THE GREATEST EVER!!!
When the UFC signed Anderson
Silva in 2006 one could have scarcely predicted how monumental the move
would become. The thirty-something Brazilian had certainly had a solid
professional international fighting career up to that point and was
almost always exciting to watch but he was also just 3-2 in his prior
five fights.
In fact, Silva had recently
almost retired because he was so disappointed with where his career was
headed after a submission loss to Ryo Chonnan on New Year’s Eve, 2004 in
Pride. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira talked Silva out of it and helped
support him as he worked to get back on track.
To say that Silva rebounded would be a huge understatement. The
flashy journeyman, who had been susceptible to submissions and was
overshadowed by teammates like Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio “Shogun”
Rua, stayed with it, improved immeasurably and hit the UFC running.In his UFC debut, Silva dismantled the granite-chinned Chris Leben, who up to that point was undefeated in the promotion. After that, Silva went straight to a shot at middleweight champion Rich Franklin.
Pundits won’t admit it now, but many of us thought that Silva was being rushed into a fight he wasn’t ready for against Franklin. Sure, Silva was dynamic but the strong, well-rounded Franklin seemed like a leap up in competition for the Brazilian after Leben.
As it turned out, somewhere between Japan, England and the United States, Anderson Silva became “The Spider” – an unstoppable force of fighting nature that wouldn’t lose for the better part of a decade. Silva brutalized Franklin with ease, took the middleweight title and did not look back for nearly seven years.
From good to great
Silva would go on to defend the
middleweight title a record 11 consecutive and successful times (yes,
we’re counting his submission win over Travis Lutter, who missed weight
the day before and turned the fight into a non-title affair, because it
only makes sense to in the spirit of the term, “title defense”). Silva
also moved up in weight three separate times to dominate three light
heavyweights, including the first ever unified 205-pound champion,
Forrest Griffin.
By the time his first fight
against challenger Chris Weidman came around this past summer, Silva had
long been the most dominant champion in MMA history. He would go on to
lose to Weidman, nearly ten years his junior, twice in a row.
Those wins certainly established Weidman as the undisputed best
middleweight in the world at this point in time, but the devastating
losses for Silva can’t change his place in history.
From 2006 to 2013, Silva was
fighting greatness personified. He was good enough to bully lesser
opponents and great enough to come from behind and beat back legitimate
threats to his reign.
Many opponents like Lutter,
Demian Maia , Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort seem like also-rans in
retrospect. At the time, however, each looked like potentially bad match
ups for Silva.
Lutter put Silva down, mounted
him and threatened with submissions before the champion rallied and
finished the Jiu Jitsu ace with his own triangle choke. Maia had
dominated virtually everyone in the middleweight division leading up to
Silva, using his takedowns and world-class submissions to win.
Surely the world submission
grappling champion posed a serious threat to Silva, whom we thought had
problems with takedowns and submissions. Instead, Anderson toyed with
his countryman en route to a punishing and effortless-looking decision
win.
When two-division Pride champion
and former Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson faced Silva in 2008, most
assumed that he was a nightmare matchup for “The Spider.” Henderson
possessed just as much striking power as Silva and could likely take him
down at will.
In the first round, Henderson
played his game – took Silva down – but the champion survived. In the
second round, a glancing shot from Anderson dropped Hendo and Silva
finished with a rear naked choke, forcing the tap out submission.
Belfort had won titles at
heavyweight and light heavyweight, possessed all-around skills and
lightning fast strikes. It seemed as if Silva would finally face an
opponent his equal in speed and athleticism who also would feel
comfortable wherever the fight went.
Not even close. Silva
front-kicked “The Phenom” in the face and knocked him out in the first
round. Belfort has not lost a fight at middleweight since then but Silva
showed that he himself was in another class.
Silva provided perhaps the most
dramatic come from behind victory we’ve ever seen in MMA when he
submitted Chael Sonnen in the fifth and final round of their 2010 title
bout after getting beaten on everywhere for the entire fight. Turns out
Sonnen also violated performance enhancing drug regulation to achieve
that performance.
In their 2012 rematch, Silva
looked on his way to facing serious trouble from Sonnen again when he
was taken down in the first round with ease and controlled on the
ground. In the second round, however, Anderson made quick work of “The
American Gangster,” with a deft weave, sidestep and laser-precise knee
to the sternum of Sonnen.
Silva, it seemed, could take anyone’s best shots, remain calm, shrug it off and deliver one shot that would make them crumble.Even Silva’s perceived career lows – his incessant taunting of opponents like Thales Leites, Maia, Forrest Griffin and Weidman – are, in the long view, simply reminiscent of other great sporting competitors of the past two centuries like Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan. Ali was quick to taunt, quick to boast, regularly hurled racially insensitive remarks at opponents like Joe Frazier and George Foreman and wasn’t above literally and physically stalking and harassing opponents at their homes like he did to Sonny Liston.
Jordan, of course, was one of the worst trash talkers and in-competition taunters in history. He also screamed at and abused opposing coaches during games and punched teammates during practice.
Sometimes the great ones are
jerks on their path towards greatness. As we have with Ali, Jordan and
countless others, we will ultimately remember Silva for the great things
he accomplished, and not nit-pick and parse his career for the
sometimes unpleasant methods he used to get there.
Ambassador for the sport
Anderson Silva’s in-ring exploits
were key in pushing the UFC and sport of MMA as whole grow
exponentially. Anderson Silva’s first UFC fight was in the small Hard
Rock Hotel and Casino venue. Within a few years, he and the UFC were
selling out stadiums for his fights domestically and abroad, with
television audiences numbering in the tens of millions, globally.
Silva became such a star that he
helped open up perhaps the UFC’s biggest market – Brazil. In his home
country, Silva graced the cover of Rolling Stone, secured sponsorships
from Nike and Burger King and sold out arenas. Back in the United
States, Silva proved to be one of the very top pay per view draws for
the UFC.
Incredible longevity & legacy
Anderson Silva lasted way longer
than most counter-fighters who rely on quickness, timing and an
impeccable sense of range do. His boxing idol, who shared those
attributes with the MMA champ, certainly did not.
Silva long insisted, perhaps in
jest and perhaps in seriousness, that he wanted to fight Jones Jr. That
fight never happened and that’s fine.
As a public endeavor, it would
have been a sad spectacle. Jones Jr. has sustained too much damage in
his career and should have retired long ago for his health. If the men,
who seem friendly with one another, want to spar in private, they can.
Silva had and has nothing left to prove, against Jones or anyone
else. There’s nothing left of substance that the pound for pound great
could add to his legacy.
There will always be the next challengers and the next champions – guys like Chris Weidman.
Weidman is a beast and who knows
what other great things he will go on to do and for how long. It
certainly seems like he can be champion for a long time.
Perhaps Silva will recover from his traumatic leg injury and try to make another run. We certainly hope he’ll be healthy enough to do so.
Silva can’t become more of a
giant than he already is, though. There will always be the next big,
strong, young guy who Silva could take on.
Safe to say, however, that there will never be another Anderson Silva.
Follow Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda and @YahooCagewriter
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