Anderson Silva, the former UFC middleweight champion and an all-time great, didn’t have the best night out in front of his home crowd at UFC 237. Fighting against Jared Cannonier in the co-main event, Silva lost inside the first round itself in an unfortunate fashion, suffering a knee injury.
The Killa Gorilla Triumphs
It was the biggest night of Jared Cannonier’s career. Nicknamed “The Killa Gorilla”, Cannonier won his second straight fight and took his overall record to 12-4. Cannonier dominated much of the first round before the referee Herb Dean stopped the match at the 4:47 mark and awarded him a TKO victory.
In the closing seconds, Cannonier threw an inside leg kick that buckled Silva’s knee. It was immediately evident that Silva was in trouble as he fell to the canvas, screaming in pain.
After the fight, Silva admitted to struggling with his right knee during training as well. He apologized to his home crowd for letting them down, even as he was in noticeable pain.
Mutual Respect between the fighters
It was quite evident that the two fighters had a lot of mutual respect for each other. As soon as the fight ended, Cannonier went to check on Anderson Silva. The two embraced for a while with the Brazilian assuring his competitor that he was ok.
“Good job, buddy. It’s OK. Good job”
Silva was heard saying.
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Even during his post-fight interview, Cannonier made it a point to thank Silva, making his respect for “The Spider” pretty clear.
“First off, I want to say, thank you to Anderson Silva,”
Cannonier said.
“I really appreciate the opportunity to step in here. He didn’t have to fight me. He could have fought anyone he wanted to.”
Booed by the crowd
Silva’s home crowd, on the other hand, did not have much respect for the winner. The fans in attendance constantly booed Cannonier even during the post-match interview. Cannonier didn’t mince any words either, specifying that while he respected Silva, he did not similarly respect the booing fans.
“The crowd is a different story. They don’t respect me, I don’t respect them. It’s as simple as that”
he said during his interview.