Anderson Silva Is Getting Old

Filed under: UFCAging always feels like a difficult subject to broach: We all know we’re getting older, but it feels rude to point it out about anyone else. But you can’t follow sports and not be acutely aware of how athletes change as they age, and on…

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Anderson SilvaAging always feels like a difficult subject to broach: We all know we’re getting older, but it feels rude to point it out about anyone else. But you can’t follow sports and not be acutely aware of how athletes change as they age, and on Saturday night at UFC 117, we were reminded of a simple fact that it had so far been easy to overlook: Anderson Silva is getting old.

Although he managed to pull out a submission victory in the fifth round of his fight with Chael Sonnen, Saturday night’s fight was by far the worst of Silva’s UFC career. When an athlete Silva’s age offers up a sub-par performance, it’s hard not to conclude that age was a factor.