UFC and the future of GSP and Anderson Silva

[Soosk]

Silva's broken leg was absolutely insane. I typically dont squimish but that was evil. Remindes me of that college basketball player who broke his leg like that.

ive always respected silva for his skill in the octagon but I hate him for messing around and playing games in the octagon. To me it is very disrespectful to treat your opponent and the fans. He fucked around yet again against weidman the first time and finally got rocked. Although the injury to him last night was horrible I cant help but feel like it was karma finally catching up to him. I think his fights against sonnen and now weidman removed that air of invincibility surronding him. Also at 38 age is catching up with him and now with this brutal injury I think fought his last fight in the octagon last night.

With regards to gsp, I really hope he comes back after sorting out his personal issues. I think just like silva, gsp is no longer the same man. He had taken more damage and hits to the head in his last 3 fight then he has in all of his previous fights in the ufc combined.

I think we are seeing a change of the guards. Silva and gsp look like they are done and even if one or both come back and continue to fight they are no longer that imposing figure that they were a year or 2 ago. 2 years ago it was almost unthinkable to think either of these 2 fighters could lose like the way they did (gsp lost to Hendricks if we are being objective but got the decision)

[tashakor]

I was watching the silva fight, and when he threw a kick early in the round, before anything happened, I had a feeling that Silva would break his leg. It was unbelievably weird. When he threw that first kick, which was just defended, I looked at Silva's legs and couldn't help but notice how small they were...and always have been. It reminded me immediately of the Louisville incident, and what do you know, a minute later his leg snaps exactly the way I had predicted in my head. Very sad as it may be his last fight due to his age, but I hope him a quick recovery. Fortunately, as gruesome as the injury looks, it's not as serious. Usually athletes make a full recovery in 3-6 months.

GSP will return.

[Soosk]

I think GSP will return but I dont think Silva will.

GSP is dealing with his father's bad health and he also has some baby mama drama. He got some chick pregneant and now she wants to milk him for child support for 18 years. I think once he deals with his father's health he will be back. I respect him for giving up the belt while he sorts out his personal problems he could have been a douche and kept his belt while not competing. I also think he is no longer the same GSP anymore and is in decline. He is my favorite UFC fighter ever but you could really see that the rest of the welterweight class has caught up to him especially in his last 3 fights he has been getting punished like never before.

I think Silva is done. He is 38 years old and even if he recovers properly from his injury he is no longer the feared UFC god he was before. Even before he broke his leg in the 2nd round you could see that Weidman knew exactly how to deal with him. The first round was all Weidman and he dropped Silva with a nice right hook and got some good ground and pound on him. I dont know if Silva would have won that fight if his leg hadn't broke but you could tell that it was going to be a very tough fight for him. I dont see Silva trying to make a comeback.

[Babak agha]

It always amazed me that these fighters just stand there and let their legs get abused by those kicks. They rarely check them properly! Not saying that this is supposed to happen when you check them kicks, but people would definitely think twice before low kicking you all the time.
It was really unfortunate for Silva to break his leg like that and whatever Weidman says it wasn't his skills that broke Silva's leg but just some really bad luck (maybe also Silva's thin legs).
Anyways even though this would have been a very difficult match for Silva. However even that Weidman dominated him on the ground, Silva did almost more damage from his back than Weidman from the top! He was trying to punch Anderson like crazy but non of them really connected the way it should have.
Anderson had two very similar fights against Sonnen but came on top twice!

All this said I really doubt Silva would or could make a comeback. As for the next fight between Weidman and Vitor, I really think Vitor will come on top!

GSP is still young and will definitely make a comeback!

[Persian-Pride87]

^ Babak I agree with you about the checking kicks thing. Weidman talked about after the fight that there is a technique in which if you use your knee to block a kick and you make sure his shins actually hit your knee, then your opponents shins/legs can get fucked up. Now he didn't mean his leg actually break, but it will hurt and thats basically what Weidman did. The actual leg breaking is extremely rare and Silva did get unlucky. But even before his 2 fights with Weidman, I always thought to myself that Silva has very skinny legs. It was always in the back of my head when he would kick his opponents that he may very well get injured by such fragile looking legs but I never thought his legs would break.

Silva is too old now and by the time he fully recovers he will be at least 39. I don't see him coming back and potentially ruining his legacy like so many other UFC stars have (like Chuck Lidell, Ortiz).

I disagree with you about the whole Silva doing more damage. Weidman's right hook did massive damage to him, his eyes were in the back of his head before he hit the canvass. Also, Weidman got some really nice elbows on Silva which resulted in good damage. Sure, Silva got some punches in while on his back but they werent too powerful (certainly not as powerful as weidman''s elbows). Over all though, Weidman dominated Silva in the first round but of course we dont know how the rest of the match would go down. His aura of invincibility is definitely gone now and I hope Silva chooses to retire he will be doing so as the greatest MMA artist to ever step foot in the octagon.

I also agree with you, soosk and tashakor about GSP. I think he will definitely be back, he still has a few more good years left and some of his personal issues about the whole baby thing aren't that big of a deal. I think his father's health is what really made him step back and spend time with his father instead of training. He is a class act through and through and a true model of what a champion should be. Complete class giving up the belt. I hope he comes back better than ever.

One last note, Rousey's arm bar is absolutely ridiculous. They all know what is coming but no one has been able to defend against it. I think Rousey completely outclassed Tate during the entire match. From the first second it looked like Tate was just trying to survive.

[Soosk]

I really hope we are all right and gsp comes back guys. UFC losing silva and gsp simultaneously would break my heart as an mma fan

[Babak agha]

PP jam, Yea I agree with you that Weidman seriously hurt Silva with his right hook, but when he was in top he couldn't do anything special. Yes he got one or two elbows in, but so did Sonnen. Neither could even get a scratch on Silva's face tho! It's pretty amazing that Weidman ended up bloody. This in my opinion shows the skills of Silva on the ground, he was on his back and made the best of it! Ofcourse Weidman did more damage in the first half, but normally he should've damaged Silva way way more than that.

[Karimi 8]

Very depressing and horrible incident for the legend. I was so sad to see him in such pain with a horrific injury. The much anticipated rematch ended with no one happy, and I hope Silva is okay, seems like his surgery went well, it'll be a 3-6 month minimum recovery time. I am not sure if he will be back, he is 38 years old and he has already proven that he is the best in the world, it'll be a shame if it ends like this but it'll take nothing away from him.

And GSP didn't do a good job explaining things, but I understand what he is saying nad where he is coming from. He has been champion and competing at the top of his division for a long time and that is a lot to deal with on its own, but having troubles with his fathers health and other personal issues can really occupy your mind and cause more troubles. I hope everything works out for him and he comes back again soon. He is still very good, and he is a excellent fighter. Unfortunately from a fans view, he has been fighting way too safe. He is a intelligent fighter and wanted to keep retaining his title but he didn't have a killer instinct anymore, and I hope it comes back again and combines with his skill so we have the old GSP back after everything is sorted.

[Persian-Pride87]

Silva is the master of avoiding damage, he is 38 years old and has dominated this MMA game partly because he is to MMA what Mayweather it is to boxing, both of them avoid getting hit at an amazing efficiency. If Silva got hit the same amount as a normal fighter there would be no way he would be performing at this level at the age of 38. So yes, he avoided a lot of damage when Weidman was on top. Weidman simply couldn't do as much damage as he would have against anyone other than Silva. That is the brilliance of Silva that sometimes goes unnoticed because

A) He is rarely on his back
B) His offensive weapons outshine his defensive genius

Silva is an absolute legend, the best in UFC ever. I will be sad when the day comes that he announces his retirement but I think he should do it now. He has nothing else to prove. He has beaten everybody of note. He should just go out and not risk potentially ruining his legacy. He is still extremely dangerous and he still has a lot of the talent he did 2-3 years ago but he is no longer that UFC god where beating him was impossible.

And honestly, this may sound strange to some people but to me maybe his injury was a message from god to stop and quit when the time is right. Whether he is quitting right now or will fight again, it is clear that his career is near its end and the UFC, the world of MMA and all MMA fans should be greatful that they were around to watch him. We were all witnesses to greatness.

PP jam, Yea I agree with you that Weidman seriously hurt Silva with his right hook, but when he was in top he couldn't do anything special. Yes he got one or two elbows in, but so did Sonnen. Neither could even get a scratch on Silva's face tho! It's pretty amazing that Weidman ended up bloody. This in my opinion shows the skills of Silva on the ground, he was on his back and made the best of it! Ofcourse Weidman did more damage in the first half, but normally he should've damaged Silva way way more than that.

[Babak agha]

Also he stated even before the first Weidman match that he had plans of retiring. It wouldn't be a shocker if he now decides to retire!

[Persian-Pride87]

Yes that is true. Also, if you remember after the first weidman fight, Silva immediately stated that he no longer wanted to fight for the belt and I think the UFC and Dana White really pressured him into coming back and fighting him again. I think Silva has lost that fire and passion he had for fighting, I honestly don't think he has cared about fighting in the octagon since his loss in July.

He no longer has that motivation or desire and now with this injury he should just retire. I sure will miss him though.

[EKBATAN]

it sucks the fight had to end like that but i also dont like how people try to take away from weidman's performance just cuz silva is a legend and a favorite. people need to look past their fanboy pleasures. i completely agree with what soosk said in the first post. what silva did in the first fight with goofing around and acting like that was very disrespectful to the sport, the fans, himself, the fighter, etc....this is not a street fight, its a multi million dollar event and he took it as a joke. so ya maybe it came as karma for all the stuff he did but he lost this to himself. and to end his career like this is a shame. i tip my hat to weidman tho, he dominated both matches. if silva didnt get injured weidman would've still beat him. Is weidman the greatest ? maybe not, but he did handle silva well and he deserves much credit for that.

[Karimi 8]

What some people don't realize about silva is, he isn't goofing around, thats the style of fighting that works for him. And there are two reasons why he does it in all his fights. He is actually very clever, for one thing, the obvious reason, he keeps his hands down on purpose and showboats to play on the guys ego and frustrate the opponent; and another reason he does his "clowning" that many people dont realize is that is because he wants to keep the fight standing both because the opponent is frustrated and because if they go for the take down his hands are already low and ready to defend by grabing under-hooks. That is one reason why his take down defense is so high, he already has underhooks and he has the guy's mind occupied and frustrated. It is actually really clever and it is a style of fighting that worked for him his whole career.

[Soosk]

Come on Karimi, he clowns around a lot of the time because he simply does not respect his opponents. Didn't you see what he did in the octagon against Demeian Maia in Abu Dhabi? He ran around acting like a monkey, the ref even had to warn him about it. People pay good money whether it is the actual ticket so they can be at the event or $70 for the ppv. What he did with Maia was a travesty. It is so disrespectful and unprofessional. Dana White even stormed out of that fight before it even ended and gave the belt to Silva's trainer because he refused to place the belt around Silva after what he did.

The Maia incident wasn't the last time either. He has repeatedly acted like a clown. We all saw what he did to Weidman part 1. It is not a strategy, that is a lame excuse some of his supporters have used to back him. He simply doesn't respect most of his opponents because until this year silva was unstoppable and he didnt think anyone could beat him. These are professional fighters and most wont fall for this lame excuse of a mind game. His lack of professionalism is also on display when he refuses to answer questions in English even though he speaks perfect english. He is fluent in English but always answers back in Portuguese. He wastes everyone's time simply because he is so resentful and refuses to speak english. Why is the interpreter interpreting for him and wasting all that time going back and forth when the man has clearly given interviews in the past where he has spoken perfect english.
Silva is a clown man. He is an amazing fighter and the best ever but he is also a clown.

[Babak agha]

I'm definitely not a fan of Silva, I also was really disgusted by his clown acts and really with all my heart was hoping that someone would catch him while he's trying to be funny. Weidman did just that!
However this doesn't take away the fact that I've seen Silva come back from fights were he was dominated in the first rounds. Yes Weidman was ahead of points in both fight probably, but I think Silva was dominated even harder by Sonnen for 5 rounds and still he beat Sonnen.
What I'm trying to say is, I don't think Weidman is as good as he thinks he is just because he beat Silva twice!