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Wanderlei Silva: Go out while you're loved, and swinging hard

Roar Rookie
4th March, 2013
7

This is it. Time to retire Wanderlei. It won’t get any better than Sunday for anyone in the sport of MMA.

Wanderlei Silva defeated a very good opponent, Brian Stann, in a good fight, by his preferred method, in a place where he is considered a legend and near the end of a fifteen year plus fight career.

Brian Stann is no joke. A little under a year ago he fought Chael Sonnen for what could have been a shot at the UFC middle weight title.

He held a WEC title at one time and after yesterday has a record of 12 – 6. Three of those losses are against very good fighters – Chael, Bisping and now W. Silva – and are from the last four fights.

The last time Stann lost via KO (and it’s only happened once before) was in ‘08 so being able to say you KO’d Stann is something to brag about.

The fight between Silva and Stann was pretty good. Even better on a night with so many results going to a decision.

Both fighters received post fight bonuses, which means Dana White or someone at the UFC was happy. There were plenty of heavy exchanges and at times both fought at a frantic pace.

Silva even fought through some adversity (low blow) and put the fight beyond doubt when he followed Stann to the ground. This was no Pride ‘gimme’ fight. Silva fought and won that victory on his own.

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After six and a half years, Silva got his KO victory in Japan. Sure it wasn’t knees or a soccer kick but it was where he is loved the most: Japan.

With fading memories of his Pride Championships days, the Japanese fans still appreciated his hard swinging, stand in the pocket fighting style. True, they would turn up to watch Silva fight a random drunk wearing a chick outfit on a Monday night but Silva made his MMA bones destroying good opponents. The loyalty between Japanese fans and Silva is immeasurable.

But we’ve seen these circumstances before. The lure to continue for just one more run at the title – look at Chuck Liddell and BJ Penn, will be too much after such a definitive win for an ageing fighter.

Silva is a top class fighter that needs to complete because of a drive to win most of us would deem illogical – where we see pain arriving to our heads via a punch or a kick he sees victory via the same to his foe.

Wanderlei doesn’t see the downside to fighting. Only upside. The chance for Silva to compete against the best, to bask in the glory of an adoring crowd after a championship victory will be too much to resist.

That, and any promoter watching, or listening, to the reaction of the Japanese crowd will mean they send money by the truckload to his doorstep to keep him fighting and the crowds coming back (but I don’t think Silva is interested in the money).

The MMA gods have shone their light upon Silva one last time and he should ascend into the heavens while the going is good. But unfortunately I get the feeling Wanderlei ’The Axe Murderer’ Silva will be tempted to stay for one more run.

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At the age of 36 he shouldn’t. Hang them up, Wanderlei, and show the MMA world that you are not only a legendary MMA fighter but one of the very smart ones too.

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