A Plea to a Hero

I admit that I’m writing this column primarily for selfish reasons. It’s painful for we as fans to watch one of our beloved athletes experience a precipitous drop in skill level towards the end of his/her career and have to watch them struggle onward when the will to compete still burns hot but their body just isn’t capable any longer. This image is particularly wrenching when the athlete is a boxer or fighter due to the nature of the sport and the helplessness that you feel as they simply can’t do what used to come so naturally to them and often times suffer devastating knockouts. In the back of our minds we don’t want those images of one of our heroes as a shell of their former selves to cloud our memories of the brilliant performances they gave us throughout the primes of their careers. It would be much easier on us if all of them went out on top at the peak of their powers and we didn’t have to experience the cringe worthy moments of the end of their careers so we often urge them to retire when even the slightest inkling of a drop in ability at an advanced age rears its ugly head. We mask our requests that they gracefully walk away from the fight game under the guise of protecting the long term health of the fighter, and I’m not saying that concern doesn’t play a role because it certainly does, but the driving force whether we admit it or not is we don’t want to face the specter of seeing Muhammad Ali helpless in the ring at the end of his career or an over the hill Willie Mays struggling in center field for the Mets at the end of his career and risk that in some way tarnishing their great legacy. The thought that competing in their given sport is all these athletes have known for their entire adult life and they simply can’t walk away from it when they still feel like they can compete becomes secondary to our own needs.

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The fighter I’m talking about here is “The Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva. Watching him last Saturday night get knocked virtually unconscious in just 27 seconds by a journeyman middleweight like Chris Leben who Silva would have easily dispatched just a few years ago made my heart drop. It was the 6 th loss in the last 8 fights for Wandy and the 4 th devastating knockout he has suffered during that time. Long gone is the crazed berserker fighter Silva used to be that earned him one of the best nicknames in the history of sports, “The Axe Murderer”. During the height of his prime from 2000-2004 Silva was undefeated over 18 consecutive fights while holding the Pride middleweight (203lbs) title and winning the Pride 2003 middleweight grand prix. His swarming Muay Thai style made him an instant favorite among MMA fans and often overwhelmed opponents. This furious fighting style was only matched by his legendary prefight stare downs with his opponents where he would bounce back and forth while giving them a subtle sly grin seemingly saying “I’m about to tear your f***ing head off.” While he possessed the skill to fight more disciplined fights, Wandy always wanted to please the fans and give them their money’s worth and helped fuel that berserker style of kill or be killed and we LOVED him for it. That style led to 23 of his 33 (70%) career wins coming via TKO/KO, one of the highest rates in history and ultimately probably played a vital role in his decline. Silva gladly stood in the middle of the cage or octagon and slugged it out with his opponents which led to him taking a great deal of punishment even though he walked through most of it during that time in his career. But that punishment along with the training regimen at the famous Chute Box Academy where it’s been reported that he and other top fighters in that camp such as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua would routinely spar full contact and knock each other out added up as the years went by.

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The cracks in Wandy’s armor started to show at the end of the run of the Pride organization, where he made his mark in the sport, when he suffered back to back brutal knockouts to Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Dan Henderson. It didn’t get much better when he transitioned over to the UFC where he lost a hard fought unanimous decision to Chuck Liddell and then was put to sleep by picture perfect left hook from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the 3 rd fight of their trilogy which started in Pride back in 2003. Wandy has looked smaller and slower over the last 3 years or so and is in fact fighting at 185lbs now instead of the light heavyweight limit of 205lbs, for which he was always undersized, and his chin simply can’t take the punches it once used to. He has heart and courage that run on for days and he still wants to excite us fans with that Tasmanian devil like fighting style but it’s only leading to more and more vicious knockouts we have to watch one of our heroes endure.

That word hero is sometimes overused in our society as we too quickly ascribe it to individuals from reality shows or Youtube clips that haven’t earned it but that is not the case here. Wanderlei Silva is a hero to millions of fans in the MMA world and it’s all but impossible not to root for a fighter with his style and who cares so much about his fans. He has always shown the utmost consideration and sincerity to us as fans, treated the sport and his opponents with an unwavering level of respect, and is an athlete that I would be proud to have a son of mine, if I had one, to grow up emulating. If that isn’t the definition of hero than I don’t know what is.

Wandy,

As I said earlier it is with primarily selfish reasons that I ask you to consider retirement from the sport that you have meant so much to. I’m quite certain you still have the burning desire to try and come back stronger than ever and I and all your fans will wholeheartedly support you in any decision you make and I for one want to thank you for a brilliant career and always being the people’s champ.

Sincerely,

Your biggest fan

By Jim McClelland
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer

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