Post-UFC 112: Anderson "The Bully" Silva

While watching Anderson Silva fight Demian Maia during his UFC middleweight championship defense during UFC 112, one thing kept coming to mind: either Silva is drunk or high on drugs or Chael Sonnen was right in saying that "Anderson is a bully."

Silva, who is the most dominant fighter in the UFC today, completely disrespected Demian Maia during their entire match.

He went from doing a Roy Jones Jr. type of taunt by throwing his hands down and showing offering his chin to acting like an old-time bare knuckles brawler.

The point of this display? Mockery.   

Watching this fight was an embarrassment to MMA.

Silva is a champion—one who regularly credits his opponent with a lot of respect during interviews. However, in what might have first appeared as attempts to get the crowd involved in the fight clearly become nothing less than patronizing taunts towards Maia.

The attempt for Silva to keep fans' interest first took place after his fight with Thales Leites. Leites was clearly trying to be the first fighter in the UFC to go the distance to Silva.

However, he did it by voluntarily dropping to the mat in hopes of having a grappling match with Silva, thus boring the fans.

Despite having done no personal wrong, after that fight, Silva swore to give fans more excitement.

He faced Forrest Griffin and after knocking Griffin down once, he urged Griffin to attack yet again and bring the excitement. Griffin was smart to not jump right back in, even though he ended up losing by KO a few seconds later.

For UFC 112, though, Dana White set UFC fans up with a predictable fight.

Maia stepped in after Vitor Belfort had to withdraw due to an injury, and as a result Maia was deserving of Silva's respect. But what Silva did to Maia in the Octagon was plain unacceptable.    

With antics like jumping around and repeatedly taunting his opponent by letting down his guard, who is Silva really looking to appeal to? Sure, before even watching the fight, most everybody figured that Silva would make quick work of Maia.

But, similar to what Sonnen asserted in the past, the way Silva toyed with Maia was comparable to a bully teasing the weak kid on the playground before beating him up.

If Silva is truly concerned with sealing his legacy in the UFC, he needs to be a lot more respectful of his opponents.

The truth of the matter is that Silva should never have faced Maia. Granted that it the fight was originally scheduled for Belfort, Silva needs to face nothing but heavyweights from here onward or at least the very top of the light heavyweight division. 

Perhaps people should listen a bit more closely to Chael Sonnen.

As Sonnen recently stated in regard to Silva, "Like any bully, [Silva] will back down when confronted" and "...this guy is a bully and a fraud."

Hopefully for Silva's next fight Dana White will make him face an actual contender that will at least do damage, like Johnny "Bones" Jones or even the massive horse-of-a-man Brock Lesnar himself.

Such fights would make Silva think twice about blatantly taunting and disrespecting his opponent. It's time to see Silva challenged—not simply fed matches to maintain his legacy.

And one other thing: Brock Lesnar may be the fighter that UFC fans love to hate, but after watching Silva's performance at UFC 112, Silva may be the man that UFC fans just simply hate.