Anderson Silva got his first win since 2012 when he beat Derek Brunson by unanimous decision at this past Saturday’s UFC 208. Fans and media alike felt Silva didn’t do enough to win and Brunson should have gotten the decision.
Fighters are now speaking out and none louder than past Silva foe and current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping who feels “The Spider” is ruining the career he’s had.
“The one time – or the couple of times – where Anderson actually threw something, Brunson turned around and literally ran away from him,” Bisping said on his Sirius XM show, “The Countdown”. “You could see he was a little intimidated, he was a little bewildered, he didn’t know quite what to do. All in all, you could see that Anderson was the better fighter, but he just didn’t pull the trigger. He didn’t pull the trigger at all. People were booing in the audience, people were annoyed, people were pissed off. They paid to watch the fantastic Anderson Silva and he just wasn’t delivering.
“I’m not trying to kick a man while he’s down, I’m really not. I bought the pay-per-view to watch Anderson Silva. Regardless of what’s happened between the two of us, I’m a fan of Anderson Silva, and he still always brings that excitement. Even still, right up until the final bell of the 15 minutes fight you still thought, ‘Hold on, is he gonna pull something amazing out of the bag?’ But he didn’t and what he did was, he allowed Brunson to outwork him so when he went to a decision, everybody thought Derek Brunson was gonna get the decision. Of course, it went to Anderson Silva which was shocking, and I guess maybe you could see an argument for Anderson winning rounds one and two, but it was just a bizarre performance and his legacy is slowly turning into that of somebody that’s – well he’s tarnishing his legacy. Let’s put it like that.”
Bisping defeated Silva by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 84 in Feb. 2015. No word on Silva will return to the cage. Bisping appears headed for a fight with either Yoel Romero or former welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre.
