Anderson Silva has taken the UFC by storm since joining in 2006, though he has one big challenge left to conquer before he reaches the summit of mixed martial arts—defeating Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
“The Spider” will return to his native Brazil on August 27th to exact revenge on Okami, the last fighter to hand Silva a loss, though not without substantial controversy.
The two foes last fought Rumble on the Rock 8 in Honolulu, Hawaii back in January of 2006. Silva was the favorite to win the tournament but was sent off when the Brazilian sent an illegal kick at Okami’s head while the Japanese challenger was down in the guard position. Okami was given the opportunity to get himself together and continue the fight but chose instead to accept a victory by disqualification.
After the fight, Silva claimed that the rules had not been properly explained to him and has since been anything but shy about his feelings toward Okami, telling Sherdog.com:
“I feel it was a cheap, cowardly way of winning. People that were there saw that he was in the condition to come back and keep fighting, and he didn’t…It wasn’t really a fight.”
Silva hasn’t lost in the intervening five-and-a-half years, including an all-time best 13-0 record in UFC matches. Along the way, Silva picked up the UFC Middleweight Championship and has managed to defend it nine times, thereby establishing himself as arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Okami is no slouch either, having won 10 of his 12 UFC matches since moving up to the league in August of 2006.
Thus, a win over Okami would not only give Silva yet another fine feather to add to his well-decorated fighting cap in defending his title belt, but also the satisfaction of avenging his most recent defeat.
Not to mention prove that Silva knows the rules this time around.