Silva improves to 31-4 at UFC 153

Anderson Silva (pictured right) stopped Stephan Bonnar with a knee to the body with 20 seconds left in the first round Saturday night, winning his 17th consecutive fight in front of his home fans at UFC 153 at Rio de Janeiro. Silva (31-4) showed off his usual dominance while stopping Bonnar (17-8) for the first time in the veteran’s career. Silva stalked Bonnar before hurting him with a knee and finishing him with punches. Silva is the UFC’s longtime middleweight champ, but he moved up to light heavyweight for the third time in his career. In a preliminary, Spokane’s Sam Sicilia (11-2) lost to Rony Jason (13-3) when the featherweight bout was stopped in the second round. Jason sent Sicilia to the mat with a hard right and followed with several ground strikes. – AP