Photo Courtesy: andersonsilva044
The former middleweight champion and to some the GOAT of the UFC, Anderson Silva made his return to the octagon against number eight ranked middleweight Derek Brunson. Heading into the fight Silva was indeed a heavy favorite, but during the fight, he did not seem to be as well-rounded or aggressive as he usually is making Brunson bring on the attack and lead in most of the fight.
However, when the judges’ decisions were read a moment of total shock was brought forth as Anderson Silva was declared the winner via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27). To the reaction of many fans from both the crowd and social media, appeared as if Brunson was given a screw job as the decision seemed more of a bias towards the former champion rather than rewarding what many believed the rightful decision. To catch eyes more, 19 out of 23 media outlets scored the fight in favor of Brunson with eight giving him a score of 30-27, ten giving him 29-28 and one scoring in 30-28, while only four gave it to Silva with 29-28.
After the fight and the decisions were made we must wonder if Silva really won? Well, let’s look closer at the statistics of the fight.
First off, there are the number of strikes scored in the bout which shows Anderson Silva landing 54 out of 89 total strikes with 43 out of 78 significant strikes. Derek Brunson, on the other hand, landed 118 out of 184 total strikes with 54 out of 101 significant strikes. With these numbers, it is off to a start that Brunson was indeed robbed of the win, but some may argue against that as they would recall Silva taking every strike from Brunson like it was nothing where Brunson really did not hurt Silva as much as it appeared.
Okay, that is understandable, but looking closer we realize that in the number of takedown attempts Silva did not try any as Brunson landed two out of ten and even though he did not use them to the full extent as he tried to it still looked to be enough to help him take the fight. I mean takedowns are some of the best points to earn all for the reason they can really help one get ahead in the fight even in a tight spot.
From the striking and the takedowns it starts to become very clear Brunson should have left Brooklyn as the winner, but what stands out, even more, is the total control time where Silva only had 11 seconds compared to Brunson’s 3:52. Throughout the fight, Brunson even appeared to be in control of the fight that should have given him the win where Silva just did not even try to pressure at all.
Now this really makes me and so many other truly believe the decision was a robbery all the way through and if Dana White and the entire UFC can see this then an immediate rematch should take place in hopes that this time the fight will be scored fairly and not have any bias opinions to lead into another screw job.
