Ever since Anderson Silva stepped into the Octagon to fight the best of the best, he has been nothing short of money. From being a little known fighter to mainstream fight fans in North America where mixed martial arts was just coming into its own shaped him into coming into his own. His journey began in his native Brazil fighting in the Vale Tudo promotions. He then had a brief appearance under the Pride banner, where many other greats showcased their hand at. He even had an interesting tenure at the Cage Rage organization.
Remember when Anderson Silva debuted and put Chris Leben in a spliff? 100% strike accuracy 😱pic.twitter.com/vU3jSUpDzn
— EPL Oldboy (@JonDenton) June 28, 2020
But on June 28, 2006, when he made his UFC debut against Ultimate Fighter Season 1 bad boy contestant Chris Leben, he made short work of “The Crippler”, winning the bout in less than a minute. He had already earned a title shot at the Middleweight Championship against the incumbent, Rich Franklin. In this fight, he won the title in just nearly three minutes. Ever since those two fights, he became the most unstoppable fighter in the world, where he would end his opponents at will, making hard work look easy.
In almost every fight, he was always seen sending someone to the canvas — hard. From Leben to Franklin to Travis Lutter to Nate Marquardt back to Franklin again in a rematch all the way to Patrick Cotè, Forrest Griffin, James Irvin, Yushin Okami, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, all the way to Stephan Bonnar. Whoever the UFC put in front of him, he mastered convincingly — and quickly. Silva won a record 16 consecutive fights, defending his title successfully 12 times. During his epic streak, he jumped weight to the 205-pound weight class, winning four fights at light-heavyweight.
UFC 101: Silva vs Griffin – 8 de agosto de 2009 / August 8, 2009 – This fight won the "Beatdown of the Year" award by Sherdog. pic.twitter.com/GgV2JEkZOd
— Anderson Silva (@SpiderAnderson) August 8, 2017
After overcoming an array of top-tier wrestlers during his streak such as Dan Henderson, along with Sonnen, who challenged him the most, he was finally conquered by an up and coming Long Island prospect in Chris Weidman, not once, but twice. Following consecutive losses to the new hailed middleweight king, Silva took more than a year away from the Cage to heal a broken leg sustained in his rematch against Weidman. When he returned to fight at the dawn of 2015 against Nick Diaz, his unanimous decision victory was changed to a no-contest when it was discovered that he tested positive for anabolic steroids. This was about as scandalous as it got, is that it was a former middleweight champion, who was a dominant fighter whether at 185 or at 205. The setback of the drug test was a major blemish to his career, built by ruthlessness and the validation of a true martial artist.
A middle-aged Silva suffered four losses in his previous five bouts in the last three years to Michael Bisping, Daniel Cornier, Israel Adesanya, and Jared Cannonier. With talks of “The Spider” possibly facing a currently retired Conor McGregor, this can either be a fight that can attract fans to watch. But Silva is officially going to face off against a man who was once compared to him, who happens to be Ultimate Fighter Season 17 winner Uriah Hall. Silva (34-10-0, 1 NC [17-6, 1 NC UFC]) will face off against Prime Time (15-9 [8-7 UFC]) on Halloween night October 31.
Breaking: Anderson Silva (@SpiderAnderson) returns to fight Uriah Hall (@UriahHallMMA) in a main event at UFC Fight Night on Oct. 31, per Dana White. Silva’s team tells me they’re not certain yet if it will be his last fight. Silva is 45 and has two fights left on his contract. pic.twitter.com/FTeMteomi4
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) August 19, 2020
After a possible fight with the multiple weight UFC champion fell through, he claims that the UFC short-changed him after being called out by McGregor. To show the front office he deserves to face “The Notorious”, defeating the replica of his own self could be the way to go otherwise he’ll be fighting his way into irrelevance.
