After his UFC 153 bout with Stephan Bonnar, it’s apparent that Anderson Silva prefers to play with his food before eating.
The UFC middleweight champion bobbed and weaved his way to another masterful performance against Bonnar, a 13-to-1 underdog.
Regardless of the odds, Bonnar was a respectable light heavyweight who had never been finished in his professional career. He has competed valiantly in unanimous decision losses to Jon Jones, Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin.
Against Silva, Bonnar couldn’t even make it out of the first round.
After dropping his hands and giving Bonnar a chance to take free swipes at him, Silva stopped messing around and delivered a well-placed knee to Bonnar‘s solar plexus that ended the fight.
Bonnar, who is easily one of the most durable fighters at 205 pounds, was left crumpled in the fetal position clutching at his insides.
“Not injured, just caught with a perfect knee to the solar plexus and it paralyzed me, was just getting movement back when fight was stopped,” Bonnar said in a post on Twitter after the fight.
Silva’s greatness comes from his impeccable timing and accuracy. Every strike he throws seems to be perfectly placed.
In the UFC, Silva has a plethora of incredible first round finishes.
His bouts against Griffin, Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort stand out the most. It’s nearly impossible to choose Silva’s best overall finish, but his performance against Bonnar deserves recognition as one of the best.
Even though Bonnar was twisted at an awkward angle, Silva still threw the knee with perfect precision.
It was reminiscent of the front kick that had Belfort napping at UFC 126.
Back in the days, Muhammad Ali used to predict the round he was going to defeat his opponents in. Silva has shown the same ability to finish opponents whenever he wants.
UFC President Dana White believes Silva is the greatest fighter in the history of any combat sport.
After his performance at UFC 153, it’s hard to disagree.
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