Last night at the MGM grand hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada a new star was born. The UFC has a new Light heavyweight Champion. Chris Weidman was able to stay focused and land a monster jab that knocked out the #1 pound for pound fighter Anderson “The Spider” Silva. From the start of the fight Weidman pressed Silva and landed a few good strikes, in true Silva fashion he played around and begin to drop his hands. Silva even started being comfortable with putting his hands on his hips. Weidman did not fall for Silva’s antics and kept coming, landing more jabs which Silva would laugh at and taunt him to bring it on. At one point they went to the ground and Weidman had a good grip on Silva’s leg which looked as if Anderson was going to get caught in a good leg submission. But Silva slipped out of it. After the first round was over, Weidman came out in round two with the same plan by landing more strikes. Silva jumped around, laughed, and continued to drop his guard. Then things swiftly changed for Silva. Weidman landed a good jab in which prompt Silva to act like he was rocked, but while Silva was playing to be hurt Weidman followed up with a jab that perfectly connected with Silva’s face. Silva went from playing like he was hurt to actually being knocked out. After that punch landed Silva fell to the mat unresponsive and Weidman pounced on him, landing two or three more vicious strikes. The ref then jumped in and calls the fight, and that is how the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world lost his 11th title defense. The crowd went nuts, many fans screamed with joy, and some where just in shock about what they just witnessed.
Now, let’s break this down a little bit more. Did Anderson Silva lose because he was out skilled? No, he lost because he did not give Weidman the respect that he deserved. We see it all the time, a fighter gets cocky and does something stupid then get knocked out. I feel it was a little more than that. From the start of the promotion for this fight, the UFC hyped Weidman as the one that could possibly take down Silva. In the pay per view commercial they had fighter saying that this could be the one. They really hyped it up. Even George St. Pierre said that Weidman would beat Silva. So, you can say they did this to increase ticket sales like the UFC always does. Let’s ask ourselves this, how would Silva benefit from winning this fight? Yeah, he would still be champion, still labeled the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world. But is that what he wants, he stated that he has done everything there is to do with the sport, so why keep this constant pressure on him that he has carried for seven long years. Silva is 38 years old, and that is old in this sport. He has a wife and two sons that I am sure wants him home on a regular basis. He just can’t retire because he is still under contract with the UFC but now he can just blow through the rest of his fights quickly and then be done with it all. Joe Rogan asked Silva if he wanted a rematch, he quickly replied “No, Chris Weidman is your new champ.” He also mentioned that he was tired. He has given the sport of MMA great fights within his 17 fight winning streak and is most likely ready to just be a regular fighter. We all know that if Silva won this fight, then the fans would have pushed even harder for the super fights between him and Jon Bones Jones or GSP. None of these fighters want to fight each other; if they did it would have already happened. Take Anderson Silva out of the picture you have no super fight, and that is what Silva did. Took himself out of the picture. No matter how fans fell about this fight or what they say about Weidman or Silva, remember Silva will still go down as the best fighter in MMA history end of story and no one can take that away from him. Now the UFC light heavyweight title will be passed back and forth between fighters from here on out. Weidman will have it for maybe two or three defense and then somebody else will have. MMA fans will have to wait a long time before we see someone with the ability to hold this title as long as Silva did. It would surprise me if Jon “Bones” Jones does the same thing years from now.
