Anderson Silva had his hand raised nine years ago today, but it is safe to say he did not impress.
No discussion about the greatest of all time in mixed martial arts takes place without ‘The Spider’, a UFC legend who smashed multiple records during his illustrious reign as middleweight champion.
Following a record 10 consecutive successful title defenses, Silva’s reign was ended by Chris Weidman in 2013. After being knocked out by the American, their rematch ended in the Brazilian’s devastating leg break.
He was never quite the same when he returned, and after a victory over Nick Diaz was overturned to a no contest due to positive tests for drostanolone and androsterone, Silva dropped back-to-back outings against Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier.
When Silva did finally have his hand raised again, the result was not without controversy.
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Anderson Silva’s performance against Derek Brunson at UFC 208 was slammed by Michael Bisping
On this day, February 11, in 2017, UFC 208 took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Before Germaine de Randamie beat Holly Holm in the main event to be crowned women’s featherweight champion, ‘The Spider’ returned to winning ways.
Silva beat Derek Brunson in the co-main event, but his performance left plenty to be desired in the eyes of much of the fanbase.
The American was frustrated to fall on the losing side of the judges’ scorecards, having outstruck the Brazilian legend by 118-54.
After watching his former opponent spend a lot of the fight showboating and taunting, without landing many significant shots, Bisping made it clear what he thought of Silva’s first win in over five years.
“He was kind of disrespecting everybody there, disrespecting his opponent,” Bisping said on his Sirius XM show, The Countdown.
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Anderson Silva fails to crack the top five of a Bloody Elbow GOAT poll
Silva is widely regarded as one of the all-time best and is almost always included on fans and fighters’ MMA Mount Rushmore selections.
Despite that, there was no room for ‘The Spider’ high up the results of a recent Bloody Elbow poll to determine the MMA GOAT.
As part of TalkingPoints, readers were asked to make their pick for who is the greatest of all time. Less than five percent of the 1,011 voting fans picked Silva, putting him sixth position out of nine contenders.
The Brazilian legend finished behind winner Jon Jones, as well as Georges St-Pierre, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Demetrious Johnson, and Fedor Emelianenko.
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