight Saturday night at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Silva controlled Okami in the first round, then overwhelmed him in the second en route to a TKO victory.
"I'm training hard; I'm training hard for my team," Silva said after extending his win streak to a UFC-record 14. "I came here to fight.
"I train hard for the best guys in the world. I pushed the fight."
The middleweight champion set the pace early in the first round, using his jab and kicks to keep Okami in a defensive posture.
By the middle of the round, Silva (31-4-1) began picking up the pace. He landed several right-left combinations. And when the fighters were against the cage, Silva connected with his knee and hurt his challenger.
But in the second, Silva decided to entertain. He dropped his hands in an effort to lure Okami (26-6-0) into attacking him.
The strategy worked. Okami saw Silva's open defense as a chance to deliver strikes of his own, but the champion's elusiveness made it impossible for him to be hit.
Silva avoided Okami's attack and floored him with a straight right jab. Shortly thereafter, Silva would drop Okami again with a hard right.
This time, he would not let the top-ranked middleweight off the hook. Silva delivered right hand after right hand, bloodying Okami's face.
Referee Herb Dean was forced to jump in and wave Silva off at 2:04 of the second round.
The win not only allowed Silva to defend his 185-pound belt for a UFC-best ninth time in a row, but he avenged a disqualification loss to Okami in January 2006.
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