A Week After the Fact or Why Anderson Silva's critics are absolutely without merit and need to eat glass

One week ago today, the UFC held their 97th event. The main event was marking the seventh title defense of the best pound for pound fighter in the world, Anderson Silva. If he were to win the fight, it would be his ninth straight victory, surpassing the mark of eight wins held by only Joyce Gracie and Jon Fitch. For those who did not see the fight, I am about to spoil the results. He won. With nine straight wins, Anderson Silva has officially become the single most dominant fighter to ever step in the Octagon. Consider all of the great fighters to ever step in the Octagon: Couture, Liddell, Henderson, the Gracies, the Shamrocks, Hughes. Anderson is at the top of the sport itself.

But after a week of media coverage, critiques, blogging, discussion forums and whatever other anonymous form of talk possible, there seems to be only one thing I'm hearing out of anyone's mouths : it was boring. Narry a positive word came from a single mouth I was in the proximity of or able to see manifest via type on the internet. His broken record was an afterthought. His unprecedented domination has become so great, so overbearing, so insurmountable, we as a people have actually become jaded to his Reign. It's a simple matter of fact: He's too god damned good. He's so good, the public can not accept anything other than pure brilliance. Add in the not so great, anti-climactic ending to his last bout against Patrick Cote that left his fans salivating with nothing to hold them over and the disdain just multiplies.

I actually read articles on Sherdog.com calling his last two performances "STINKING". Folks, in Anderson Silva's first fight, he landed 100% of his strikes. In his first fight against Rich Franklin, he landed more than 27 consecutive knee strikes. No one has come close to matching his skills in the ring. Against Patrick Cote, Silva did not stink. Silva dominated until Cote's knee blew out. Cote was completely shut down. He had no answer. The same can be said for Laites. The true beauty of being champion is you have to be defeated. You can literally elect to make the choice of allowing the challenger his attempt to beat you. Think of that as a fighter. You are not the one who has to prove anything to yourself. You've been at the top of your game and the sport itself for years. You know what you can do. Can the other guy finally take you down? The only person I heard speak that concept was Joe Rogan. He's time and again the only person involved with the sport that I almost always agree with.

This raises a question: What will the UFC do? Will they back their man? Or will they appease the crowd, the new fans, the new media? Will they cowtown? I hope they don't. For once, I hope that the UFC absolutely and without question defends their Champion. He might not be the best way to market the organization. He might not speak English. But he is the greatest fighter to ever step into your ring. Treat him as such. Do not deny the right to retain the title by any means necessary and within the rules of the sport. The crowds can boo all they want. That's how Bernard Hopkins became the best for so long. This is not to say that Silva is even close to being on the path of a man like Hopkins or Lennox Lewis, who would rather keep his opponents at bay and ride out win after boring win. Not even close. I remember when he was being accused of trying to hurt his opponents intentionally; genuine fear from his peers was rampant.

Now that we're all used to it, we immediately cry foul when his fight ends any other way than KO. Wake up folks, the fight game can be just as unpredictable as anything else. People get injured during fights. Fights end in strange ways. His critics truly do amaze me. It seems as though these idiots have set their standards so high that nothing will be good enough. This last fight marks the first time in his UFC career that ended in a decision. Before that, all fans knew was his list of KO's, TKO's, or submissions. Nothing less than perfection. Now that we can see that Anderson can be pushed to a decision fight, people begin to chip away at his greatness. Finding flaw after non-existent flaw to talk about, more to establish their own voices in the sport and less to say anything of any relevance.

I guess what I mean to say here folks, is to take the talk and set it all aside and look at the facts. Nine straight wins. Seven straight title defenses. He made the transition to 205 lbs and made short work of his prey. He dropped back down and had two fights that end in his first opponent blowing out his knee and the second winning by decision. On paper that does not even register on my radar as to be deserving of criticism. Neither does it register in person. He can't be blamed for anything, as nothing was done except what was supposed to happen. He defended his title and was able to retain it, as the challenger was completely unable to come close to dethroning him. Facts are facts and truth is truth. This is fact. This is truth.