At UFC 156, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva reminded the MMA community just how awesome and breathtaking this glorious sport can be.
Favored to lose in destructive fashion to muscle-bound, superhero-esque kickboxing extraordinaire Alistair Overeem, Bigfoot cast any preconceptions out the window and smashed the hulking heavyweight in the third and final round.
This finish was dramatic. It was vicious. It was unexpected.
And it was heightened by Bigfoot’s post-knockout rampage.
The Brazilian charged his unconscious foe repeatedly, screaming and flailing in a fit of fury and excitement.
Referee Herb Dean held him back quite spectacularly, but that moment served as one of those chills-inducing times where thing got legitimately scary inside the Octagon.
It. Was. So. Awesome.
Now, if you have read my thoughts on Bigfoot before the Overeem fight, you know I was not particularly sold on him as a fighter.
OK, I thought he sucked.
I was dead wrong.
After knocking Overeem senseless and showing a remarkable passion for the sport (and a knack for trash talk, who knew?), Bigfoot deserves a top opponent in his next outing.
But who?
The heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez, already obliterated Bigfoot at UFC 156, and that rematch is not particularly juicy right now.
Furthermore, Strikeforce transfer and consensus top-five heavyweight Daniel Comier is slated to take on Frank Mir at UFC on Fox 7. Cormier, too, already crushed Bigfoot in Strikeforce, anyway, so that bout is also out the window.
That leaves Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum as the only other top-five heavyweights available to fight Bigfoot.
Since Overeem and dos Santos have a bit of history, I think that bout will happen. Now is the time to capitalize on it, and somebody is going down. You do not pass on surefire crowd-pleasers, and I think the UFC will put that fight together in the near future.
So, Bigfoot is left with Fabricio Werdum…only that doesn’t work, either.
Werdum is already slated to fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in June, and if Werdum emerges from that bout victorious, he will earn a title shot. On the flip side, if Werdum loses, the UFC is unlikely to match a recent loser with a recent big winner, so that’s a no-go too.
Basically, Bigfoot is in for an extended absence from the Octagon as far as I can see, unless he is fine fighting somebody below his level (which he should not be).
The winner of UFC 159’s matchup between Cheick Kongo vs. Roy Nelson is a reasonable next foe, as is the winner of UFC on Fuel TV 8’s co-main event of Stefan Struve versus Mark Hunt.
So, what’s next for Bigfoot is a lot of training, a lot of feeling good about knocking Overeem senseless and a lot of speculation.
The heavyweight division is in a period of transition right now, and Bigfoot will simply have to wait it out and be ready to check in when Coach Dana White calls on him to enter the game.
For fans of MMA, heavy metal or general absurdity, follow @HunterAHomistek.
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