Pound-for-pound champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva was the only person in the arena who didn’t think Chris “The All-American” Weidman could beat him on Saturday night.
Silva displayed the hubris and glaring overconfidence he has shown many times in his previously undefeated UFC career, but this time, his opponent would give him a reason to rethink just how untouchable he really is.
Hands at his sides in a display of classless arrogance for the second straight round, Silva avoided the first two punches of Weidman’s volley before taking the third and fourth directly to the face, falling to the canvas as referee Herb Dean called the fight in the early seconds of the second round, via USA Today:
Silva cites his “game plan” as one of the reasons he lost, per Arda Ocal of the Baltimore Sun, but it’s asinine to believe his strategy was to give Weidman free shots at his chops.
Breaking down Silva’s loss isn’t all that complicated. The previously undefeated middleweight showed a total lack of aggression, poise and focus, and the result was an embarrassing finish that left UFC fans everywhere wanting an explanation—and perhaps a rematch.
UFC president Dana White is certainly on board. As quoted by Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, White believes Silva wants a chance to make it right:
I guarantee you there’s nothing more he wants than that rematch with Chris Weidman. He was messing with Weidman’s head, and if he did it and knocked him out, he’d be a genius. He decided the way he wanted to fight … he got clipped. Tonight, it caught up to him.
White typically doesn’t find disrespectful displays of arrogance so copacetic, but he’s also not one to belittle arguably the most popular fighter of the sport and the face of his franchise.
Whatever the case, there’s no two ways about it: Silva messed up, and he now faces an uphill battle to restore his image and avenge his loss.
But what has gotten lost in the talk of Silva’s blunder is the ability of Weidman to take advantage of his opportunities. Give credit where credit is due.
The All-American is at his best on the mat, using his superior submission and ground-and-pound skills to keep the momentum of the fight in his favor. Given Silva’s impressive striking ability, Weidman probably wasn’t prepared to get into a boxing match with the pound-for-pound champ.
As quoted by Pugmire, the 29-year-old finally gave into Silva’s head games, exploiting tremendous opportunity to end the fight early:
I was saying, ‘Don’t get mad, don’t get fooled, get him to the ground. He tries to mentally defeat you… I said, ‘Forget this, I’m hitting him.’ I felt my stand-up was good and I felt like, ‘I’m going for this. He’s a genius in getting into people’s minds. I just kept believing in myself.
And credit to Weidman for acknowledging Silva’s tactics are more than just classless arrogance. There’s something to be said for the Spider’s psychological games, but he took it too far on Saturday.
Ultimately, Silva is the biggest loser following the fight, but UFC fans aren’t far behind. Seeing Silva finally lose a match was good for a sport than needs the parity—just not in the way he lost.
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