Will new UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman go down as the only winner ever to “deserve” a re-match?
Denied unqualified acclaim for his recent UFC 162 win over Anderson Silva by the former champion’s reckless showboating, Weidman ironically finds himself as the one being given an opportunity.
A rematch (UFC 168) was confirmed by president Dana White last Saturday, despite Silva’s post fight reluctance to consider one, let alone committ to any concrete future for himself in the cage.
In many other sports, Silva’s contemptuous taunts and rash abandonment of defence against Weidman might have raised charges of bringing his sport into disrepute.
Only the fight world’s extraordinary tolerance of brash showmanship – inherited from American boxing’s colourful entertainment pedigree – prevents consideration of such sanctions.
And Silva’s obvious genius within the cage may also have earned him extra patience from the MMA community. With widely conceded ‘GOAT’ status and the ability to toy with the best and win, Silva may well have occasionally tiptoed into that murky twilight zone of feeling ‘bigger than the sport’.
But this is a temptation for any athlete showered with superlatives, given the lofty foundations of sporting ambition.
Whether or not White shared the disappointment of many MMA fans at Silva’s farcical title loss, he will at least now enjoy the benefit of seeing Silva fight a worthy challenger minus his signature complacency.
Serious money is already saying a serious Silva will have little trouble dispensing with Weidman next time around. Others will assert that Silva made little headway when he found himself below the challenger for much of the first round at UFC 161.
Weidman’s jui-jitsu might well be a key difference between his credentials and previous challengers. But if he stands and trades with Silva, as he did late in his title win, Weidman faces his biggest risk of losing a belt that some will say was on loan.
Few, however, would write off another Weidman win, at the very least from points earned on the mat.
Either way, it’s timely for Silva to flush some smelling salts through his recently jaded sporting persona, if UFC 162 hasn’t already done it. If he wins this time I hope he dispenses with the burlesque of prostrating himself to the vanquished as he did to the worthy Sonnen. Bowing and scraping to the loser may be someone’s sacharrine notion of humility, but it can also come across as stomach turning hubris.
Regardless of the outcome, the winner will restore the legitimate hype around the prospect superfights with Jon Jones and/or George St Pierre. And if it’s close, I guess there’s another rematch, though perhaps not so soon.
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