Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva is one of the most influential fighters in the history of mixed martial arts. He was a knockout artist in his heyday with PRIDE back in the middle of the last decade, but he isn’t anything close to what he used to be. And at UFC 132 against Chris Leben, we may have seen the last fight in the career of one of the most exciting fighters ever.
Going into the event, this was billed as a potential fight of the year because of the carefree style with which both these guys fight. Silva and Leben have won 59 fights between them with 37 of them coming via (T)KO.
But the fight was over in 27 seconds after Silva tried to overwhelm Leben but got caught and ate four vicious uppercuts that dropped him to the mat. Leben threw a few punches when Silva was on the ground and the referee stopped it.
UFC President Dana White, who has been an avid supporter of Silva’s throughout the years even as he has struggled in recent years, said that it’s probably time for Silva to walk away.
“People knew that he and Leben were going to come out and they were going to throw until somebody fell down, and it was Wanderlei tonight,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “People love him so much because of the way he fights and his style and the kind of person he is, but [it’s] probably the end of the road for Wanderlei.”
Great athletes are always the last to know when the time comes to walk away because they have the drive and desire to keep plugging along, but eventually the body won’t let you do the things that you used to do. Silva is in that predicament right now having lost six of his last eight fights.
He tried to move down to middleweight hoping that would reignite his career, but despite a victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 110, the writing is clearly on the wall.
“The Axe Murderer” is gone and all that is left is this hollow shell of Wanderlei Silva. He doesn’t have the skills necessary to compete at a high level or even a mediocre level for that matter, and for the sake of his long-term health and to preserve the legacy that he established in PRIDE, it is time for Silva to step away from the sport that he has been competing in professionally since he was 20 years old.