There certainly wasn’t a shortage of surprises at UFC 162, with the biggest being Chris Weidman’s mind-blowing knockout win over Anderson Silva.The MMA world exploded on Saturday night after Weidman knocked off arguably the greatest fighter of all time…
There certainly wasn’t a shortage of surprises at UFC 162, with the biggest being Chris Weidman‘s mind-blowing knockout win over Anderson Silva.
The MMA world exploded on Saturday night after Weidman knocked off arguably the greatest fighter of all time and ended a near-seven-year run. For generations to come, the world will look back on this bout as one of MMA’s great upsets.
The outcome was unforeseeable to even those bold enough to pick Weidman to win the fight. There was plenty of humble pie to go around after he dropped Silva with a left hook and dived in with a right hand to finish.
Weidman wasn’t the only fighter making history on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
A former heavyweight title contender netted the third-fastest knockout in the history of the heavyweight division. A spectacular knockout by a certain featherweight threw another monkey wrench in the UFC title picture, and at lightweight, one fighter proved he doesn’t even need punches to earn a TKO.
With Anderson Silva laying on the mat defeated, it quickly became clear that UFC 162 was the end of an era. For the first time in his career, Silva was knocked out and the champ who has spent the past seven years leaving the Octagon victorious had…
With Anderson Silva laying on the mat defeated, it quickly became clear that UFC 162 was the end of an era.
For the first time in his career, Silva was knocked out and the champ who has spent the past seven years leaving the Octagon victorious had lost his unbeatable air and title.
The UFC passed along this Vine of Chris Weidman as he captured the momentous victory:
It all made for an unforgettable bout. Here are the three biggest lessons I’ve taken away from it.
Even Silva Has to Respect His Opponents
Over the years, Silva has taunted countless opponents. He will dance around, leave himself exposed and try to do any and everything to get them to engage in stand-up fighting.
With his counter-punching ability, it had always worked.
It didn’t work against Weidman.
Silva, undoubtedly frustrated with the wrestling skills of Weidman, was up to his usual tricks in this fight. This time, when a left hook caught him clean, he paid the price.
This has to factor into Silva’s in-fight attitude going forward. It’s not that he has to completely quit his antics—obviously, they have worked very well for him—however, he has to realize that even fighters not known for their striking can lay him out with one good punch.
Weidman Will Have to Continue to Prove Himself
Following his career-defining win, Weidman was not getting a lot of attention. The bulk of the chatter and focus was on the fall of Silva.
This is certainly understandable. Silva is arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time. He was going to be the story from this fight no matter what happened.
Also, by landing the punch that led to victory when Silva’s guard was down, it is easy to say Silva lost this fight rather than Weidman won it.
In other words, there is no one yet rushing to call Weidman a great champion. To do that, he is going to have to go on his own impressive run as champ and start carving out a legacy away from this bout.
We Need a Rematch, But Might Not Get One
If UFC president Dana White has his way, we’ll get a rematch. White told Jack Kuhlenschmidt of Fox Sports, “I guarantee you there is nothing I want more than a rematch with Chris Weidman.”
So, we should be all set, right? After all, the only other party we need to hear from is Silva, and considering he just lost his title, he should be all for the rematch.
He isn’t. In fact, he doesn’t care if he ever has the title again.
“I won’t fight [again] for the belt. I had the belt for a long time,” Silva told ESPN.com’s Franklin McNeil after the fight.
Well, that’s unexpected. I suppose, using Silva’s map for his future, if Weidman were to lose the title, the door would be open for a rematch.
However, this needs to be the next fight. I, and I’m sure most fight fans, want to see Silva try and conquer the only man who has ever beaten him in the UFC.
I’m still not ruling it out. Silva certainly wouldn’t be the first fighter to change his tune on post-fight comments.
The narrative of Anderson SIlva’s UFC 162 loss to Chris Weidman is hypocritical to comical proportions. In an article blaming Silva’s hubris for the upset loss, seasoned hypocrite Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports said of Silva’s loss:Anderson Silva em…
The narrative of Anderson SIlva’s UFC 162 loss to Chris Weidman is hypocritical to comical proportions. In an article blaming Silva’s hubris for the upset loss, seasoned hypocrite Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports said of Silva’s loss:
Anderson Silva embarrassed himself and disrespected the sport that made him rich and famous.
USA Today claimed that Sliva “showed little respect to opponent Chris Weidman.” MMA Mania stated “Arrogance caught up to Anderson Silva” en route to his first career loss in the Octagon. Even Chris Weidman was caught on camera calling Anderson Silva a “disrespectful piece of s–t.” A poll with more options than a buffet line on MMA Torch revealed that the majority of readers—33 percent to be exact—felt elated with Silva’s loss since they hated Silva’s clowning.
The lemming-like sentiment continued on Twitter, The Internet’s short bus:
Remember Kevin Iole‘s claim of Anderson Silva embarrassing the sport of MMA after his hands-down loss to Weidman? Here’s that exact same Kevin Iole, following a Silva victory using the exact same strategy:
Anderson Silva, the UFC’s reigning middleweight champion, recorded one of the most sensational victories of his career by knocking out former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin with a jab while Silva was backpedaling.
That bout at UFC 101 saw Silva clown and taunt Griffin like an overzealous street baller at Rucker Park. At one point, Silva mockingly offered to help Griffin to his feet after knocking him down. Iole went on to call the victory “one of the most astounding knockouts of [Silva’s] career.”
Words such as “disrespect,” “arrogance” and “hubris” were nowhere to be found.
In fact, the post-fight narrative of UFC 101 was universally glowing praise of Silva’s dominance, or “MMA mastery” as Bloody Elbow referred to Silva’s clowning at the time.
Silva has received comparisons to Muhammad Ali with his daring, flamboyant style of defense (or lack thereof) mixed with deadly striking ability. But mastery has turned to malice, with the only variable being the outlying result of a strategy once considered awe-inspiring.
Noting the use of the word “strategy” is very important for purposes of perspective. Following Silva’s loss, Joe Rogan adopted a reprimanding tone as he complained that no other fighter is taught to put his or her hands down and dodge punches the way Silva does.
The answer to that dilemma is simple. There is no other fighter like Anderson Silva.
Silva’s tactic to goad fighters into punching him falls perfectly into his plan. He’s the greatest counter-striker of all time. Convincing a fighter to engage with Silva will only facilitate the Spider’s elite counter attack, as has been the case many times in his seven-year reign.
Silva’s clowning has worked especially well against American fighters, who are typically more aggressive and prone to letting ego and pride get the best of them. Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar both fell victim to his counter-striking as a direct result of their foolish insistence on taking the bait when Silva dropped his hands.
Following the countless occasions where clowning has worked, Anderson Silva was Muhammad Ali. The one time it didn’t, the irrational drive-by media has deemed him Roy Jones Jr.
Disrespect, arrogance, boredom and the litany of excuses used to over-explain Silva’s loss are simply residual effects of delusion brought on by a disbelief of Anderson Silva’s reported demise.
A risky strategy simply backfired. The fact that he was able to use it effectively for so long isn’t karma coming back to bite Anderson Silva. It is a reminder that Silva’s other-worldly talent is the reason it worked.
Everyone loses eventually. Sometimes a fighter is beaten by a truly better and more skilled competitor. Young and promising talents rise through the ranks every day to challenge the best in the world, That wasn’t what happened at UFC 162, t…
Everyone loses eventually.
Sometimes a fighter is beaten by a truly better and more skilled competitor. Young and promising talents rise through the ranks every day to challenge the best in the world,
That wasn’t what happened at UFC 162, though, when Chris Weidman dethroned middleweight champion and UFC legend Anderson Silva by way of second-round knockout.
Weidman, while an undefeated and fierce competitor, capitalized on the antics of the reigning champion who hadn’t lost a bout in over seven years.
He seized the opportunity and caught the taunting champion with a combination of blows that sent the champ to the mat and the nation into an uproar.
“Down goes Silva” were the headlines during the aftermath of the surprising turn of events on Saturday.
No matter how you look at it, it was truly a shocking outcome, one that prompted Silva to mull his future pursuits of the title.
“My legacy for the belt is finished tonight,” Silva said during the post-fight press conference, per MMA Fighting.
Promotion president Dana White believes the former champ will cool on his initial post-fight comments and accept a future rematch against Weidman.
“Regardless of what he says, I guarantee you there’s nothing on earth he wants more than that rematch with Chris Weidman,” White said in a post-fight interview with FuelTV’s Ariel Helwani.
White continued by calling a potential rematch between the two fighters as the “biggest fight in UFC history.”
Weidman is on-board too, according to Mike Whitman of Sherdog.com:
I’m holding onto this belt for as long as I possibly can. I don’t care who they bring up to fight me. I’d rather have a rematch with Anderson Silva. That’s the first thing I said to Anderson right after the fight. I said, “Let’s rematch. You got cocky and put your hands down. Let’s do this again.”
While nothing is certain yet, pending Silva’s acceptance, the potential rematch is already boiling over with anticipation.
A motivated and re-focused Silva will make him like a wild animal to tame the next time Weidman steps into the Octagon with him. Will the new champion be up to the challenge to again get the better of a UFC legend?
Despite his first triumph, Weidman would take a mammoth leap towards writing his own legend by knocking off Silva again—silencing any remaining doubters in the process.
But defending a title is a little bit more problematic than reaching that precipice. He will have to maintain his intensity and drive that it took to get him to this point, which is much easier said than done.
This isn’t about Weidman, though. It’s about Silva’s will and determination to regain his standing among the best of the mixed martial arts world.
Chances are that his taunting will be kept to a minimum and the former champion will give Weidman the fight he should have at UFC 162.
If he takes a step back and decides this rematch and title are paramount to his goals, there is no one that can stop Silva from regaining his place as the best middleweight fighter in the world.
Say it with me: Chris Weidman knocked out Anderson Silva at UFC 162.I understand that the shock and awe is still with you, but perhaps it’s best to accept the reality of the situation: Weidman ousted the former middleweight king in a manner easily desc…
I understand that the shock and awe is still with you, but perhaps it’s best to accept the reality of the situation: Weidman ousted the former middleweight king in a manner easily described as brutal. The outcome was stunning for staunch Silva supporters and vindicating for those who had always regarded Weidman as the heir apparent to the middleweight throne.
Though the main event caused the biggest stir, it certainly wasn’t the only bout to send shock waves throughout mixed martial arts world. Divisions rose in prominence as clearly as the crumbling dreams of possible superfights.
Here’s a breakdown of how stock rose and fell in the UFC 162 aftermath.
After last night’s stunning UFC 162 event, everyone wanted to know what former champion Anderson Silva had to say as well as new middleweight king Chris Weidman. Silva’s cryptic in-cage post fight interview with Joe Rogan only intensified that desire and raised new questions.
Check out the above video of the UFC 162 post-event press conference to hear more from Dana White, Silva and Weidman. After the jump, check out video of White’s post event media scrum and an interview with former boxing champ Roy Jones Jr. who still wants to fight Silva.
After last night’s stunning UFC 162 event, everyone wanted to know what former champion Anderson Silva had to say as well as new middleweight king Chris Weidman. Silva’s cryptic in-cage post fight interview with Joe Rogan only intensified that desire and raised new questions.
Check out the above video of the UFC 162 post-event press conference to hear more from Dana White, Silva and Weidman. After the jump, check out video of White’s post event media scrum and an interview with former boxing champ Roy Jones Jr. who still wants to fight Silva.
With