Sherdog’s Top 10: ‘Where Were You?’ Moments

1. Historic Reign Ends
UFC 162
July 6, 2013 | Las Vegas
If Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest heavyweight of all-time, the most commonly referenced pick for the single greatest fighter of all-time -- most common, not consensus -- is Anderson Silva. “The Spider” dominated the UFC’s middleweight division for nearly seven years, racking up an unthinkable 10 title defenses and 16 consecutive wins to begin his UFC career. Silva was not just unbeatable but seemingly untouchable. Only one opponent, Chael Sonnen, succeeded in truly pushing the longtime champion, and that was with the benefit of an off-the-charts testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio for which he tested positive after the fight.

Chris Weidman entered the UFC in March 2011 as the bluest of blue-chip prospects. An All-American wrestler at Hofstra University, his performance at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships drew rave reviews, and he had the benefit of strong coaching under the direction of Matt Serra, John Danaher and Ray Longo. He dominated contender Mark Munoz to cap the five-fight winning streak with which he began his career, and sat out a year to recover from injury to get a shot at the great one. For Silva, who was coming off a virtuoso performance at light heavyweight against Stephan Bonnar, this was a tough matchup but on paper hardly the most difficult of his career.

Thirty seconds into the fight, Weidman shot a double, Silva sprawled and Weidman completed the fireman’s carry to dump the champion on his back. The American quickly passed to half guard and began to land powerful ground strikes, and a few scrambles aside, he maintained that position for more than two minutes before Silva made his way back to his feet. For the rest of the round, “The Spider” seemed to get inside Weidman’s head a bit, drawing him into the kind of slow-paced and taunt-filled striking match that favored the champion.

Silva opened the second round bouncing, taunting and landing kicks while simultaneously stuffing Weidman’s telegraphed takedown attempts. The fight looked to be well on its way to becoming another blowout title defense for Silva. However, 75 seconds into the round, Weidman pushed Silva back with a combination, a left hook landed cleanly on the champion’s jaw and he fell to the canvas. A few follow-up shots made it clear that “The Spider” was done as a champion and that Weidman’s time had begun.

For so long, Silva seemed to be operating on an entirely different level than his opponents. When the end came, it came fast, and few predicted that Weidman would knock out MMA’s greatest striker on the feet. It was a stunning upset and the manner in which it happened made it even wilder.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS: The Kazushi Sakuraba-Royce Gracie 90-minute marathon, Gabriel Gonzaga head kicks Mirko Filipovic at UFC 70, Chuck Liddell knocks out Tito Ortiz at UFC 66, Quinton Jackson power bombs Ricardo Arona in Pride

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