Before the Fall
There are a lot of ways to define the word pride. Pride can
be a good thing. We have all felt proud of ourselves when we accomplish something.
A new job, a marriage, having children, winning the “big game” in crunch time
are just a few of the ways to justify reasonable self respect. However, pride
can also lead to prophecy.
Whoever coined the term “pride comes before the fall”, must
have been a genius or merely observant.
On Saturday July 6th, 2013, the entire MMA
community witnessed the fall of the single most successful and dominant legend the
sport has ever seen. A man whose accomplishments inside the UFC octagon are
nowhere nearly matched. The most successful title defenses (10), the most knockouts
in UFC history (11), the longest title reign of any single fighter (nearly 7
years). It cannot be overstated how dominant Anderson Silva has been in the
UFC. His records may never be broken. In the annals of MMA history, “The Spider”
may go down as the single greatest fighter to walk the face of the earth and definitely the greatest fighter of our generation.
Anderson has done it a few times when fighting. He puts his
hands down to his side, struts around as if he is toying with his opponents,
faking being “rocked” by his opponent. It’s as if he is trying to get in their
head to throw them off of their game and break them mentally before HE decides
to finish them. With a seemingly disdainful confidence that he knows whenever
he decides to open up and throw punches, he can knock anybody out. Anderson did
it to Forrest Griffin looking like a character in the matrix. He did it to
Stephan Bonner. Stand against the fence and begged him to take the fight to the
floor or to punch him at will. After all, he is Anderson “The Spider” Silva, the
greatest fighter on planet earth. Nobody can touch him…right? Um, not so fast.
While Anderson is still the best fighter that MMA has ever
seen or ever will see, he did himself, the UFC and the fans a great disservice by
playing that same game last night. In the weeks leading up to UFC 162, Silva
seemed jovial, playful and even amused at times. On FUEL TV’s UFC TONIGHT,
Silva was even joking around with his long time nemesis Chael Sonnen.
There are several ways to define pride. Reasonable and
justified self respect, the best in a group or class. These are the terms I
used to described his display of pride. That is, before Saturday at UFC 162. “The
Spider” repeated several times in interviews that he respects all the fighters
in the UFC. He fights for his fans and the UFC because he likes his job
fighting. What Anderson showed on
Saturday night was not respect. Silva proved the one definition of pride that
brings even the most successful and accomplished people to their knees;
ostentatious display. Vainglorious and pretentious.
Not only did Anderson Silva learn the fine line between
definitions and materializations of the word pride, he fell off of the
highwire, and in doing so he taught all of us a life lesson. To be proud of
what you have done with your life is one thing. Displaying disdainful behavior
will get you humbled.
Chris Weidman was not going to simply back down and let
Silva get into his head by being coy. Weidman came forward and kept throwing
punches. In between the first and second round, Silva was yelling at Weidman
from across the cage to please stand up and fight. Even after pleading with
Chris to throw fists with him, Silva still played his pretentious game. The FAULT
does not lie in Silva’s corner. The CREDIT goes to Chris Weidman. He is
mentally strong, he has the ability and willingness to beat anybody at their
own game even when facing the greatest fighter of our generation. What Chris
Weidman did in taking Silva out should never be overshadowed by the lack of
respect that Anderson showed. Weidman just knocked out the best pound for pound
fighter in the world. He didn’t just win, he knocked him out cold!
Conspiracy theorists have inundated twitter, Facebook, the
blogosphere and MMA websites with ridiculous accusations being levied at Silva.
They say he “threw the fight”, or he wanted to get knocked out. Or they say
that the only reason Silva lost was because he was fooling around and just got
caught. Not only is this a ludicrous notion, it is disrespectful to Weidman.
Chris has worked his butt of to get to where he is at in his career. He is the
middleweight champion of the UFC and he did it by not only beating the best in
his division. He did it by beating the best EVER. Great job, Mr. Weidman.
Be proud of what you accomplish. Live your life with
confidence. Let your pride be reasonable as to not fall into arrogance. After
all, isn’t that what martial arts is all about?
Thank you and stay safe
Randy Casjens
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