Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva stopped Kazushi “The Gracie Hunter” Sakuraba each time on three different occasions a long time ago, in a far away kingdom called Pride Fighting Championships. But there is no stopping Sakuraba and Silva from continuing to fight—despite the mostly brutal stoppages suffered by both legends in their last fights.
Now, we are witnesses to two brave, ageing warriors who don’t belong to the same gene pool which spawned Randy Couture and Dan Henderson.
In the last eight fights of each warrior, here are the cold stats: a record of 2-6, with four losses coming by way of KO, suffered by Silva (the last at the hands of Chris Leben at UFC 132); 3-5, with three defeats by stoppage (the last due to a bloodied, ripped ear versus Marius Zaromskis in Dynamite!! 2010) for Sakuraba.
But stats are just numbers, and Silva, replacing the injured Vitor Belfort, will welcome Cung Le to the Octagon November 19, 2011 at UFC 139.
Cung Le, in turn, might finally hand one of the greatest MMA fighters ever his farewell fight. And credit—or blame—goes to Michael Bisping for losing to Silva at UFC 110, further convincing the senior warrior that he’s still got some gas left in the leaking tank.
For his part, Sakuraba—hold your breath!—will face a certain Yan Cabral this Saturday night at Dream 17.
Silva and Sakuraba still fighting is giving Rocky Balboa a run for his money.
And while we’re at it, why not a fourth match between the two irrepressible fighters? (You want it, don’t you?)
Maybe this time Saku will take it, a la Quinton Jackson finally knocking out Silva in the UFC after getting KO’d by the latter twice in Pride.
“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away…”
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