At 50 years young, Anderson Silva has still got it.
The seemingly ageless Brazilian showed off his power and boxing acumen after delivering a brutal knockdown on Tyron Woodley in the second round to earn a stoppage in a showdown between former UFC champions. The end came after Silva blasted Woodley with an uppercut followed by a barrage of punches that dropped the veteran welterweight to the canvas.
While Woodley was able to get back to his feet, he was clearly wobbled badly and his corner waved off
the fight rather than allowing him to absorb any further damage. The end came 1:33 in the second round with Silva getting the TKO victory.
“I have young kids to push me hard everyday,” Silva said after his latest win. “A great team in Brazil. I’m so happy to be here and continue to do something I love. I just tried to take my time, my distance and I’m lucky. Lucky is the people training hard. The guys give me a lot of punches in training.
“I’ll go back to work right now and start my police academy to Beverly Hills P.D. I need to give something back to the United States and I’ll go do that. This is not my last fight. Next time, next event.”
While joining the police force in Beverly Hills is definitely something new, Silva promised he’s still got plenty of fight left in him and he really wants to run it back with Chris Weidman after they were originally scheduled to meet until Weidman suffered an injury in training.
“My Venom is Chris Weidman,” Silva said referencing his own Spider-Man persona. “Chris, I know you hurt you arm. I’ll wait for you to get better and let’s do the show. Let’s show how ex-UFC fighters can do a good job in boxing. I’m waiting for you Chris.”
Prior to the knockout, Woodley was actually staying busier in the early going with Silva staying on his front foot and flicking out a jab before unleashing a big punch behind it. Giving up size and reach, Woodley was cautious when trying to close the distance and simultaneously not allowing Silva to keep him on the end of his punches.
Silva was clearly just biding his time and figuring out Woodley’s movement because he came out aggressive in the second round. The former UFC middleweight champion showed no fear stepping into the pocket and tagging Woodley with stiff shots.
After he finally backed Woodley into the corner, Silva threw a vicious uppercut that snapped the former UFC welterweight champion’s head back. Silva threw a few more shots before Woodley dropped to the canvas.
It took Woodley a moment to gather himself and get back to his feet but he wasn’t putting his hands up in defense with the referee ready to restart the fight. That’s when Woodley’s coaches waved off the fight and while he was obviously disappointed with the result, “The Chosen One” agreed with the move.
“I was yelling at my coach [but] they made the right call,” Woodley said afterwards. “I had a whole different game plan, I threw so many damn punches in training camp to be able to go out there and do what I needed to do. This is not what I expected. I expected to get the knockout.
“I’m not done. I’m going to use this to keep training, stay in shape and I’m not the last minute dude to call for the fights. So give me some f*cking notice and let me get ready to fight somebody.”
Despite being 43, Woodley promised he was going to return to fight again but it remains to be seen what might be next for him. As for Silva, it looks like rebooking the boxing match against Weidman is what he wants most as he continues to defy the odds with his new career in boxing.
