After UFC 153 many fans were closing out their PPV purchases with a familiar feeling in mind. Just like Christmas brings presents and Easter brings the too much candy, for fourteenth time in a row, Anderson Silva had left the Octagon, victorious.
While Stephan Bonnar could hardly be considered top competition to end the Spider’s reign of terror, it did show how deadly Silva still is as he is now rapidly approaching 40. Many critics said the only way that Bonnar had a chance against Silva was if he could get him against the cage and just grind out a boring decision.
Anderson Silva decided to be a good sport and help Bonnar out, by leaning with his back against the cage and just letting The American Psycho t-off on him. But Silva has such a mastery of head movement, timing, and just overall striking prowess that even when he had his back against the wall, he was STILL out classing Bonnar.
Think about this scenario in any other sport, the undefeated ’72 Dolphins never let anyone just go down to the 20 yard line to show off how great their defense was. The closest possible comparison would be when Michael Jordan started shooting with his eyes closed, but still that’s nothing like dodging potentially game ending punches and then making your opponent look ridiculous.
Anderson Silva has also constantly faced top competition. The way best way to compare this would be to think of any other sport, after the team wins the championship for the season, they just go back to playing their regular schedule next year.
Spider does not get the advantage of just running through the schedule, when Anderson Silva fights his Championship Belt is practically always on the line. The only occasions when it wasn’t would be most recently UFC 153 because he took the fight to save the card because the headliners were injured (which is a whole different reason.)
But to reiterate the idea that whenever Silva fights he faces the next best contender, to use this example again, when the Superbowl champs win the Superbowl, they don’t play in the Superbowl again next month, they have another year before they can ever think about going and competing for the championship.
(Almost) Every time Anderson Silva steps into the cage he is facing the number two middleweight in the world, and that person is going to try to end his championship reign and that started on October 14th in 2006, since then no one has been able to take that title away from him.
When the last REAL defeat a person has is on the New Years Eve of 2004, nearly eight years ago, that person should most definitely be recognized as the greatest of all time. Anderson Silva is that person.