There are few things in life that are guaranteed in life. For the last seven years we’ve watched Anderson Silva cut-through almost every opponent that has come through his path; even when Silva appeared to be down and out in a fight he always seemed to find a way to come back. Anderson Silva, the greatest fighter in the history of the sport doesn’t lose – not at middleweight, not at light heavyweight… all that was left for the legend was a super fight with one of the other king pins in the sport (re: Georges St. Pierre or Jon Jones). All of this seemed to be assured until last night – when a cocky, laid back, Anderson Silva was laid out by confident and composed Chris Weidman.
In the second round of the main event of UFC 162, Chris Weidman, a fighter that many had written off before even stepping into the ring answered the call of his opponent with a sweet kiss (compliments of his fist) to the jaw of Anderson Silva, putting the lights out on the legend.
So, where does this put the super fight debate? Win or lose, Anderson Silva has done things and set records in the sport that make him one of the best. A super fight with a non-titled Anderson Silva is just as relevant as a titled one. All fighters lose at some point in their career (and believe it or not this isn’t the first time for Silva), it’s what they’ve done over the span of their careers that make them stand out. That said, Silva seemed to allude post-fight in the cage that a super fight, very subtly, by saying: “he didn’t want a re-match… and didn’t want to fight for the title anymore”. He was clear that he wasn’t retiring – s0, what else could be left? SUPER FIGHT?!?!?!?! Social media was on fire.
Dana White quashed our immediate hopes by saying that Silva WOULD fight again for the title, but needed to “go home, hang out with his family, take a week or two to shake things off”. He’s right of course, what’s said in the heat of the moment by a fighter is often only reflective of their immediate mindset and not their true wants. Dana White basically said, that the super-fight was off saying that Anderson Silva “cost Georges St. Pierre and Jon Jones a lot of money tonight”.
In fact, Anderson losing the title throws a whole big wrench into the mix of the middleweight division – for the first time in years. All of the sudden, we have three top contenders in the division with Weidman, Belfort and of course Silva (oh, yeah – let’s not forget about Jacare Souza). Things have become interesting within this division to a point that the UFC doesn’t need to pull out it’s emergency “super fight card”. A re-match event between Weidman and Silva is a guaranteed huge money maker! A fight between either Weidman or Souza and Belfort has BIG EVENT written all of over it.
The super fight card is not one the UFC wants to play with haste. If ratings drop, the sport starts to lose interest, it’s a great way to get buy-in back from the public. However, with this loss from Silva there is a little spark in the tinder bundle that is the UFC middleweight division that can keep interest strong.
Will we ever see the super fight? Maybe – but, I wouldn’t get impatient waiting for it. Jones needs a few more fights before he is considered a legend, and GSP still needs to get through Hendricks. That said, we might still get to see Anderson Silva fight Roy Jones Jr. – so, that might make up for everything – right (crickets)?
I think the positive side of things we should take away from this is a re-invigorated middleweight division. Many have called it the most boring for years, and as I mention I think all of the sudden there is a solid contingent of fighters in the middleweight division.
Stay strong MMA fans!
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below. You can follow me on Twitter: @lastwordmarkand the site @lastwordonsport
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Find more info at our “Join Our Team” page.
