A Spider's web destroyed.

[GRColin]

I still can't believe my eyes. My heart sank, I told myself that couldn't be it, that this didn't happen, it was an early stoppage. I was just denying the simple fact that Anderson Silva had just been knocked out and usurped from his thrown. A thrown which he kept for over 6 years and at the age of 38 defended effortlessly for most of his fights. In an instant, it was all over and the UFC had a new middleweight champion - Chris Weidman. It started off slightly nerve wracking, with Weidman getting Silva in trouble with a takedown but then Silva seemed to find his groove, figuring out his range, landing precision strikes at greater speed than his opponent. Then he started having fun, dropping his hands, being careless, disrespecting Weidman's skills as he has done before with previous opponents. Then, in the second round, after outclassing Weidman, his lack of respect caught up to him. After feigning injury and dropping his hands after Weidman landed a blow, Silva caught a left on the chin and went down, along with an era.

After the fight Silva lamented how he was tired of defending, tired of being champion and would fight for the belt no more. I had to stop thinking perhaps he *wanted* Weidman to win and maybe even let him so I promptly took off my tinfoil hat and let the moment play out in my head once more, allowing me to come to the realization that even the greats fall.

Sidenote: Since Weidman is not the P4P best in the world and we have a new champion, the MW division just got a whole lot more interesting.

 

[UrbanMasque]

Silva was sooo much faster and stronger than him, and what happened to him could literally happen to any fighter on any given punch. You could see it in his movements, his leg kicks were SOOOO fast, and he would've killed Weidman if he took the fight seriously.

The constant USA USA chants were annoying, and I wish Silva spoke better english.

 

[used44]

Dude drops his hands way too much. I know it's his thing, but c'mon. I'm glad there's finally been a shake-up. I haven't been compelled to order a UFC event in a long time.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

He has been a great champ, but he's also not a very marketable champ (language barrier, desire to fight elsewhere, etc.). That being said I consider him the best in the weight class. Here's hoping he at least makes a couple super fights happen.

 

[UghRochester]

The constant USA USA chants were annoying, and I wish Silva spoke better english.

But...you speak Portuguese, what seems to be the problem.
I still find the Silva Vs Griffin fight quite hilarious. The Spider just completely taunts the drained Forrest.

 

[Master_Craig]

I haven't watched the fight yet, but from my understanding it was a pretty bad loss for Silva.

At the same time though, I think Silva still deserves the respect his fans have all given him in the past. He is still an incredible fighter with a very impressive record. Unfortunately, you can't remain undefeated or perfect forever. Eventually someone bigger and badder is going to come your way and take you out... hell, they may not even be "better", they just might be luckier at the time. Even the most experienced and professional people still have the capacity to make a mistake.

One thing that bothers me about the world of mixed martial arts is how much people start to bag out a fighter if they lose one fight. For example, I remember seeing all the fat do-nothing MMA fans raging so hardcore when Fedor Emelienko started to lose. They all start raging on Facebook "Fedor you're so shit!" "You suck Fedor!" "Fedor sucks bro" etc, blah blah. They all seem to forget instantly that Fedor has over thirty wins, less than ten losses and is also a very successful competitor in both Sambo and Judo.

I'm not saying anyone is doing that here about Anderson Silva, but those same people are still raging on Facebook about it even as we speak.

 

[Green_Lantern]

As many of you know, I don't watch MMA, but I do listen to a radio show that talks about MMA a lot and it sounds like Silva had it coming to him for the way he was acting during the fight.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

Totally agree, Craig. He's still my P4P best fighter and I was really. Surprised by the outcome.

 

[GRColin]

Since this site is behind the times and has no multiquote, I'll just bold your names.

Urban I totally agree. Nothing else to say really.

Used I agree but the shakeup is only good if Silva doesn't win the rematch.

Bret I don't know...His past three PPV matches have been huge draws. Granted, much of that is due to Sonnen's trash talk but the Weidman fight? Not many people know of Chris Weidman. At least, not before Saturday night they didn't.

MasterCraig You're only as good as your last fight. It's an annoying fact of mma. The fans are so fickle and so close to call a fighter a can crusher the moment they lose.

Green Lantern Yeah. He taunted Weidman way too much in that fight. Acting like his legs were wobbly with his hands down, eyes closed.

 

[Master_Craig]

It is unfortunate that MMA fans will think poorly of very well accomplished fighters as soon as they lose one or two fights. I'm not saying anyone here is doing such thing but in regards to MMA fans in general, I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose.

I still haven't watched the fight, I'll probably YouTube it later but it is a shame to hear of Silva doing all this ridiculous taunting. As Green_Lantern has already said, it sounds like Silva had it coming to him if he was doing all this taunting and showboating.

Maybe Silva wanted to lose? Who knows.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

The truth is though with as rough as MMA is,one year and a couple fights can change your body and your ability to fight.