It might sound harsh, but when has Wanderlei Silva ever been a title contender in the UFC? Never.
On the back of some truly violent victories, “The Axe Murderer” arrived from the now-defunct PRIDE FC to the gates of the Zuffa headquarters and cataclysmically imploded on impact.
The Brazilian’s first stint in the UFC produced a record of 1-2. His current résumé for said promotion reads: won three and lost five.
The erstwhile PRIDE middleweight champion’s second spell in the company was anything but title-contention material—a loss to Chuck Liddell was followed by a Keith Jardine victory, and then came successive defeats at the hands of Quinton Jackson and Rich Franklin.
His next three outings were more or less the same—triumphant against Michael Bisping, starched by Chris Leben and then he went on to steamroll Cung Le.
At UFC 147, in his rematch with Franklin, the 35-year-old former lethal assassin fought his heart out, and to boot, wore his heart on his sleeve several times over.
However, nothing came to fruition, as “Ace” took home the unanimous decision win to deny Silva a run of consistency.
And that’s the crux of the matter—Silva lacks and has lacked the consistency to get a whiff of the UFC’s Holy Grail, and that’s due to his win/loss ratio. With that record, it is mathematically incorrect to even suggest a tilt at the middleweight title or any belt for that matter would be in the offing.
Now if Silva (34-12-1-1NC MMA, 4-7 UFC) had defeated Franklin and registered two or more wins on the trot against high-calibre opponents, then maybe he might have been in with a shout for title contention, but as things stand, that ship has long sailed for The Axe Murderer.
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