Silva seeks solace with kids after UFC defeat
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
For much of Saturday night’s Ultimate Fighting Championship 162 main event, middleweight champion Anderson Silva danced around, cajoled and taunted Chris Weidman. Silva routinely dropped his hands, tapped his chin or slapped his right leg, almost to dare Weidman to strike him.
Silva received what he asked for in the second minute of Round 2. Weidman connected on a left hook to the jaw. After several punches failed to hit their mark, Weidman delivered another left to Silva’s chin to drop the champ. Weidman pounced atop Silva and delivered a pounding right to Silva’s chin to score the knockout, and referee Herb Dean called for the end of the fight within seconds.
“You can’t play games in the Octagon,” UFC announcer Joe Rogan said after the knockout. “You can’t get cocky, even if you’re Anderson Silva.”
Despite his antics, Silva escaped much of the criticism after the bout.
“He decided to fight the way that he wanted to fight,” UFC president Dana White said. “We’ve seen this before when he does this. It’s part of the reason that he’s been called great and everything else. But (Saturday) night, it caught up with him.”
Weidman, who improved to 10-0, added: “I don’t see him as being cocky. I see him as trying to mentally defeat you in there. That’s just part of the warfare. It’s just like any other type of style. It works for him. I tried not to let it get in my head. I was like I’m just going to keep walking forward, keep throwing my punches, keep moving forward. Then it got to the point where he was doing it, and I was like, ‘You know what? Screw this. I’m freaking hitting him.’”
The loss was the first for the 38-year-old Silva in his 17 UFC fights and snapped a streak of 10 consecutive title defenses. Following the fight, Silva said the belt portion of his career was over and he would not pursue a rematch.
“I’m thinking of going home,” said Silva, 33-5. “I want to be with my kids. I want to take some time off. Maybe in three-four months think about what I’m going to do. Right now, I really can’t think about that. I just want to take some time off and go home and think about everything and be alone. There’s a lot of pressure defending title. I defended it for a long time. I need some time for myself.”
