A 47-year-old fighter, in the fifth decade of his life and still as brutal, as strong, and as durable as in his prime. Anderson Silva seems like the age has no effect on him and like he has no plan to slow down no matter what.
In the Brazilian’s most recent boxing match against Bruno Machado, the duo brings a great watching fight experience that boxing and MMA fans will remember for a long time. A crown on Anderson Silva’s royal performance is when in the fifth round he struck the boxer with a strong right hook to the head and delivered a knockdown.
Anderson Silva Destroys Bruno Machado – Delivers A Brutal Knockdown – Jake Paul Mocks Silva On Twitter
Even though Machado looks evidently dazed after the brutal shot, the referee does not stop the fight. Being an exhibition match, the fight goes through all five rounds. Despite the no-outcome fight, and despite the no-winner exhibition, we can say that the 47 years old Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva did out-box and out-shine the professional boxer. In a boxing match!
After a 25-year-long MMA career, he takes the world by storm while he transitions to boxing. Instead of retiring, he is looking for new challenges and new opportunities. In the MMA he had a great run. Until 2013 he was one of the best, if not the best middleweight fighters in the UFC promotion. However, after his TKO loss to Chris Weidman back in 2013 when he injured his leg, his career went downwards.
Ever since the injury happens, he scores only one win from the nine fights he has in the period. He is on a three-fight losing streak when he decides to leave the UFC and transition to boxing. Who knows, maybe that leg injury has something to do with it. Since looking at the record, his downfall starts exactly then. After his injury.
“He’s an amazing fighter,” Silva says about Machado post-fight. “He accepted the fight at the last minute. I’m so happy. He gives me the opportunity to move everything for you guys. Thank you to every single person who came today. I talked with my jiu-jitsu coach and maybe I fight in a jiu-jitsu tournament here in Abu Dhabi in near future as well.” – he closes the statement.
To be honest, it is clear since the announcement of the fight that the Spider has a great advantage over the boxer. His arms reach and height make him more likely to deliver shots while being far away to receive one. You can see throughout the whole fight, how he keeps Machado far from him while delivering jabs. Machado does not have any other option than to cover and look for an entrance.
Machado is forced to go to a technique ‘dig and blow’ where he needs to dig in his opponent’s body with body shots, so he can create an opening for him to deliver an unblocked shot to the head.
It is evident that throughout all the rounds Silva has control of the fight. For four rounds he keeps his opponent far from him and suffers almost no hits. While his opponent cannot say the same. Four rounds pass and there is no brutal action in the ring to the extent that it will send chills to your body. However, in the fifth round, it finally happens.
Both fighters are close to each other, seems like Machado finally gets to the inside of the Spider and lastly has him when it happens. Unexpectedly Silva lands a massive right hook to Machado’s head that sends him straight to the floor. The count starts and Machado struggles to get up, but in the end, somehow he manages to get up and continue the fight.
If this would have been a real let say title match this is when Silva would have pushed as much as he can, however here that was not the case since the bout is just an exhibition match. The rest of the round goes similarly to the beginning of the fight, with the fighters exchanging not-so-significant shots.
Due to the match being considered an exhibition, there is no winner announced at the end. However, it is more than clear that if there should be a winner declaration, that title should be Anderson Silva’s.
The Spider Silva is clearly the more dominant fighter in the bout. He boxes Machado for five rounds and puts him in a position where he works on his defense more than the offense. Moreover, he delivers the only knockdown of the bout.
It is not clear what are the boxing plans of the ‘old man’ Silva. He announces a fight in Jiu-jitsu but doesn’t say anything about boxing. It is not that he is short of offers for fights, it is about what are his plans for the future. Does he want to continue swimming in these boxing ‘waters’?
One of the loudest fighters that calls him out for several months is the YouTuber, now a boxer, Jake Paul. The ‘problem child’ has a magnificent no-loss policy against MMA fighters turned boxers. Having won all five bouts that he has until now, makes him a great potential opponent for The Spider.
After Silva’s boxing match Jake shares a tweet mocking the Spider. He posts a photo of his photoshopped head put on a pest control worker standing right next to a pest company vehicle with a spider logo on its door.
Does Jake Paul think that he can continue his winning streak by fighting Anderson Silva? Maybe Silva lately had a bad MMA winning streak, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is a bad fighter. Take this boxing match as an example. He dominates against much more experienced fighter than Paul.
Will we see the Spider against Jake? What is your opinion on that? Who would win?
