Silva vs. Franklin: What Went Wrong for Wanderlei Silva

At UFC 147, Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva was originally scheduled to get a chance at redemption against Vitor Belfort. Instead, he got the opportunity to avenge a different loss from his past.

When he stepped into the Octagon against Rich Franklin, Silva looked to be focused. He did a good job landing counter strikes in the early part of the contest, and he delivered a powerful right hand and head kick in the first round.

In the second round, a flurry saw The Axe Murderer stun Franklin with a pair of right hands, before delivering a clinch knee and another right that put Ace on his back and seemingly ended the fights.

Franklin would do enough to improve position and defend himself that it barely prevented referee Mario Yamasaki from stepping in. Silva tried his best to convince Yamasaki to step in, and he wailed away with heavy ground-and-pound from all angles. He fired on all cylinders for forty-five seconds until the horn sounded.

And that's where the trouble started.

Silva did what any fighter should have done. He had Rich Franklin hurt badly with a little less than one minute left on the clock. He had plenty of time to earn the stoppage, and he looked as if he would add another TKO victory to his already scary total.

There is no fighter alive who can give 100 percent for that period of time, hold nothing back and avoid getting so excited that you have an adrenaline dump. Sure, you can recover some of the energy you lost after some time, but the effects will last for awhile.

For that reason, Silva looked sluggish in the third and fourth rounds. His shots were telegraphed, and the spring in his step was gone. For a powerful counter-striker, losing your speed is a death sentence.

It appeared as if The Axe Murderer was finally back in full swing in the final minute of the fight, but it was too late. Rich had already won Rounds 1, 3 and 4. Without a knockout, Silva was not going to have his arm raised in Brazil.

Silva is a top-level fighter who got caught up in the moment. Some might call it a mistake, but when you keep in mind that there was plenty of time left to get that stoppage, I think he made the right call. As any poker player will tell you, sometimes the right call becomes the wrong one in the eyes of lady luck.