No One Defeats Father Time

Anderson Silva, widely recognized as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, lost his rematch with Chris Wiedman for the UFC Middleweight Title on December 28, 2013. Wiedman had defeated Silva for the title on July 6, 2013. It was Silva’s first loss in seven years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the middleweight champion for over 6 of those years having won the title from Rich “Ace” Franklin in his second fight with the promotion.

The way Anderson Silva lost the rematch makes you wonder if the opponent that he could not defeat was Father Time, the bane of all combat athletes. Father Time is the one unbeatable opponent. Anderson Silva is 38 років, which is very long in the tooth for a combat athlete although guys like Randy Couture, Bernard Hopkins and Archie Moore won world championships at a much older age.

During the rematch, Silva threw a kick, which Chris Wiedman checked by lifting his leg. The force of the impact snapped Silva’s shinbone. Silva crumbled to the mat holding his leg and howling in pain. It was a potentially sad end to the career of the greatest mixed martial arts fighter up to this time. While no one is saying he cannot come back from the injury, it will be a difficult rehab. His championship days at least in the middleweight division are over for the foreseeable future.

By saying that I believe age played a part in this loss is not to denigrate Chris Wiedman’s win. Wiedman’s style would have given Anderson Silva trouble at any point in his career. Wiedman looks to be a champion, who could have a long reign. I just don’t see Anderson’s shin snapping four or five years ago.

George Hackenschmidt faced a similar situation in 1911. He was the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion from 1901 until 1908, when he lost his title to Frank Gotch. У 1911, they wrestled for the title again. Hackenschmidt at 34 years old was at the end of his career. While Gotch was a year older, he had not wrestled as long or as extensively as Hackenschmidt. Hackenschmidt had developed painful bursitis in his left knee, which would end his career after this bout.

A story told by Lou Thesz and others was that Frank Gotch paid Ad Santel to hurt Hackenschmidt’s knee, while they were training prior to the bout. Однак, George Hackenschmidt and others dispute this account. Доктор. Roller, a wrestler in his own right and Hackenschmidt’s trainer, said that his bursitis was so bad that Hack could not train properly. Hackenschmidt lost the rematch and retired to become a trainer and physical culture proponent.

Anderson Silva may be at that same point. He has been training students in Muay Thai, so maybe it is time for him to transition into a striking coach for other mixed martial artist. He has proven all that he needs to in the ring.

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