As the MMA world has settled into the reality that Anderson Silva is no longer at the top of the heap in the middleweight division, let alone the pound-for-pound list (which is still debatable), I am forced to take a look back at the reality of the world before Silva began his reign.
October 14th, 2006 – it doesn’t sound like it was that long ago, but that was when Anderson Silva captured the UFC middleweight championship title from Rich Franklin at UFC 64. A lot of people still didn’t know who Silva was at that time, and there were a number of other things people didn’t know…
The UFC:
- There was no FOX deal, and we were still relegated to watching paltry free cards on SPIKE.
- Preliminary fights/dark matches were something only those at live shows could really have the chance to watch.
- The heavyweight division was probably at its lowest point in the promotion’s history, with Tim Sylvia sitting at the top of the heap.
- We were still in the Liddell-era of the light-heavyweight division. It was a time where one-punch KO power was enough to hold onto a championship.
- It wasn’t for another month that we would see Georges St. Pierre win the Welterweight championship, only to lose it in 2007 in the BIGGEST upset in MMA history to Matt Serra.
- The lightweight division was still pretty new, and Sean Sherk was the champ.
- Lastly, The Ultimate Fighter was only in its 3rd season… now moving into its 20th… hmmm….
Technology:
- You were probably using Internet Explorer to look for the results from the latest UFC card, today Google Chrome has become the preferred search engine.
- Apple was still re-building and not even close to the technology juggernaut that it is today.
- Speaking of Apple “app store” was still a word that was foreign to all of our vocabularies.
- A lot of people today watch past UFC events of shows on this crazy service called “Netflix” – guess what? It didn’t exist back in 2006!
- What’s a smart phone? In 2006 the word “smart phone” was barely in existence with Blackberry still hanging onto a firm grip of this growing market. It wasn’t until January 2007 that iPhone made its introduction and the smartphone wars really began.
- The heat was starting to build up about the Wii, and PS3 and Xbox 360 were barely a name.
Politics:
- George W. Bush was still in power, and comedians around the world celebrated.
- Really, is the above point not enough to make you shudder?
Sports (in general):
- Barry Bonds breaks the MLB all-time home run record, and puts “W” in the win column for steroid users around the world.
- Italy were the World Cup Champions after defeating France in the finals.
- Coming fresh off a lock-out, The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers to become Stanley Cup Champions.
- The Miami Heat won the NBA championship, without the help of King James or Chris Bosh – go figure?
- The Steelers took the Seahawks 21-10 at the Superbowl.
- The St. Louis Cardinals won their 10th World Series, defeating the Detroit Tigers in 5 games. (they have since won their 11th).
Popular Culture:
- The top movies? “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”, “Night at the Museum”, “Cars”, “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “The Da Vinci Code”
- If you were watching TV, there was a good chance that you were tuning into “American Idol”, “Dancing With Stars”, “CSI”, “House”… it’s amazing how some of these have managed to stick around like a bad case of herpes.
- What were we bouncing our heads to? It was a sad year for music: “High School Musical – The Soundtrack”, “Rascal Flatts – Me and My Gang”, “Carrie Underwood – Some Hearts” and (sigh) “Nickelback – All the Right Reasons”.
- Skinny jeans on guys still weren’t popular… and we were happy.
So, do I blame Anderson Silva for things like Nickelback and skinny jeans? No, correlation does not mean causation, my friend. What I think this does show me how long Silva really did reign over the division and dominate headlines in the MMA world for.
Whether or not you love Silva for his dominance over (most) of his opponents, or hate him for his tomfoolery in the cage – you cannot deny that he helped to usher in a new age in MMA. I will always look to Silva and GSP as being those two fighters who really were the flag-bearers for being true mixed-martial artists.
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below. You can follow me on Twitter: @lastwordmarkand the site @lastwordonsport
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