For all the detractors who said Stephan Bonnar was being fed to a lion at UFC 153 on Saturday in a match they say should have never taken place, the mesmerising and beguiling performance of Anderson Silva, who finished his opponent just as quickly as the bookies had predicted, should have silenced them all.

Bonnar, who admitted not having trained for almost a year until the match was announced, was never going to put up much of challenge to Silva, who finished him at will in the first round.

But it’s during these exhibition matches, when there’s so little at stake that the greats can freely express themselves and we are given a glimpse into their mastery of the sport.

That’s what was so rewarding about the Silva/Bonnar fight in Rio de Janeiro. This was the best at his best. And even though Silva stepped in to fight at a higher weight class than what he’s accustomed to, as a late replacement main event for an injured Jose Aldo, we were treated to a truly satisfying night of MMA.

Watching the ease and contempt with which he handled Bonnar, who thought he could do a Chael Sonnen and press the champion against the cage, we witnessed a fighter doing what none other can.

The spinning back-kick Bonnar threw, almost as languidly as Sonnen’s doomed spinning back-fist, which Silva dodged in bullet time, only to step back in the line of fire, hands by his side in utter contempt for his opponent, will go down as a highlight-reel moment. It will sit alongside the front kick which finished Vitor Belfort 18-months before, as an icon defining Silva’s career

Silva rarely fights more than twice a year.  Now, in the tail-end of his dominance of the sport, with the Brazilian now searching for marquee fights to retire on, these fights will become rarer.

And even though there was nothing to fight for in this three-round main event, in a match that was a foregone conclusion, just seeing a performance like the one we saw makes it all worthwhile.

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