When God tells you to retire, you better quit. Or He’ll break you! This is a lesson Anderson Silva and horrified MMA fans learned on Sunday. Nobody deserves to have a leg broken especially on pay-per-view. Silva did better when he clowned around against Chris Weidman, only getting knocked out with a left hook to the jaw. This time he had a limb fractured, his tibia and fibula shattered by a well-placed leg kick checked by a better-placed counter that snapped his lower left extremity.
Two rounds and Weidman defended the middleweight title he took from Silva, uncannily at a near-similar time. In UFC 162, Weidman won in 1:18 of the second round. This time, it took him two seconds less to win in the same round. Again, Silva lovers are saying that Weidman doesn’t deserve the division’s championship belt because of the freak-accident circumstances surrounding the end of the fight. What else do you need Silva-lovers? Another rematch where Weidman will rip Silva’s arm and hit him with it?
Give it up and sleep off the hangover of the “greatest MMA fighter of all time” hype that Joe Rogan and Dana White will throw at you. Fedor Emelianenko is widely accepted as the best ever of the heavyweight division even though he never fought in the UFC. When Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Dan Henderson fucked Fedor up there were demands for a rematch. Just about everyone realized that Fedor was old and his time at the top was over and that’s it.
It would be better for all concerned to look forward to Weidman’s next fight, maybe against Anderson’s friend, the rejuvenated TRT-powered Vitor Belfort. That should be a smash…sorry…breaking PPV records…sorry again…as North-American Weidman fans and Brazilian fans purchase the right to see either Weidman destroy another Brazilian challenger or the latter getting back the belt for South America.
Speaking of another American star, this one of the female persuasion, didn’t Ronda Rousey look good beating Miesha Tate for the second time? Rousey had a harder time this time around, unable to put away an opponent in the first round like she did her first seven adversaries. Tate, with the advantage of having fought Rousey once, knew what she had to do to do better. And do better she did. Taking Rousey to the championship rounds with good striking and ground defense, the champ had to dig deep into her expansive bag of submission techniques but still ended up using her favorite – the armbar. Rousey’s transitions on the ground simply sapped Tate’s strength and will as she tapped in 58 seconds of the middle round of the five-canto affair. She earned a combined $150,000 for two bonuses: Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night. Tate can take consolation in her share of the bonus and that she is the first to last more than a round against Rousey.
Another main-card battle also had its moments when the phenomenal but previously-underrated Travis Browne disposed of veteran and former UFC heavyweight champ, Josh Barnett, with scary elbows to the side of the head with exactly one minute left in the first round. Barnett is a top-10 contender but Browne simply was too smart and fierce for Barnett’s slow-burn methodology. While Barnett once again went to his bread-and-butter wrestling prelude to ground-and-pound or submission, Browne went for the kill with all the strength his 6-feet-7 frame allowed him. Barnett was already out before the referee stepped in to call off Browne.
Browne has been making a habit of exposing formidable veterans. He also knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga with the same right elbow to the head, although against Barnett, he hit cleaner whereas against Gonzaga he hit the Brazilian with a few strikes to the back of the head. Browne is now the recipient of three straight Knockout of the Night bonuses, the previous one against Alistair Overeem, and perhaps will line himself up for a title fight with another win or two.
UFC 168 is one of the best year-enders for the MMA-promotion firm, and certainly boasts of the most gruesome injury in a title fight. It does look like the end of the Anderson-Silva era. The Spider has had a great run as champion. Stories have it that he asked his doctor how soon he could start training. OK. Mister Silva, sir, there is a saying for what you plan in Cebuano: Gadaku lang ang hunahuna. Meaning, it’s all in your mind. What do you want, get your left leg broken again or get a matching break on your right leg? Retire gadammit! You don’t need the money. Your legacy won’t change. After all, you beat Chael Sonnen twice. Heheheh. A Prosperous New Year to you, Anderson, and take care of that leg. It’s the only left leg you’ve got!
