#5 Anderson Silva’s clowning finally catches up to him
And so we end with probably the most (in)famous example of showboating going wrong in MMA. The “clowning” that ended one of the most legendary title reigns in UFC history, and made the ‘ baddest’ man on the planet look human.
Of course, I’m talking about Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman.
Coming into UFC 162, it felt like all the pieces were in place for an upset. A large number of UFC fighters were taking the challenger, Weidman, to become the man to finally dethrone the Middleweight champion Silva – recognised by most as the best fighter in the sport.
Silva had been the titleholder since October 2006, when he ruthlessly took the belt from Rich Franklin. Since then, he’d defended the title ten times, and had also won four non-title fights. It was July 2013, almost seven years after Silva had captured the title, and he didn’t seem to be slowing down.
Weidman though was a different kind of opponent. Unbeaten in the UFC with five wins, Weidman had the great wrestling base that was often seen as Silva’s kryptonite, but he could also strike well – his last win had come via elbow knockout over top contender Mark Munoz – and his grappling was top-notch, too, training under former UFC champ and BJJ black belt Matt Serra.
Stylistically, this looked like Silva’s toughest fight since Chael Sonnen, perhaps even tougher than that. The likes of Georges St-Pierre and Rashad Evans picked Weidman to win. But for most fans – who’d seen the UFC sell challengers like Sonnen, Vitor Belfort and Thales Leites as real threats to Anderson – it felt like just another fight for the greatest-of-all-time.
We’ll never know if Anderson himself took Weidman seriously. He seemed to be overconfident at the weigh-ins and the pre-fight staredowns, but then he always did seem that way. He even kissed Weidman after the weigh-in. For his part, Weidman never dropped his poker face. To him, this was deadly serious.
The fight began with a Weidman takedown and some ground strikes, but it didn’t matter, almost everyone took Anderson down anyway. A leglock attempt from Weidman went awry and the fighters stood back up.
From there, Anderson went into full clowning, taunting mode – he dropped his hands to his waist, waved Weidman on, allowed him to land some punches, even stood with his back to the cage, daring the challenger to hit him. When the buzzer sounded, Silva kissed Weidman again.
Weidman’s corner was undeterred. Serra and striking coach Ray Longo simply told him to ignore Silva’s taunting and punch him in the chest if he couldn’t hit him in the face. To his credit, Weidman too didn’t seem overawed by the taunting. So Silva took it up a notch.
A glancing right hand landed for Weidman and Anderson faked being on rubber legs, before jogging around, hands by his waist, and then landed some low kicks.
Again Weidman attacked, this time glancing on a left hook. Silva once again decided to pretend his legs were rubbery, and then swayed back to avoid a follow-up, as he’d done throughout his career.
Except, this time, he didn’t quite lean far enough. Weidman caught him flush with a left hook that knocked the champion silly, and a few punches on the ground stiffened him up. A near-seven year reign, and all of that dominance gone in the blink of an eye, seemingly all from a bit of showboating gone wrong.
So what exactly happened? Theories abounded – some claimed Silva threw the fight, others said he just got too cocky for his own good.
Personally, I think he knew exactly how dangerous Weidman was, and all of the showboating was a failed attempt to get into the challenger’s head. Unfortunately, I also think Anderson severely underestimated both Weidman’s reach and his punching power.
Regardless, it stands out by a mile as the most costly example in MMA history of showboating going wrong.
Any other examples you can think of? Let me know.
Until next time.....
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