Alex Stiebling vs Anderson Silva Pride 21 Demolition
Year : 2002
This fight was Anderson's PRIDE FC debut :)
Anderson da Silva (born 14 April 1975) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion and holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days. This started in 2006 and ended in 2013 and included a UFC record 16 consecutive victories in that span. UFC president Dana White, UFC commentator Joe Rogan and numerous mixed martial arts (MMA) pundits have named Silva as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. Silva left the UFC in November of 2020.
Silva was born on 14 April 1975, in São Paulo, Brazil. The son of a poverty-stricken family, Silva spent the majority of his childhood in Curitiba with his aunt and uncle, who was an officer with the Curitiba police force. Silva's first foray in martial arts began as a child training jiu-jitsu with neighborhood kids. As a teen, Silva began training in taekwondo, capoeira and muay thai.
Silva initially fought in Brazil in the welterweight category. Silva made his professional debut in 1997 with a pair of wins. Silva recorded his first loss in 2000 to Luiz Azeredo by decision. After that fight, he went on a nine-fight winning streak, winning six of those fights by either submission or TKO. After winning his first match in Japan, he was put up against Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai on 26 August 2001. Silva beat Sakurai by unanimous decision after three rounds and became the new Shooto Middleweight Champion (at 167 lb) and the first man to defeat Sakurai, who was undefeated in his first 20 fights.
In 2002, Silva began fighting in Pride.
In 2004 Silva made his debut in the Cage Rage promotion in England. At Cage Rage 8 Silva fought and defeated noted striker Lee Murray by decision.
Silva made his debut at Ultimate Fight Night 5 on 28 June 2006. His opponent was Chris Leben who had gone undefeated in the UFC with five consecutive victories. Leben, confident of victory, had predicted he would KO Silva in a pre-fight interview. A relatively unknown fighter in the United States, Silva made an emphatic debut when he knocked out Leben with a flurry of pinpoint strikes, followed by a final knee strike at 49 seconds into the first round. Silva's striking accuracy was 85%.
In response to the victory, the UFC tallied a poll on their main page, asking viewers to select Silva's next opponent. The majority of voters selected the UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin. Silva fought Franklin at UFC 64 on 14 October 2006, and defeated him by TKO (strikes) at 2:59 in the first round. Silva hit Franklin with knees to the body from the Muay Thai-clinch, then badly broke Franklin's nose with a knee to the face. Unable to strike back, Franklin dodged the last of Silva's strikes before falling to the ground, where referee "Big" John McCarthy ended the fight. Silva was crowned the new UFC Middleweight Champion, becoming the second man to defeat Franklin, after Black House-teammate Lyoto Machida.
He became the first to stop Stephan Bonnar via strikes in the 1st round of a light heavyweight bout on 13 October 2012, at UFC 153.
Despite having decided to retire after the Bonnar fight, Silva faced Chris Weidman on 6 July 2013, at UFC 162. Although he was the heavy favorite, he lost by KO in the second round after show boating, ending his streak of the longest title reign in UFC history.
A rematch was held at UFC 168. Weidman dominated the first round. In the second round Weidman checked one of Silva's leg kicks again, breaking Silva's left fibula and tibia and ending the fight via TKO. Immediately after the fight, Silva had orthopedic surgery to stabilize his tibia with an intramedullary rod; his fibula was reset and was not expected to require further surgery. A UFC statement called the surgery "successful" and said those with similar injuries generally take three to six months to recover.
Despite calls for Silva to retire from MMA, it was confirmed on 29 July 2014, that Silva would return to the organization. Before UFC 179, Silva and the UFC agreed on a new, 15-fight contract that replaced their previous deal which had eight fights remaining.
In March 2021, it was announced that Anderson Silva would continue his combat sports career in boxing against Julio César Chávez Jr. on June 19, 2021. Chávez Jr missed the contractual weight of 182 lbs. after weighing in at 184.4 lbs. and forfeited $100,000 of his purse to Silva. Silva won the fight via split decision. Silva was the busier fighter throughout the fight throwing a total of 392 punches versus Chávez Jr's 153.
Silva has three sons and two daughters with his wife, Dayane.
Silva has said on numerous occasions that he believes long-time friend and former UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Welterweight Champion B.J. Penn to be the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport.
Silva became a naturalized U.S. citizen in July 2019.
