Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Anderson Silva goes out on a TKO loss at UFC Vegas 12
One week after Khabib Nurmagomedov retired with a dominant submission win and a perfect 29-0 record, Anderson Silva went out staring into the lights of the UFC Apex, a victim of the punches of Uriah Hall. It wasn’t the ending many hoped for Silva, but it was an ending.
UFC president Dana White said he did not feel good about what he saw in the fight. White also revealed he had a deal with Silva that the matchup against Hall would be his last with the UFC, despite Silva having one fight left on his contract.
During the lead up to fight week Silva seemed confident he would walk away from MMA after UFC Vegas 12. He didn’t seem so sure about that in the aftermath of his loss to Hall.
“I don’t know,” Silva told UFC commentator Michael Bisping during his post-fight interview. “First, I’ll go back home and go see with my team. Let’s go see, you know, because it’s tough to say it’s my last or not. This is new for my entire life. Let’s go see.”
The matchup was not very eventful for most of the first three rounds. Hall seemed unwilling to do more than counter Silva while the former middleweight champ could not reach back in time and engage the Jedi-level offense of his glory days.
Time has slowed Silva’s reflexes and ability to dodge strikes that he once avoided by scant millimeters, even when he was a bit reckless. It was that reckless offense and those deadened reflexes that led to the finish when Hall caught Silva with a counter right that looked eerily reminiscent of the blow that Silva used to finish Forrest Griffin at UFC 101.
Silva opened his UFC career on a 16-0 run. He closed that chapter of his career on 1-7-0-1 skid.
Below are the final stats from the Hall vs. Silva matchup, which took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.