Being a king has its advantages. And there is no doubt that Anderson Silva was, and to some, still is the UFC’s middleweight king.
So what do you get when you’re a king? Well if you were to say, get caught with a clean left hook mid-showboat, you’d be entitled to an immediate rematch.
But Anderson Silva doesn’t want it, and it’s kind of refreshing.
For one reason or another, it seems like the UFC tends to give fighters rematches when they’ve been particularly dominant. Case in point — UFC lightweight Frankie Edgar, who has been on both sides of the situation.
In April 2010, Edgar first wrested the lightweight title from longtime lightweight Juggernaut B.J. Penn in a five-round unanimous decision. The two would rematch four months later but with the same result.
Next, Edgar had another fight-and-rematch series with Gray Maynard. That one was justifiable because their first bout ended in a draw and begged for a rematch. Edgar won the rematch with a fourth-round knockout but his string of fights-and-rematches was getting tiring.
Then it happened again.
In February 2012 Edgar lost his title to former World Extreme Cagefighting titlist Ben “Smooth” Henderson, and since he had held the title for a shade under two years at the time, got a rematch for his title. He would lose the rematch and finally his string of fight-rematch, fight-rematch, fight-rematch, came to a close.
With all that said, Silva is a different case. He’s the greatest mixed martial artist of all time and more than anybody deserves a rematch for a fight that he lost largely on account of his own showboating.
Everyone (myself included) wants to see what happens if Silva faces Chris Weidman again and doesn’t dance around wildly and carry his hands by his waist.
It’s the trend of immediate title rematches that grows tiresome. Seeing a fighter fight the same guys time after time can make even a stalwart MMA fan grow weary.
UFC President Dana White has said that the rematch is going to happen, even though Silva didn’t seem to care for it.
Let’s do away with these immediate title rematches.
Unless you’re a king.
Eric Smith is an MMA and fantasy football contributor with Craveonline.com. Follow him on twitter or @EricSmith_SP or email him at ejmith7@asu.edu.
Photo Credit: Getty
