In the end, it wasn’t age that caught up with Anderson Silva—it was hubris.
Silva has made a career out of clowning his opponents when he felt that they didn’t deserve to be in the Octagon with him. We saw that in his last fight when he moved up to light heavyweight to take on Stephan Bonnar.
Silva, ignoring the pleas of his corner, stood directly in front of Bonnar and invited him to try and hit him. Bonnar was game, but Silva seemed to elude every strike before deciding he had toyed with his opponent long enough, finishing his opponent with a first-round TKO.
It looked like the longtime middleweight champion was going to do the same to Chris Weidman.
Silva began taunting Weidman in the first round, practically begging him to take a swing at his chin. Weidman stayed focused and didn’t lose his cool, even when the champion gave him a quick peck on the cheek to end the first stanza.
Between rounds, Weidman’s corner told him, “I want you to punch a hole in his f***ing chest, that’s what I want. Everything else is good, don’t get careless.”
Silva should have been given the same advice. Well, at least the careless part.
The champion looked to taunt Weidman again, even feigning injury when a left hook landed flush on his chin. Unfortunately, the shots that followed did legitimately hurt Silva, dropping him to the canvas and ending his seven-year reign as a UFC champion.
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