One is unofficially retired, one is persona non grata with the UFC, one is a UFC executive and one is in a kind of limbo right now. Oh, and three of them are enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame, with the fourth sure to follow as soon as he hangs up…
One is unofficially retired, one is persona non grata with the UFC, one is a UFC executive and one is in a kind of limbo right now. Oh, and three of them are enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame, with the fourth sure to follow as soon as he hangs up his gloves. Who are these men, you ask? They are the four fighters that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva considers the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.
Silva, recognized by many as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in MMA history, named the following fighters as his top four: “In my opinion, B.J. Penn is No. 1 and then Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and then Royce Gracie.”
Couture, Liddell and Gracie are the three current Hall of Famers, and I’d be surprised if the UFC didn’t already have Penn’s plaque made up and ready to go; he’s a lock for enshrinement.
The four fighters have a combined MMA record of 70-30-5, and their names are all over the UFC record book, alongside the man that named them the greatest of all time.
One could make a solid argument that without these four fighters, the UFC would not be what it is today. The same argument could be made in favor of Silva. If it weren’t for Silva, it’s hard to say what the future crop of MMA talent would look like.
All five fighters changed the game, and in the case of Silva, he’s still changing the game, 37 fights into a career that began in 1997.
Silva will next fight at UFC 162. The July 6 contest will see Silva put his middleweight crown on the line against Chris Weidman on July 6 in Las Vegas.
Another Twitter war to titillate insatiable UFC fans is being served up by the ever dependable Matt Mitrione against his former TUF teammate Brendan Schaub. Treading dangerously close to the line, especially after recently serving out a suspension for …
Another Twitter war to titillate insatiable UFC fans is being served up by the ever dependable Matt Mitrione against his former TUF teammate Brendan Schaub.
Treading dangerously close to the line, especially after recently serving out a suspension for another public rant against transgender fighter Fallon Fox, Mitrione has had some choice words for Schaub who, for his part, has been relatively restrained.
Relatively.
It all started on Monday with a comment from Mitrione on Twitter which the heavyweight promptly deleted. But according to MMA Junkie, it said: “@BrendanSchaub looks like Adam Sandler f—ed Corky from ‘Life Goes On’.”
However, that failed to get a response from Schaub. So, Mitrione, after deleting his previous expletive filled message, went on a tirade.
Hey @BrendanSchaub you asked to fight me, cool. Them sparse whiskers you grow can’t hide that chin, son! #YaDunPhuckedUp
Whether Schaub was too busy getting on with the actual business of mixed martial arts, i.e. training for his fight against Mitrione, or he only just managed to log onto his computer that evening, he eventually did respond:
I might look like adamSandler/corkey mix your wife when we did appearances together sure seemed to like it. How’s that going by the way?
The Twitter “war” will no doubt serve its purpose in reigniting interest in the career of two heavyweights languishing in the doldrums of the division. Up until April, Mitrione was on a two-fight losing streak and was in danger of getting cut until Phil De Fries head-butted Meathead’s hip, earning Mitrione his first victory in two years.
Similarly Schaub was riding two embarrassing first round KOs at the hands of Anotnio Nogueira and Ben Rothwell before he too came good against Lavar Johnson earning a lacklustre three-round decision win.
Neither fighters has impressed lately and both are trading off their celebrity from their 2009 appearance on TUF. It will be make or break time for both when they finally meet on July 27 at UFC on Fox 8.
On July 6 at UFC 162, Chris Weidman will try to end the seven year, 16 fight unbeaten streak of Anderson Silva’s reign of terror through the best of the best in the Octagon. Weidman has shown extreme confidence at every phase of the process leading int…
On July 6 at UFC 162, Chris Weidman will try to end the seven year, 16 fight unbeaten streak of Anderson Silva‘s reign of terror through the best of the best in the Octagon.
Weidman has shown extreme confidence at every phase of the process leading into this fight, and he’s not letting up now.
He readily admits that Silva is the best fighter this sport has ever known, but Weidman believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will beat him when they face off next weekend.
Weidman is even ready for his next fight because beating Silva once won’t be enough—he knows he’ll probably have to do it twice to solidify his place as middleweight champion.
“If I beat Anderson Silva, I definitely kind of expect a rematch,” Weidman said.“Unless he decides to retire because he’s the greatest of all time.He’s been undefeated in the UFC, and I’m sure he’s not just going to lose and then fight a couple of guys to get a title shot again. He’s going to be right back in there.”
Check out this exclusive interview with Chris Weidman where he talks UFC 162 and his showdown with Anderson Silva.
There has been a great deal of talk about how top ranked middleweight contender Chris Weidman will pose the biggest test of Anderson Silva’s career when the two square off on July 6. UFC president Dana White recently said, “All the pr…
There has been a great deal of talk about how top ranked middleweight contender Chris Weidman will pose the biggest test of Anderson Silva’s career when the two square off on July 6.
UFC president Dana Whiterecently said, “All the pros, like when you talk to all the fighters, every fighter out there that I’ve talked to and that we’ve interviewed think Weidman‘s going to beat him.” UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has gone on record with Sportsnet, saying, “Not only is he going to beat, I believe he is going to finish Anderson Silva. I believe it’s not going to be too long, that fight. This, people will be shocked.”
One person that isn’t sweating that kind of talk is Anderson Silva, who sees nothing special about his fight against Weidman at UFC 162, “A fight’s a fight, and this is another fight.”
Weidman is a strong wrestler. Along with those wrestling skills he possesses a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It’s that combination of skills that give him the chance at the upset. One would think that perhaps Silva would train to the strengths of his opponent, but that has not been the case. According to Silva, “I don’t really train thinking about my opponent. I train to do what I do best, and I’ve been doing since I was a kid, which is fighting. I train to overcome myself. I train to satisfy myself, not to satisfy anyone else. I’m not thinking about my opponent, I’m thinking more about myself, and getting better at what I do.”
The champion doesn’t really seem concerned about how his style matches up to Weidman’s or what strengths Weidman brings. Instead, Silva feels the fight will be decided by whom the better prepared fighter is once the cage door locks behind them, “Every fight is a new challenge and it’s going to come down to who is better prepared that night. Win or lose, the winner and loser always walk side by side. That doesn‘t really matter to me. I’ve been doing this since I was eight years old and there’s always new challenges, and my biggest concern is going out there and doing better for myself, I want to better myself, and I want to overcome anything that I have.”
Silva may have to wait on some of the new challenges he mentions considering he recently re-upped with the UFC for 10 more fights (via MMAJunkie.com). Speaking of fighting to the end of that deal, Silva said, “Everything’s a possibility, but It’s really going to come down to my willpower and my desire to still be fighting I have a lot of other things I want to do, a lot of other desires. One of those is fighting Roy Jones, we’re just going to see how things work out in the next few fights and how I feel.”
Many have wondered why Silva would want to fight Jones, a boxer whose best days are well behind him. “I feel that his boxing style is one that I would like to test myself against,” Silva said. “I’ve always been a fan of his and I’ve always wanted to test myself against Roy Jones.”
Whether that fight happens against Jones or not, or if he loses to Weidman on July 6, Silva feels that he has already done everything he can do in the sport of MMA, “Whatever I should have already done in this sport I’ve already done. Win or lose, I’ve already done everything that there is to do, and now it’s just a matter of doing what I love to do.”
It’s hard to argue with that statement. The UFC record book is littered with Silva’s accomplishments. Win or lose against Weidman, that fact is not likely to change in the very near future. Silva’s established his legacy; he’s looked at by many as the greatest MMA fighter in the history of the sport. If he wants to go out there and have some fun and do what he loves to do, who’s going to say no to that?
It does make you wonder though, if he wasn’t doing what he loved to do in his past fights, if he was more worried about the outcome than enjoying himself, what kind of Silva are we going to see on July 6? Is there another level inside Silva that he’s been holding back? Now that’s a scary thought.
*Al quotes obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
There has been a great deal of talk about how top-ranked middleweight contender Chris Weidman will pose the biggest test of Anderson Silva’s career when the two square off on July 6. UFC president Dana White recently said, “All the pr…
There has been a great deal of talk about how top-ranked middleweight contender Chris Weidman will pose the biggest test of Anderson Silva’s career when the two square off on July 6.
UFC president Dana Whiterecently said, “All the pros, like, when you talk to all the fighters, every fighter out there that I’ve talked to and that we’ve interviewed think(s) Weidman’s going to beat him.”
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has gone on record with Sportsnet, saying, “Not only is he going to beat, I believe he is going to finish Anderson Silva. I believe it’s not going to be too long, that fight. This, people will be shocked.”
One person that isn’t sweating that kind of talk is Anderson Silva, who sees nothing special about his fight against Weidman at UFC 162, saying, “A fight’s a fight, and this is another fight.”
Weidman is a strong wrestler. Along with those wrestling skills, he possesses a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It’s that combination of skills that give him the chance at the upset.
One would think that perhaps Silva would train to the strengths of his opponent, but that has not been the case. According to Silva, “I don’t really train thinking about my opponent. I train to do what I do best, and I’ve been doing since I was a kid, which is fighting. I train to overcome myself. I train to satisfy myself, not to satisfy anyone else. I’m not thinking about my opponent, I’m thinking more about myself, and getting better at what I do.”
The champion doesn’t really seem concerned about how his style matches up to Weidman’s or what strengths Weidman will bring. Instead, Silva feels the fight will be decided by whom the better prepared fighter is once the cage door locks behind them.
“Every fight is a new challenge, and it’s going to come down to who is better prepared that night,” Silva said. “Win or lose, the winner and loser always walk side by side. That doesn’t really matter to me. I’ve been doing this since I was eight years old, and there’s always new challenges, and my biggest concern is going out there and doing better for myself. I want to better myself, and I want to overcome anything that I have.”
Silva may have to wait on some of the new challenges he mentions, considering he recently re-upped with the UFC for 10 more fights, per MMAJunkie.com. Speaking of fighting to the end of that deal, Silva said, “Everything’s a possibility, but it’s really going to come down to my willpower and my desire to still be fighting. I have a lot of other things I want to do, a lot of other desires. One of those is fighting Roy Jones. We’re just going to see how things work out in the next few fights and how I feel.”
Many have wondered why Silva would want to fight Jones, a boxer whose best days are well behind him. “I feel that his boxing style is one that I would like to test myself against,” Silva said. “I’ve always been a fan of his, and I’ve always wanted to test myself against Roy Jones.”
Whether that fight happens against Jones or not, or whether he loses to Weidman on July 6, Silva feels that he has already done everything he can do in the sport of MMA, “Whatever I should have already done in this sport, I’ve already done. Win or lose, I’ve already done everything that there is to do, and now it’s just a matter of doing what I love to do.”
It’s hard to argue with that statement. The UFC record book is littered with Silva’s accomplishments. Win or lose against Weidman, that fact is not likely to change in the very near future. Silva’s established his legacy; he’s looked at by many as the greatest MMA fighter in the history of the sport. If he wants to go out there and have some fun and do what he loves to do, who’s going to say no to that?
It does make you wonder though, if he wasn’t doing what he loved to do in his past fights, if he was more worried about the outcome than enjoying himself, what kind of Silva are we going to see on July 6? Is there another level inside Silva that he’s been holding back? Now that’s a scary thought.
*Al quotes obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
Chael Sonnen has never been one to back down from a fight, but he is also grateful the UFC never called for him to fight Chris Weidman.The former middleweight contender has been singing Weidman’s praises for months, and he certainly isn’t alone.Despite…
ChaelSonnen has never been one to back down from a fight, but he is also grateful the UFC never called for him to fight Chris Weidman.
The former middleweight contender has been singing Weidman‘s praises for months, and he certainly isn’t alone.
Despite skepticism from fans, many UFC fighters seem to believe Weidman will shock the world at UFC 162 by defeating Anderson Silva for the middleweight title. In the extended preview for the event, Sonnen admitted Weidman was one of the few fighters he preferred not to have to step into the cage against:
“Weidman far and away can beat Anderson. I will fight anybody at any time, but every time my phone rang, I would think, jeez, I hope they’re not going to tell me I got Chris Weidman.”
Weidman, a former NCAA All-American wrestler, is a true prodigy in every sense of the word.
With only one year of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training, he nearly defeated grappling legend Andre Galvao at the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.
Weidman made his UFC debut in March 2011, and after only two years, he is already listed as the top contender in the middleweight division. Sure, he doesn’t bolster Olympic medals or NCAA titles, but Weidman‘s transition from wrestler to MMA fighter far exceeds that of even some of the most decorated grapplers.
During the extended preview, UFC commentator Joe Rogan compared Weidman‘s wrestling with UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, a world class grappler without any wrestling credentials.
Sonnen isn’t the type of fighter to throw around undeserved compliments regarding his peers. For a young fighter like Weidman, it has to be encouraging hearing some of the best fighters in the world talk up his chances against arguably the greatest fighter of all time.
Unfortunately for Weidman, talking about defeating Silva and actually going out there and doing it are two completely different things.
Will Weidman be able to succeed where so many others have failed?
There has been a great deal of talk about how top ranked middleweight contender Chris