Having just witnessed the greatest upset in UFC history, my head swirled just thinking what I just witnessed, what it meant and what people were going top say about it. However, it was the way I watched it that gave me a unique perspective that I would like to analyze and share. I had invited most of my friends over to my house to christen my new HDTV and celebrate my birthday. Unfortunately, what few friends I have are flakier than Clay Guida’s head a week after he runs out of Head & Shoulders, so I ended up watching it with a group of unabashed MMA neophytes. While they had watched some fights in the past, they weren’t big enough fans to know the difference between UFC and MMA or distinguish Anderson Silva from Jon Jones, so I gladly filled in for them the back stories of all the the fighters on the card and tried to give them an idea of what to expect, all the while trying to explain the nuances that might turn “boring” matches into interesting chess games.
Then comes the main event, and out comes Anderson Silva…and down goes Anderson Silva. However, during this debacle, I was able to see what people with innocent, unbiased eyes perceived from the performance of the Spider. Now, Anderson did not act much differently then his other fights, and I had duly prepared my guests for his “ninja-like” moves and antics. What they perceived, however, was completely different than what I described. What they saw was an arrogant showboater who was all bluster and talk and no performance. As the first round came to a close, I tried to explain that this is how he acted in all his fights, that while that may be what it looked like, it was okay because Anderson Silva was the master and would back up these antics with a spectacular dismantling of this young phenom who had never faced an elite striker, let alone one of the greatest in MMA history. It was about the time that I was finishing this erudite explanation that the young phenom Wiedman knocked the living shit out of the “master” in the middle of one of his patented ninja moves. I was shocked. My guests, however, were not floored, nor dejected. They were more ecstatic, actually, that the cocky prick Champion got what he deserved…and I couldn’t argue with them.
This made me reflect on what it is that makes some showboating acceptable, and others deplorable. Why is it okay for Anderson Silva to do it, but not for some 0-1 amateur kid? First, we have to define what showboating truly is. Simply put, showboating is wasting energy by putting on an unnecessary display, usually in the form of a ridiculous dance, to prove to your opponent that after beating them you still have plenty of energy to spare. Then we have to figure out why we do it. Showboating originates from deep within our chimp psyche; an attempt to prove to a female that our genes are so bad-ass we can not only feed and defend her, but that we can sacrifice energy in order to look good doing it.
So what makes showboating okay? It is prevalent and generally accepted in every competitive sport out there. Football players do a dance after a touchdown, race-car drivers spin circles in the infield, and basketball players slam-dunk while tea-bagging an unfortunate (and sticky-mouthed) member of the other team. The one thing that all of these have in common is that they generally happen at the culmination of a “win.” Rarely does this happen in the middle of a game. You never see Dale Jr. turn some in-field donuts halfway through a race. Quarterbacks don’t stand up after being sacked and start twerking. Why not? Well, that’s easy. Because you don’t want to look ridiculous by celebrating before you actually win! So showboating is okay as long as you win. If not, you are simply a dancing jackass. Which brings us back to Anderson Silva. Is it unacceptable to showboat only when he loses?
Almost all fighters showboat. They jump on top of or even do flips off of cages. They do their trademark “touchdown dance”, symbolically burying their opponent or licking the blood off of their gloves. Only a very few fighters showboat during a fight. Pretty much the Diaz brothers and Silva are among a very few fighters who taunt world-class opponents mid-bout and get away with it. All of these fighters freely admit to the reason for their showboating: to gain a mental edge and get inside their opponents head; to make their opponent so enraged by perceived disrespect that they fall into a trap of standing up and exchanging with people who most likely have the edge in that arena. However, it obviously doesn’t always have the desired affect. Nate Diaz looked foolish taunting and flicking off Benson Henderson all the while getting his ass whooped and pummeled by the Smooth one. There was the Silva/Maia debacle which had Dana White fuming and posturing to fire his top fighter. But Silva did not stop. He toned it down for a fight or two, but had soon cranked it back up.
As a long-time Spider fan, I personally think that Anderson Silva showboats not to get into his opponents head, but to give himself a handicap. He is so good, has dominated all his opponents (beside Sonnen once) so thoroughly, that he only gets his adrenaline rush when he challenges himself, and he only gets such a challenge by putting himself on the edge, by letting the bull get ever closer before pulling way the cape. Well, as the saying goes, you play with the bull you get the horns. Which is why, even though I consistently frown on showboating and unsportsmanlike conduct, I also give Silva a pass for these seemingly gross violations. Not only does he deliver, but he also makes fights more exciting. He gives opponents that otherwise would be face-down in seconds a chance to work their game, to put Silva in the place that benefits them. Silva then literally fights out of the corner he put himself in. This is precisely what makes him great, what makes him not only dominant, but also the best and most entertaining fighter in UFC history..
Well on Saturday, December 28, we shall see if I (along with all the Silva fans) am right. If so, we will see a focused, deter if Weidman wasn’t psyched out last time, he certainly isn’t going to fall for silly dancing this time around. Either way, the whole world will be mined Silva who keeps his hands high and finishes Weidman in a quick and spectacular KO fashion. If not, if all of Silva’s taunting and showboating is about getting into peoples head so they make a mistake, we should see a replay of the last fight, because eager to see which camp is right. Is Anderson Silva a showboater who met his mental match in a young, brash Chris Weidman? Or did he just fall victim to his own greatness and accompanying boredom, only to come back and show the world what brought him to that point in the first place?
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