Wanderlei Silva has been in too many wars. His battle against Cung Le at UFC 139 may be his last.
The Brazilian legend, who made his fame in Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships, is the veteran of over 40 fights, many of them the most classic in the organization.
However, time stands still for no man; all of those fights have taken their toll on Silva’s body.
“The Axe Murderer” is 2-6 in the last five years, with four of those losses being by knockout (and each knockout loss was progressively worse).
Most recently, Silva was easily disposed of by popular brawler Chris Leben in less than 30 seconds.
After that fight, Silva found himself between retirement and a return to the Octagon. A normal man would spare his body and mind the pain of another trip into the cage, but Wanderlei Silva isn’t a normal man.
Retirement never crossed his mind.
That might not have been the best decision, though.
Silva has since been matched up with eclectic Sanshou fighter Cung Le at this Saturday’s UFC 139 event in San Jose, Calif.
A fighter like Le will present problems that an aged Silva may not be able to cope with.
Le throws many unorthodox strikes and is skilled at avoiding punishment, unless he gets gassed in the later rounds, like his first fight against Scott Smith. Silva has shown in his recent fights that he just likes to charge forward with reckless abandon.
This will create problems for Silva because Le will almost definitely land powerful counter shots that will hurt Silva and probably knock him out since, sadly, Silva’s chin isn’t what it used to be.
Silva’s style was great back in the day when he was healthy and hadn’t been through tremendous punishment. But now, fighters with even average power could probably put Silva out.
Thus, a striker of Le’s precision will have no problem hitting Silva on the button and sending him into unconsciousness, hopefully for the last time in his career, lest he keeps going and gets permanent damage.
Had this fight taken place in the early-to-mid 2000s, it’d be a different story. The fight would be over quickly, but not because of Silva’s weak chin.
Le would’ve thrown a fancy kick, Silva would’ve avoided it, rushed into the pocket, and proceeded to beat Le to a pulp.
However, it isn’t that time anymore. Wanderlei Silva is worse for the wear. His body is tired, his strength is waning.
It’s a shame legends have to get old.
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