Wanderlei’s future

June 17, 2009

I’m hesitant to write about a fight that I have yet to see, but I’ve read a lot of reaction to last weekend’s fight between Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva.

A few years ago when I started getting into mixed martial arts and would watch PRIDE shows, Silva was the one guy that immediately captivated me. From the tatoo on the back of his head to the way he moved his wrists with that stare before fights, Silva instantly became one of my favorite fighters. The way he destroed Japanese legend Sakuraba and Rampage Jackson on multiple occasions made his nickname “The Axe Murderer” so perfect.

So when after so many false rumors, Silva finally made the jump to the UFC in December of 2007 to fight Chuck Liddell, I was as pumped as I’ve ever been for a single fight up to that point (Only outdone now by Penn-GSP II). The fight was a war and went the way most people thought it would. Liddell was the more technical, calculated striker. Wanderlei was a wild man and struggled to get in on Liddell, close enough to where he could land his thunderdous right hand.

It wound up being a decision win for Liddell, but Silva didn’t lose much in taking a loss. He showed he was exciting, an animal, relentless in his ways. But with that said, he was 0-1 in the UFC and had lost three fights in a row (he lost to Mirko Cro Cop in the open-weight tourney and Dan Henderson in PRIDE’s second event in the USA).

Back to the drawing board Silva went and he rebounded well with a crushing first-round TKO victor over Keith Jardine, who had beaten both Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Maybe Silva was back. Maybe it was time for him to climb up the light heavyweight ladder and get a title shot. Instead, his hopes ended with a first-round KO loss to Jackson, a man he absolutely DESTROYED twice in his heyday in PRIDE.

1-2 in the UFC and with no real future prospects at 205, he took this fight with Franklin at a catch weight at 195 pounds. Again, everything I’ve read said it was a great fight, back and forth, with both men having each other on the ropes. But in the end, another decision loss for Silva.

Silva is now 32-10-1 in his career, but 1-3 in the UFC and 1-5 in his last six fights. Until Cro Cop bloodied him up before knocking him out with a head kick, Silva had never been stopped on the big stage. Now, he’s been knocked out brutally three times over the last two years.

Just 32-years-old, it seems quite young for Silva to call it a career. But where else does he go from here? He looked freakishly small against Franklin, and even though a lot of people tend to think he’s dropping down another 10 pounds to middleweight, will he be able to survive the weight cut and still be the power fighter he is? A loss to Franklin says he has no chance against middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, and outside of him, what other marquee fights does he have at that weight? A third fight with Dan Henderson maybe? Michael Bisping?

He’s not going to quit fighting. That much I’m sure. If he can do it the right way and cut down to 185, that’s probably the way to go. But if he does go that route, Silva, Henderson and even Bisping should wait.

Who should Wanderlei fight next? Let’s see. A wild, always coming forward, never backing down, exciting stand-up fighter looking for a fighter of similar nature at 185 pounds? Seems simple to me. In fact, I think that guy might exist right in our own backyard, maybe even at a school on University Ave?

Wanderlei “The Axe Murder” Silva vs. Chris “The Crippler” Leben.

Who wouldn’t want to see that?

Posted in Fights