Erick Silva was expected to blow through Takenori Sato at UFC Fight Night 36. Silva has had an up and down career in his time in the UFC. Early promises of Silva as a top ten welterweight have been called into question after tough losses to perennial gatekeepers in Jon Fitch and Dong Hyun Kim. Silva has still shown the ability to excite with dominant victories over Jason High, Charlie Brenneman, Carlo Prater (which was later overturned), and Luis Ramos, but if he can't figure out how to control his offensive output against top level talent he could continue to struggle against the best fighters.
Sato, was seen as something of a bounce-back for Silva, a solid, experienced opponent who is not gifted with the raw athleticism or extreme technical expertise to challenge a fighter of Silva's caliber. Could Silva put together another top performance? Or would Sato be able to topple expectations and give Silva a tougher than expected showing?
The answers were stunningly clear as Erick Silva dominated for the short time this fight took place. With Sato not only not landing a single strike, but not even throwing a strike, before getting brutally KO'd.
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