I am fully convinced that Silva has been dealing with a few formidable mental hurdles, five of them which are listed below, for many months now.
He will need to minimize the effect that each has had on him going forward. He simply cannot continue down the current path he has drifted down mentally if he wishes to continue to be the champion throughout the remainder of his career.
1) Feeling Unchallenged in the UFC.
Silva has had a relatively easy run through the upper tier of the UFC middleweight division. He knocked out Chris Leben in his UFC debut and completely dismantled Rich Franklin at UFC 64 to earn the middleweight championship belt.
He then rattled off four straight dominating victories over No. 1 contenders Travis Lutter, Nate Marquardt, Rich Franklin (again), and Dan Henderson.
Next, he accepted a challenge at 205 pounds against James Irvin to try his luck at light heavyweight. He subsequently knocked out Irvin in the first round. The Patrick Cote fight, as previously mentioned, followed Irvin.
None of these fights got past the second round (other than Cote) and he was able to finish each of the fights either by KO, TKO, or submission.
He was never in any serious danger at any point. He made it look too easy and these were thought to be some of the best middleweight fighters in the world that he was dismantling.
Who can blame him for being unchallenged? After all, it is Joe Silva of the UFC who fabricates the matchups.
There is a big difference between simply giving Silva a big name and actually stylistically challenging him with a Demian Maia, a Rousimar Palhares, or a Thales Leites. Thankfully, with the Leites fight now booked, this trend is starting to turn.
2) Imminent Retirement
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