Contributor: Josh Hall
This past Saturday we saw quite possibly the most significant title change in the history of the UFC, as Anderson Silva, the longest tenured champion in any weight class was deposed violently from his throne by challenger Chris Weidman. While he was the closest in the betting line to Silva as anyone had been in years, most fans thought that a takedown followed by a submission was his only real path to victory, and that was a long shot at best. We were all very wrong. Here I am going to break down the fight and try to assess how exactly Weidman managed to do the unthinkable: knock out The Spider.
Normally the start of round one would be a logical jumping off point for the fight analysis, but I think this fight began long before the two men stepped in the cage. Anderson Silva is the master of manipulating the media, other fighters, even the UFC to get what he wants. He takes trolling to a level that every irritating 12 year old online could only dream of. Like his work in the cage, it is often like watching a work of art being built. During UFC 162 fight week, Silva managed to sneak in backhanded shots at Jon Jones and George St. Pierre, seamlessly playing the media every step of the way.
On the other side of the same coin, you have Chris Weidman. He has been criticized for having a bland personality, and many fans were irritated by his constant talk that he could win this fight. I have read many comments to the effect of “He is just trying to convince himself”. I think those people may have been right, except that it actually worked.
The aura of Anderson Silva has been the most imposing and intimidating thing in the sport for the past 6+ years. He has the amazing ability to break a man mentally before he ever breaks them down physically. He didn’t hurt Forrest Griffin with punches (well, he did that too, but that’s not the point), he broke him from the inside out within the first moments of the fight. 
The ease with which he avoided all of Griffin’s strikes combined with how stupid he made him look and feel in the standup was too much for the former light heavyweight champion, and he conceded to the Spider before he could totally finish him off. It was the closest thing MMA has had to the Roberto Duran “No mas” moment that I can ever recall. Forrest Griffin was left a broken man in every way possible.
In Griffin’s own words:”[Anderson punched me in the chin] Repeatedly and I was very confused. I tried to punch him and he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid for doing it. He looked at me like – ‘Why would you do such a stupid thing?’ He looked at me like – ‘Oh, did you really think you were going to hit me? What a stupid thing to think, you slow slow white boy.’ Then he punched me. I felt embarrassed for even trying to punch him. I felt like some kid trying to wrestle his dad.”
This led me to think about the closest parallel in another sport, and it might not be one that you would expect. In his prime, Tiger Woods had the same remarkable ability to break the will of his opponents (especially anyone unfortunate enough to be paired with him) on the golf course. While these sports may seem too vastly different to compare, the dominance of both men was attained in large part by beating their foes before the round/fight started. Nothing but sheer brilliance could even compete with either man at their respective peaks. Tiger Woods fall came first, and it was an impressive one to say the least. After his cheating scandal was exposed, everything changed. That same mystique wasn’t there anymore. Even now, Tiger is #1 on the money list and in the FedEx Cup standings, but there are tons of capable challengers, and playing mediocre by his standards is no longer good enough to win. Not because he isn’t still a great player, but because the other players no longer fear him. They realized he was beatable, and people stopped choking under the pressure anytime his name popped up on a leaderboard.
Chris Weidman became the first fighter in UFC history to win the mental battle with Anderson, and in doing so pulled off one of the most epic wins ever seen in the Octagon. Silva began his antics at the weigh ins with the kiss seen around the world, but then and there was the first time we got an idea where Weidman was at mentally. His response of cracking a joke and laughing it off was perfect, and showed that he was not going to be rattled. He was not nervous or anxious. He was ready.
Fast forward to the referee instructions right before the fight. Once Herb Dean was finished, Weidman put his hand out to touch gloves and gave Silva a nod of the head. Silva never took his hands off his hips, instead giving Weidman a half bow. Cheers for the champion were suddenly mixed in with a few boos, and the tone for the fight had been set.
The champion has never been a particularly fast starter, and Weidman was able to get him down with a power double only 30 seconds into the fight. He immediately went to work with heavy ground strikes, and was able to pass to half guard. The challenger controlled the ground game until he inexplicably rolled for a leg lock, allowing the Spider to get back to his feet with 2:20 to go in round one. Thirty seconds later, the taunting began. Silva began standing directly in front of Weidman, waving him forward. We had all seen it before. Anderson was about to make another mere mortal look stupid.
The champion began to unload, landing heavy leg kicks and effective jabs while using every spare moment to mock the challenger, waving him forward and clapping right in his face. It was really disrespectful, and similar behavior has gotten under the skin of some of his opponents in the past. Instead of getting bothered, Weidman returned the taunt by clapping right back at the champion, but never letting his focus waver.
Not wavering in his commitment to annoying the challenger into making a mistake, Silva started the second round by faking as though he was hurt by a left hand. He was, of course, fine. At the 4:20 mark Silva effectively defended a takedown for the first time in the fight, but he did so by keeping his hands down at his hips. While it makes it easier to defend takedowns that way, it also leaves the head very exposed.
Only 30 seconds later, Weidman made one small adjustment that changed the course of history in the middleweight division. After a left jab got Anderson to begin his shoulder shuffle, Weidman threw a left, right combination. He stepped in and continued the combo with a short right hand back fist. This caused Silva to roll his head to the right away from the grazing punch, directly into the crushing left hook of Chris Weidman. Some props here have to go to Jack Slack, who wrote just before this fight that doubling up with the same hand like many boxers do could cause Anderson problems because of the constant head rolling.
The champion was out before he hit the ground, dethroned by the 29 year old American challenger. By keeping a cool head under pressure, picking the right opening to attack, and mixing his striking pattern up suddenly to force a mistake from the champion, Chris Weidman displayed one of the more impressive cerebral performances ever in the Octagon. He fought Anderson Silva with no fear and a belief that he was truly going to win the fight. This was the perfect example of a fighter combining the physical and mental game to achieve what many thought was impossible. He flattened the Spider.
-Josh can be reached at [email protected] or @jhall282.
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