Comments on: Early-retirement for Anderson Silva might not be such a bad thing

By: FEDOR hid this DVD from you!

FEDOR hid this DVD from you! — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:35:39 +0000

Heck, whatever the reasons, I’d still like to see him fight at least for another 5 years. He’s at the top of his game and everyone in his weight division benchmarks their performance based on Silva’s. If he was to go, that might slide everyone’s game down a notch. Besides, it’s always exciting to watch Spider knock people out

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By: FEDOR hid this DVD from you!

FEDOR hid this DVD from you! — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:35:38 +0000

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By: UFC FAN

UFC FAN — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:13:49 +0000

The solution is very simple. I’ve been saying for 1 1/2 years that Silva would be very effective and could enhance his legacy by competing at 205lbs. I was told that he would not be as effective at 205 and is too small. I argued with so many “experts” about this for the past year, and thank God that he moved up and destroyed a decent 205lb fighter and shut them the fuck up. Silva should move up to 205 permanently sometime next year. As another poster stated, it’s not like there’s a dearth of talent at 205. I would make him the favorite over every 205 pound fighter, with the possible exception of Machida (which would be a pick-em fight) He beats one dimensional Chuck easily, Rampage, Griffin, and the others.

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By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:30:43 +0000

Silva won’t retire until he avenges that loss to Daiju Takase.

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By: RoughKarpenter

RoughKarpenter — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:25:19 +0000

Good article, I didn’t agree with all your opinions, but good none the less. I have to say the commentary was slightly more entertaining.

I have to say, before Silva-Leben I never knew the name Anderson Silva.
He took the sport by storm upon entering the UFC. I fell in love with his talent instantly, But haven’t his fights become monotinous? Now evertime I watch him fight, I pray he gets the crap knocked out of him. Maybe thats just me.

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By: Richie

Richie — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:46:02 +0000

In fairness to Chonan’s “hail marry [sic]” heel hook, Silva was actually losing that fight at the point that move was executed in the third round. Sam you make it sound as if Anderson had that fight in hand but if you go back and watch it Chonan was pretty clearly ahead in the fight and if it had gone to a decision he most likely would have won. That’s not to say Anderson couldn’t have found a way to pull it out in the last few minutes but obviously he didn’t get that chance.

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By: HexRei

HexRei — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:46:41 +0000

Rumblings out of Brazil have suggested in recent days that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has discussed in TV interviews emanating from his home country that he isn’t ruling out retirement a year from now.

Most convolutedly noncommittal paragraph ever

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By: Batman

Batman — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:02:35 +0000

In six fights he will be old anyway might as well retire before he ruins his legacy like Ken Shamrock did.

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By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:08:09 +0000

So Sam, are you now saying that Silva should retire to make more money and preserve his legacy? The bottom line is this and I have no idea how you can argue it….

A FAN OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS…A FAN OF ANDERSON SILVA SHOULD NOT SUGGEST HE SHOULD RETIRE.

There are so many things in life you can not control. You cannot make a strong argument that he will make more money if he retires and comes back to defend his legacy because this is UNKNOWN. What is known is that there are many CHALLENGING and interesting matchups for Silva that he will be very well compensated for.

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By: fightfan

fightfan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:05:54 +0000

Sorry I didnt read ALL comments to this point. So if this was covered, well . Talking about Bisping and the MW title is absolutely ludicrous. I know he is treated as well as Kimbo is when it comes to marketing. Bisping has fought at BEST all C level fighters with a couple exceptions out of , what 8 or 9 UFC fights. They have handed him 3 or 4 ONE dimensional BJJ grapplers that are at best C fighters, then the rest were mostly wrestlers, NO DECENT STRIKERS!!!??!!. WW’s in Haynes and Pointon that cant win in small shows. He and Hammil were hand picked for ONE of them to win TUF(just go back and look where the other guys are now….NOWHERE)

I know the MW division is weak….But come one there are at least 8 or 10 gus above Bisping, guys that have fought the top guys in the 185.

And talk of Bisping being a coach against Henderson and then those 2 fight for top contender is about as ridiculis as saying KSlice will be top contender if he beats Shamrock.

Let Bisping face the B level fighters in the UFC before we mention his name and titles. There are guys like Leites, Kampmann, Reljic, Franklin, Marquardt, even Grove or MCfedries and the list could go on. This guy runs his mouth about how he never gets beat up…..well, let him actually face a striker and that will change…..Quit hand picking him 1 dim BJJ guys and wrestlers.

The only 2 decent fighters Bisping faced, he lost to. I will give him the respect when he earns it. I said it after 2 or 3 of his fights…..that the UFC will baby him and feed him the easiet wins, in order to give him a title shot and make him even more poplular

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By: darkmetal

darkmetal — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:03:57 +0000

You raise some very valid points, Sam.
I do wonder if Silva’s stated need to prove himself as a boxer might also be in play with his statements regarding “retirement”. It could be, and of course it is speculation, that Silva wants to try his hand in boxing for awhile, and that he might bow out for some period in the relatively near future.
Actually, doing so might actually be a good thing. I love the way the guy fights, but who else can he fight at this point? He has won against just about everyone noteable, which leaves him having to move up in weight class, or retire for a point and returning to do it all over again. If he retired and then returned after a year, would we see a whole new breed of fighters for Silva to conquer? Possibly.

I personally don’t see Silva becoming any more than an amusement in the boxing realm, but who knows? But he could try it out, and then return to MMA.

But I wonder if a fighter of his caliber also doesn’t have to also realise that he needs to guard his “wonder years” while he can as well. Being a great champion can be very lucrative in terms of dollars, and this won’t last forever. I think he could continue to be great for another 5 years or so, but in time everyone loses luster, and he should consider that.

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By: neosamurai

neosamurai — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:31:33 +0000

I don’t think it’s been mentioned but I think Silva vs Manhoef would bea great match up. I’d take Silva to win with the height and reach but I think it would be an excellent match up from a spectator stand point.

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By: egad81

egad81 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:46:55 +0000

What RETIRE?

He prolly said he needed to retire to bed for the evening….

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By: demonianray

demonianray — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:38:15 +0000

Nice post, Sam, but what makes me chuckle here is that this was written by the same Sam Caplan that wrote that A. Silva was beatable because his wrestling was not good, and GSP was no.1 in pound for pound.

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By: Jye

Jye — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:30:38 +0000

I think there’s a good chance Silva would lose a rematch with Marquardt, and I think GSP would beat him as well. Nobody’s unbeatable in MMA, there are too many variables and it only takes one slip up and you lose the fight.

I don’t think that anybody will ever get the better of him standing but when you say that nobody’s ever given a blueprint on how to beat him that’s untrue. Look at his fights with Takase, Chonan and Otsuka. He had zero takedown defense in those fights, it’s probably improved now, but I say that a good wrestler with a good double leg hardly even needs to set up their shots to get him to the ground.

And also Silva was gonna lose the fight with Chonan anyway, there was only about three minutes left when he pulled out that submission so I think the fight as a whole is relevant

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By: Tony Fennen

Tony Fennen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:20:22 +0000

Cung Le vs Silva is a fight I would LOVE to see.
Other then that maybe Fedor? (I know thats a stretch but would still be cool)

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By: Ross

Ross — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:15:46 +0000

love your input sam- but that first response was uncalled for. (Dan, I am glad to see that your high school allows you to use the computer lab during study hall.)

The original poster was a little overboard (but overboard like M.huckaby goes overboard with his stories-wich I love) but jeez sometimes you need to take the high road as the site operator. Dont get pissed thats just my opinion, and you can ask my wife, my opinion dont mean s%*t.
****
side note- whats the lattest on the Mrs? Hope to see more stories on her, in fact I would like her to provide some write ups, I think that would be very cool.

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By: Sam Caplan

Sam Caplan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:24:57 +0000

Shamrock left because there was no one left to fight in his weight class at the time. He came back for the money and he has made over six-figures per fight since coming back. Had he stayed in the game and fought lesser competition for an extended period of time, he might not be in the physical condition he is now. If he kept fighting straight through, he might not have made it to MMA’s boom period and be able to reap the rewards he’s currently benefiting from.

Silva was not considered the pound-for-pound best until signing with the UFC. Prior to coming to the UFC, he was well-respected by hardcores but not a big enough draw for Shamrock to get six-figures to fight.

Franklin, Tanner, and Lindland were all in the UFC. Shamrock has had major legal problems with Zuffa and fighting for them is not an option.

The only viable opponent that Shamrock could have faced was Henderson. But again, Shamrock left at a time when there was no money to be made in this sport and came back when the industry had evolved.

He’s one of the few fighters that can make the kind of money he’s making without any support from the UFC. Why do you think that is? Because he preserved his legacy. When he left, he left as the pound-for-pound top fighter in the sport. People remembers that and as new challengers emerged, people always brought Shamrock’s name up as someone they’d like to see them fight. If Silva walked away now, whenever a new champion emerged, we’d all be saying “Wow, I wonder how he’d do against Anderson Silva?” And a promotion would have to pay a premium to get Silva to leave retirement and make the fight a reality.

And don’t think for a second he wouldn’t accept a fight vs. Anderson Silva if Silva weren’t contracted to the UFC. He wouldn’t stand a chance but he would never walk away from the payday.

So there’s more than enough logic and background supporting my argument. I’m sure you’ll just flippantly dismiss it without a substantive rebuttal but I’ve made my point.

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By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:33:47 +0000

Sam,

Thanks for not wasting your time debating me…as the debate is over because your arguments are unsound. Even if Silva was in his early twenties, without having to answer to father time, your argument still fails.

Regarding Frank Shamrock…are you saying that he “took time off” because there was no competition? I will contend that at a certain point, Frank Shamrock never wanted to test his “ego” against the top competition….because there CERTAINLY WAS ACTIVE TOP LEVEL COMPETITION AVAILABLE WHEN HE WAS ON HIATUS. To name a few:

1) Hendo
2) Lindland
3) Franklin
4) Silva, Anderson
5) Tanner

Since you won’t apologize to your readers, at least apologize to yourself. If you won’t apologize to yourself, apologize to your methods, or lack thereof.

I do like your commentary and your site…so don’t ban me or anything. Keep on mixing it up for us mma freaks.

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By: Jason Harris

Jason Harris — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:04:07 +0000

Keep in mind though, this was the WW division just a couple of years ago. Matt Hughes was such a dominant champion nobody had a chance. They were throwing young talent at him too early (GSP) and he looked unbeatable.

Fastforward a year or so and that young talent was taking his belt and is now looking more dominant than Hughes ever was.

That being said, I don’t see anyone at 185 right now with GSP-like potential. There are a few guys at 205 who seem to be kicking the 185 idea around though (Wanderlei being a notable) that would make for some exciting matches. I think if Shogun starts looking like a legit contender for the 205 belt Wandy will make the drop.

Speaking of which, I’m really hoping we get to see Wandy and Shogun back in the ring soon. Never a dull fight with those guys.

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