Why Wanderlei Silva is a legend in my eyes

When you think Wanderlei Silva all kind of thoughts come to mind, like the Axe Murderer, The Warrior, the PRIDE king, the slugger.

Whatever it is, you know one thing: Wanderlei Silva backs down to no one. Even at the ripe old age of 36, there wouldn’t be an opponent in the world big or small that Silva wouldn’t take on.

So when I read on Sherdog that Belfort called out the Wanderlei quote, “He doesn’t have the chin to trade with me”, I found it a little upsetting not because of the disrespect but because I worship this guy as a fighter and a person, the same way the young teeny boppers idolise Justin Beeber.

Now Belfort maybe promoting the upcoming bout between the two in June and giving exposure to TUF Brazil, but to say Wanderlei doesn’t have a chin is like saying Michael Jordan never had a jump shot.

I will be honest, there have been times when Wanderlei has been stone cold asleep on the canvas by a Rampage sweetener, or the Leben fluke shot. But one thing you got to understand with Wanderlei is the way he fights, he does leave himself open for KOs – it’s live by the sword die by the sword with him, meaning one of us is going to get knocked out tonight, and I think that’s the reason we love him so much.

Another thing you have to know about Wanderlei is he has taken some big blows in his career and fought some big gorillas in his time, especially back in the ‘Pride’ days.

In 2004, Silva took on Big Mark Hunt. The Kiwi weighed in at a staggering 126 kilos, 30 kilos heavier then Silva. He not only went the full distance with Hunt but I thought he was hard done by; Wanderlei should have won the bout just on sheer heart and guts.

He also took on a devastating Mirko Crocup back in Mirko’s glory days and Silva took some viscous kicks from Crocup but never backed down at any stage.

Let’s put things in perspective here ,do you think Jon Jones would fight Brock Lesner or Alistair Overeem at his current weight if Dana White asked him? What about GSP, would he take on Rampage Jackson? No way. Not in a lifetime.

With the way UFC is constantly evolving and becoming more wrestling based with an all round game, it make you wonder if the thug strikers like Wanderlei, Shogun and Rampage could be fazed out – maybe they could alter the wrestling rules to make it more evenly contested, or they could just bring back ‘Pride’.

Whatever happens, I hope Wanderlei puts Belfort to sleep when they fight in June.