---

5. Silva’s Front Kick
UFC 126 “Silva vs. Belfort”
Feb. 5, 2011 | Las Vegas
Coming off a hard-fought submission victory against outspoken challenger Chael Sonnen in August 2010, it seemed that longtime middleweight champion Anderson Silva was finally starting to receive some long-deserved recognition as an all-time great. Enter former UFC tournament and light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort, who had both a substantial following in Brazil -- unlike Silva at the time, despite his incredible track record -- and a personal history with “The Spider,” and the stage was set for an epic and long-awaited clash.

The two had originally been set to fight in April 2010, when an injury to Belfort led to Silva’s distinctly underwhelming performance against Demian Maia. Finally healthy, a newly resurgent Belfort offered Silva perhaps the stiffest challenge of his long and illustrious career. An incident at the weigh-ins, where Silva wore a mask to highlight his opinion of Belfort as a two-face, gave the matchup additional heat. A former training partner of both men later told me that he thought Silva had mentally broken the “fragile” psyche of Belfort with that move, and it certainly seems plausible.

Belfort opened the fight cautiously, perhaps due to the mind games or maybe because he was wary of Silva’s devastating counter game when offered the range and timing due to a reckless initial approach. Belfort attempted a few strikes and briefly took down Silva off a high kick, but he was not able to keep him there. As the two men faced each other at range, Silva raised his rear leg from his southpaw stance and snapped a front kick up through the middle of Belfort’s guard, slamming the ball of his foot into the other Brazilian’s jaw and dropping him to the canvas.

A front kick in and of itself is not a particularly rare technique. Throwing it to the face of a high-level striker like Belfort in a high-pressure title fight was unheard of in 2011, and it remains uncommon today. It was one of the most impressive highlights in a career filled with them, and with the eyes of Brazil on him, it was the moment that turned Silva into a true superstar in his home country.

Number 4 » ‘Ong Bak’ Elbow