Anderson Silva is fighting for his job
Anderson Silva is headlining yet another Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view card on Aug. 7, which should send shudders up and…
Anderson Silva is headlining yet another Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view card on Aug. 7, which should send shudders up and down the spines of those responsible for paying a cable or satellite bill.
In a terrible economy with a poor recent track record in terms of producing exciting fights, Silva is going to struggle to gain forgiveness from the fans he’s burned so often in the last 22 months or so.
He’ll also fight Chael Sonnen with the pressure of knowing that his boss vowed to cut him if he fails to perform or, more significantly, if he repeats his performance from UFC 112.
The UFC’s uber-talented middleweight champion hasn’t been a hit in the last three pay-per-view cards he’s headlined. Yes, he scored a first-round knockout of Forrest Griffin in a light heavyweight bout at UFC 101 in Philadelphia last year, but that was the semi-main event.
Silva is the UFC’s version of Mike Tyson, a knockout artist unparalleled in the sport’s history. He’s 11-0 in the UFC, holding the company record for the most consecutive wins. He’s also 7-0 in title matches (including his 2006 title-winning effort over Rich Franklin), holding the UFC record for the most championship victories. He was so dominant that not long after he won the belt at UFC 64, UFC president Dana White began calling him the most talented fighter in the world.
Silva, though, has rarely shown killer instinct in the last two years. Even his win over Griffin wasn’t devastating, though that wasn’t his fault. He hit Griffin with a jab while moving backward and stopped him.