ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

Stream-of-consciousness-style thoughts on Jon Jones versus Alexander Gustafsson, followed by a light heavyweight edition of Pretenders and Contenders. Let’s go.

I scored the title fight in favor of Gustafsson 48-47. I gave him the first three rounds, Jones the final two.

After the fight, I posted on Twitter that Jones was being packed in a stretcher for the hospital, while Gustafsson was good enough to conduct interviews. Many followers jumped on that as an opportunity to point out Gustafsson had been robbed, since Jones was in far worse shape. I get it, but that’s not how you score a fight.

Even though I had it for Gustafsson, I’m happy Jones won -- if I’m allowed to say that. The most conclusive rounds of the bout, I thought, were the fourth and fifth for Jones, which also happen to be the “championship” rounds. Jones basically refused to lose when it really mattered.

The best moments were in the fourth round. That has to be Round of the Year. I remember seeing, literally, blood from Jones’ facial cut flying in the air when Gustafsson hit him. Midway through the round, it almost looked like Jones was about to go down. The crowd was going nuts.

Then Jones looked at the clock. And maybe I’m totally wrong on this, but I bet if you asked him about it today he might not even remember doing it. It was just built in -- the way some ninja spy might subconsciously, without knowing it, remember the exits of a building or something. Busted up, swollen, exhausted -- something inside Jones said “Look at the clock; OK, 90 seconds left in a must-win round, throw the spinning elbow, stay on him.” I don’t want to get too dramatic, but come on. That’s crazy.

I haven’t watched it a second time, but sitting here days later, I’m willing to say that was the best fight in UFC history -- surpassing Mauricio Rua versus Dan Henderson and Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard II.

I also see it as the one that solidifies Jones as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He sort of inherited the spot (in my eyes) after Anderson Silva lost to Chris Weidman, but he really owned it here. Had Silva knocked out Weidman in the first round this year, I think I would still rank Jones ahead of him after the Gustafsson fight. He went to the brink of defeat against a very good opponent who basically forced him to fight his fight, and still left with his arms raised.

We knew about his skills, but now that we know about his heart, it’s virtually impossible to pick against him. But let’s look at the division real close and see.

Really talented fighters with no chance: Ryan Bader, Rashad Evans, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Rua. All four have long roads to even get to Jones. Three of them have already lost to him. Rua appears to me, at 31, pretty much done when it comes to winning elite-level fights. A hard realization, but a realization nevertheless. Bader has plenty of career left, but there’s really no reason to think a second fight against Jones would go any different than the first. On Evans, I know he was the only title contender to go the distance before Gustafsson did, but that grudge match was every bit as one-sided as the fights Jones has finished and Evans hasn’t looked great since.

The athlete: Phil Davis. Davis is more than just an athlete, but I call him this because it’s still his best quality -- at least in a fight against Jones. The problem is, he won’t outwrestle Jones for five rounds. It won’t happen. Jones is a good enough wrestler with good enough intelligence to not let that kind of game plan beat him. You hear this sometimes about great fighters; it’s not really a game plan that will necessarily beat them. You have to be capable of beating them in every area on that one given night. Gustafsson almost did that. Davis, even on his best night, can’t be better than Jones.

The old man and the right hand: Dan Henderson. I would not count Henderson out completely in a Jones fight for three reasons. It’s possible he could defend the takedowns, at least early. He’s crafty at getting inside. His right hand can kill a mule. But yes, I will admit it’s a long, long, looooong shot. It’s going to be very difficult for him to get to Jones and if he did, Jones could probably wear him out pretty quickly, take the right hand out of the equation, and finish him before the end of the second round.

The Olympian: Daniel Cormier. Everyone seems to be putting all eggs in the Daniel Cormier basket, completely ignoring the fact that (A) we don’t know whether he can make the weight; (B) we don’t know what he’ll look like if he can make the weight. You can also add in (C) we don’t know whether he’ll beat Roy Nelson. As much as the UFC’s “Height and Reach” marketing ploy was poked fun at heading into UFC 165, truth is, we saw that having size sure doesn’t hurt in a fight against Jones. Cormier is 5-foot-11, with a 72.5 reach. He’s the only real hope at holding Jones down, but he’s at a huge disadvantage on the feet.

The only two, but the best two: Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira. Everyone basically acted like the hardest part was over for Jones at 205 pounds. He beat all the former champs, after all. What challenge could the lesser-known Swede and Brazilian possibly pose? After the whole Silva-Weidman fiasco we really should have known better. Confident, hungry, well-rounded challengers can’t be dismissed. These two have never held the belt, like most of the other men Jones already fought. They are in their athletic primes. They are true light heavyweights. As awesome as Jones has been, he’s never really shown one-punch knockout power. These two are big and athletic enough to stay upright, take a Jones elbow and respond with effective offense. Jones really is impossible to pick against right now, but if you’re willing to do it at 205 pounds, these are your only options.

Former middleweight champion Anderson Silva was knocked out for the first time in his UFC career on July 6 at UFC 162 after absorbing a left hook from Chris Weidman.

Weeks later, “The Spider” broke down what went wrong against Weidman.

“Getting knocked out is the worst,” Silva said on the Brazilian late-night talk show "Agora é Tarde." "There are always going to be questions -- people want to know what happened, but [when you’re knocked out] you don't remember anything. You black out and that's it.”

Silva's posture and posturizing during the fight was questioned and criticized by fans and media alike. Some went so far as to say he was disrespectful to his opponent. Silva was quick to explain his actions.

“It [the awkward movement] was a technical error to keep my legs parallel; I should have taken a step back instead,” he said.

“Several factors led to the knockout. The tension in the air before the fight, you just want to burst ... it was a series of mistakes.”

Silva revealed another error on his part: Instead of returning to his corner after Round 1 for guidance, he took issue with his team’s suggestions.

“In my career, I’ve always went back to my corner [for advice],” Silva said. “Against Weidman, I went back to argue, and I should have gone back to my corner and calmed down. I didn't do any of that; I lost control."

Disdainful after Weidman’s successful takedown, Silva dared Weidman to hit him, then proceeded to showboat and trash-talk.

When asked what he said to the American, Silva explained he was trying to draw Weidman into a more fan-friendly fight, instead of wrestling and taking matters to the ground.

“I was saying, ‘Come on, let's fight standing up, look at the crowd applauding.’ Because standing up is much cooler than fighting on the floor," Silva said.

Silva intends to finish the 10 fights remaining in his contract with the UFC. The Brazilian already has a rematch lined up with Weidman, set for Dec. 28 at UFC 168.

One question I get just about every week on the Friday chat was some variation of this: Which UFC champion will fall first?

For the past year, it’s been easy to imagine that none of the current champions would ever lose again, given the state of the matchmaking. Not with Ronda Rousey fighting Liz Carmouche, and Georges St-Pierre fighting Nick Diaz, and Jon Jones fighting Chael Sonnen, and Anderson Silva fighting Stephan Bonnar with no belt in the balance, and Dominick Cruz not fighting at all.

With landslide favorites in these matchups, the answer was always Junior dos Santos. Heavyweights have never been good at holding on to the belt. Then it became Cain Velasquez, when he beat Dos Santos. That is, until Velasquez was resaddled with Antonio Silva, whose odds the second time were longer than his gangly reach. When that happened, the question of who would fall first came back around to its usual futility.

The real question was: Who would get Matt Serra’d first?

For the past year, it wasn’t that the UFC champions were being catered to and protected, so much as the matchmaking lacked imagination. Or the matchmaking had too much imagination, because it required the open-mindedness of our disposable income. There was not enough genuine threat, due to circumstances (injuries), limitations (shallow heavyweight division) and cash-out gimmickry (Sonnen). Aside from a few exceptions -- Gilbert Melendez versus Benson Henderson, say, or any Demetrious Johnson fight -- for a long time we had main events that looked and felt more like potboilers.

Just activity for the sake of activity, with low-flame drama.

Yet here we are in mid-2013, and a champion has fallen. Anderson Silva, the longest-tenured, most unthinkable of the titleholders with his 16-0 record in the UFC, lost to Chris Weidman spectacularly at UFC 162. There’d be no such thing as “eras” if they went on forever. Now the Silva era hinges on the rematch in December. How are those for stakes?

If that wasn't novel enough, after a long dry spell of pretenders getting shots on whims and shaking limbs, suddenly it looks as if Silva could be just the first domino to fall. Most of the title fights slated to take place in the second half of 2013 pits a challenger who looks and feels like an actual threat to the throne. Suddenly we can imagine a world where Johny Hendricks is posing for magazine articles with the belt slung over his shoulder, know what I mean?

Think about this: By the end of 2013, we might have recast our pantheon of UFC champions. Hendricks is a legitimate threat to St-Pierre. So is the barely talked about John Moraga over flyweight champion Johnson. Dos Santos could reclaim his title against Velasquez, just the same as Silva could reclaim his belt against Weidman. These fights are booked and happening (pending health).

Rousey will be the odds-on favorite to beat Miesha Tate, just as Jose Aldo will loom large over Chan Sung Jung -- but Anthony Pettis beat Benson Henderson once, what’s to say he can’t to it again at the end of August? Especially in his hometown of Milwaukee?

Romanticists might point to Alexander Gustafsson as a viable challenge to Jon Jones, but that one is more wait and see. Yet Gustafsson feels like Ares in there against Jones after fostering our collective beliefs for so long over Sonnen’s chances.

By the end of 2013, our pound-for-pound lists may become a weekly Etch-a-Sketch. This is how it was drawn up in the Ultimate Fighting Championship -- to stake the best fighters in the world against the people who the matchmakers think could beat them. That’s how this thing works best. Champions, after all, are made to be vulnerable.

And it’s refreshing to look over a slate of upcoming fights and genuinely have no idea how things are going to go. It’s better, when asked a question like "which UFC champion will fall first," to counter with: "A better question is -- which one will still be champion this time next year?"

Unbeaten Chris Weidman did what some thought to have been the unthinkable by knocking out middleweight champion Anderson Silva on Saturday at UFC 162 in Las Vegas.

Weidman, 29, caught Silva, who had defended his title a UFC-record 11 times, leaning back with a short left hook and finished the job on the ground to score a stunning second-round knockout.

The Baldwin, N.Y., native and former two-time Division I All-American wrestler at Hofstra University visited ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., Thursday and took some time to answer our questions:

What did you do to celebrate after getting home from Saturday’s victory in Las Vegas?
I didn’t get to celebrate yet when I got home from Vegas -- it was right into media stuff for the UFC. I was in Vegas until Monday, but I got back early Tuesday morning and tried to get some sleep, which did not happen. It’s just been rock 'n' roll with the media. I can’t wait to get home and just lie down in my bed, hang out with the family and let it absorb a little bit.

Going back to your initial takedown of Anderson Silva in the first round, was that something you practiced countless hours specifically for him, or was it just muscle memory in the moment?
Yeah, muscle memory. It just happened. That specific takedown and the way I finished it, I don’t think I’ve done that once in sparring. I’ve wrestled my whole life and done that takedown a million times, but never in sparring [for this fight.] It was just natural feel.

Was there any one of Silva’s antics inside the Octagon that irritated you the most?
Just the excessiveness of it. I was just like, yo, you’re not punching me and I don’t know, like, bro … I mean if you could do all that, punch me in the face. I actually let him punch me in the face; there was one time where I just said, "hit me." He punched me [Weidman points to his chin] and I said, "hit me again." He punched me, and then I could hear my coaches yelling, “Wideman! Stop! Stop!” I’m like, all right, and I circled out. I was just like, bro, what are you doing? I’m laughing inside and saying, I’m winning the fight. It got to the point where I wanted to hit him, so it motivated me to put my hands on him.

Silva has long been considered the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. But who do you now consider to be No. 1 in the world?
I’m not a big rankings guy, to be honest with you. But I would say Georges St-Pierre or Jon Jones. One of those two, I think.

You debuted this week on our ESPN.com P4P list at No. 5 with Silva right ahead of you at No. 4. Do you feel like you have to beat him another time to disprove all the naysayers?
I expected that when I took this fight. I said I would beat him and that after I finish him, we’re going to have an immediate rematch at Madison Square Garden. That was the only part that I got wrong, the Madison Square Garden. So we are having a rematch and I understood that, no matter what I did to him. I did the impossible and knocked him out and there’s more naysayers than anything. But if I would have submitted him it probably would have been worse. No matter what I did out there, if I had decisioned him, no matter what I did, he’s known as the greatest of all time and people think that he’s unbeatable and are shocked that anyone could actually beat him. So they are going to come up with excuses.

You have probably already heard a lot of excuses since Saturday not giving you a lot of credit. So how motivated are you for a rematch?
I’m very motivated. I’m motivated without that. I get to fight him again, and I want to put on an even better performance.

There are obviously a lot of other athletes and entertainers that follow the UFC. Has there been any celebrity who has shocked you by coming out of the woodwork and contacting you?
Stone Cold Steve Austin. I thought that was cool. He direct messaged me on Twitter. First he wished me good luck. I had never met him before. But I thought that was pretty cool. He thinks I’m a badass apparently. So, I’m a big fan of his now.

We’ve read that your home was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy and about the nonprofit work you have done to help rebuild the area. Tell us about that and about how you and your family have recovered?
We are about nine months out from Hurricane Sandy. The house is still not back to 100 percent. It’s still a mess. But we have recovered -- we are on the second floor. We are good and are happy with where we are at. Obviously this fight has helped us a lot. We might be moving out and getting a new house, we’ll see. As far as nonprofit, I worked with Theo Rossi from “Sons Of Anarachy” and [Dallas Cowboys running back] DeMarco Murray. It’s something Theo Rossi started called Staten Strong that I just kind of jumped on because I was affected. We work together to get some money together and help people. But honestly the biggest thing I did right after Hurricane Sandy was me and my wife set up a point where people could bring food and batteries and cleaning supplies. We had it through my social media where everyone brought it to our local church and we passed it out to different charities and helped a lot of people.

There are a lot of great nicknames, of course, in MMA. You are known as The All-American. How did you get that name?
When I started and first got to the MMA gym the guys would start and say, “You’re like the All-American kid.” It was because, I don’t know, I go to church every Sunday, I got married young and I’ve always been an All-American in college having gone All-American all four years [two years each at Nassau Community College and Hofstra]. They just started calling me it and that was really it.

Let’s talk about some other fighters in your division not named Anderson Silva whom you could potentially fight. We’ll start with Vitor Belfort. What are your thoughts about him?
Tough guy. I would say he’s the No. 1 contender right now. If I wasn’t fighting Anderson Silva in a rematch, I’d probably be fighting him.

What do you think about all of the controversy surrounding him about testosterone-replacement therapy, and what are your thoughts on TRT in general?
I don’t like it, to be honest with you. If your testosterone is low, man, that’s God telling you that you have low testosterone, and if you can’t train the right way or whatever it is, it’s time to retire and do something else. It’s a little unfair that you could be 38 years old and he definitely has higher testosterone than me. [Note: Belfort is actually 36.] I’m 29 and have decently low testosterone, but I would never take testosterone because you are stuck on that thing for your whole life. I would never want to be on TRT. And I feel fine, [having low testosterone] doesn’t bother me. So I can’t imagine these guys that are using it for performance reasons. I don’t like it, and I know California banned it recently although other commissions allow it. I don’t like it.

What are your thoughts on Michael Bisping?
Another tough guy. I would love to fight Bisping, to be honest with you. That would be a great fight for me.

How about Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza?
Really good jiu-jitsu, good standup. He’s another tough guy, I think. All of these guys would be great challenges, and I would really love to entertain them.

Of all the other fighters out there, who is the one you admire the most and why?
I really like Cain Velasquez. I like his pace that he puts on; he is mentally and physically breaking everybody he goes with. He’s just tenacious and relentless. I like Anderson Silva, too. I like his style. He’s very relaxed.

If Silva had won the fight against you, there was talk about possible superfights for Silva against either Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre. Now that for the time being that’s not going to happen, would you ever consider a fight against either of those two guys?
Definitely not against GSP. First off, I would never call out someone who was a lot smaller than me. I’ve trained with him before, and he’s just a smaller guy. I’m not the type of guy who is going to be like, Hey, you want to fight? I’ve got Anderson Silva on my mind, but if the fans wanted to see that fight [against Jones] and the UFC wanted it to happen, I’m 1000 percent in. I asked to fight Jon Jones on 10 days’ notice back when Dan Henderson got hurt. But I wasn’t a big enough name at that point, so they were like, no.

With your wrestling background, what are your thoughts about the current state of Olympic wrestling?
It’s crazy that it’s even in question and up for voting. But it is, so it’s sad. I think wrestling is the one of the greatest sports there are. It’s the ultimate combat sport, and I just think it needs to be in the Olympics. I think the Olympics was made from wrestling and that it’s a staple. There just needs to be a lot of attention brought to it to keep it there.

Your goal has always been to be champion. Now that you have reached the pinnacle of your profession, how have you readjusted your goals?
My ultimate goal was always that I want to be known as one of the greatest of all time. The first step was obviously to be UFC champion. I did that, and now it’s time to take one fight at a time and really just set myself apart from the group. That’s my goal.

There was a long moment after Chris Weidman became the UFC’s new middleweight champion that Ed Soares, the longtime manager and friend of Anderson Silva, stood staring at the cage at MGM Grand. He looked devastated. Crestfallen. The empire he had lorded over had just crumbled before him, and just like that, it all became merely a dream. Only it was a dream that now belonged to somebody else.

It wasn’t just the fact of it happening, because Silva one day losing was a long enduring inevitability. We all knew at some point he’d fall. He wasn’t going to win forever.

It was the how.

Silva rolled out the red carpet for Weidman to come forward and touch his chin under the lights for everyone to see. Only thing Weidman could do was oblige. He wasn’t falling for the hocus-pocus like so many who went before him. He was bent on wresting that belt from Silva’s grip.

And he did just that.

In a sequence that will forever go down as one of the most bizarre, intense and humiliating in UFC history, the 38-year-old Silva dropped his hands and dodged bullets in the second round. The showman in him trusted his reflexes to steer clear of danger, as he’d done plenty of times before. He postured and egged the challenger on, and strafed Weidman with the occasional fast-twitch jab. “Come on,” he kept saying, waving Weidman in. Was he psyching Weidman out, or psyching himself up? Like Muhammad Ali, there’s no distinguishing between the two. UFC president Dana White later said all that was just “Silva being Silva.”

Yet everyone knows that Silva being Silva is more complicated than it should be. He is, after all, duplicitous. He pretended his knees buckled when a left rolled off his brow. Mockery. What he was saying was clear: “That’s all you got?”

Weidman, the intended target of the humiliation, kept forward.

Seconds later he clipped Silva, and down went the boogeyman of the division. Who’d have thought that Silva would cough up his belt to something as awkward as this: antics that backfired spectacularly. It wasn’t the way people imagined it might happen. Seven years of reign and myth all came down with him. The centerpiece to the “superfight” drama of the past couple of years went down, too. So did the stadium shows and a streak for the ages. Weidman cleared out the superfight division with an engraved left.

Everything else evaporated before our eyes. Like water.

So what do we make of the whole thing, a couple of days later? It’s open season for opinions.

Maybe it was hubris that caused the showboat to capsize. Maybe it was Weidman’s cool, his refusal to be baited into something dumb. Maybe Silva is finally his age, getting too old for adjectives such as “sublime.” Maybe he knows it. Maybe he knew Weidman was a greater threat the whole time, and was carrying self-doubt into the Octagon. Maybe the wig-out was pressure coming to the surface, or he was thinking about Roy Jones Jr. sitting cageside. Then again, maybe Weidman is just that good. Maybe Weidman never loses again, or he just has Silva’s number. Maybe he just got caught, as Mark Munoz said after the fight.

The plain fact is this: It was hubris that got Silva knocked out, and it’s hubris that will bring him back in. You think a champion of his ability and legacy is going to go out like that? No way. Moments after the fight, he said he had no pressing need for a rematch. That rare moment is no time to take a man at his word.

Wait until the whole thing sinks in. That he got clubbed after all but sending out an embossed invitation for Weidman to do it. That had he presented himself as a “ballet of violence,” as Joe Rogan once famously said, instead of a willing participant to his own downfall. That he could have run his streak to 17-0 in the UFC, and made Weidman look as green as they said he was.

No, it won’t take long for pride to report, even if Silva does take some time off. That might be what’s needed after suffering his first loss in 17 UFC fights. In the time it takes him to realize he wants his belt back, there will be a new landscape to think about. All of the guys who lost to Silva and had little chance of getting another shot at the belt have been reinvigorated overnight. The new sheriff has so little history. He barely has an ounce of Silva’s mystique -- even if he’s carrying that mystique around Long Island today in his back pocket.

One thing is certain, though. Silva losing has its own fascination. How does he respond? Does he come back in no-nonsense form like when he was downing Chris Leben and Rich Franklin? Or was UFC 162 the dreaded day that began Silva’s undoing?

These are all of the new narratives. And we’ll have to contemplate them along with Ed Soares until they come together again. When they do, it’ll be Silva who walks out first. And that in itself is very strange indeed.

After years of being the most dominant mixed martial artist in UFC history, Anderson Silva suffered defeat in the Octagon for the very first time Saturday night in Las Vegas. And he didn’t know how to handle it.

Chris Weidman knocked Silva out at 1:18 of the second round to become middleweight champion. Minutes after regaining his faculties, Silva was asked about a rematch.

“I won’t fight [again] for the belt,” Silva said. “I had the belt for a long time. I have 10 more fights [with UFC], but not [necessarily] for the belt.”

Considering the time and circumstances, Silva’s response should have been taken with a grain of salt. Within minutes of his initial statement he had softened his stance.

“First of all, we need to respect Chris Weidman,” Silva said during the UFC 162 postfight news conference. “He’s the champion; he won the fight. But right now I’m just thinking of going home. I want to be with my kids and take some time off. And maybe in three to four months think about what I am going to do. But right now I can’t really think about that [rematch]. I just want to take some time off and be alone to think about everything.”

There will be a rematch. Silva will demand it. At least Silva has given us a general time frame in which he is likely to tell UFC president Dana White it's OK to set it up.

Silva’s a great champion, and like great boxing champions who have suffered a major defeat, he’ll want to restore order in his universe.

But, for the first time in his illustrious fighting career, Silva finds himself at a crossroads. His back is against the wall -- his future as a fighter, and how he will be remembered, hinges on what happens in that rematch with Weidman.

There are only two scenarios that matter: He will defeat Weidman handily, proving that the loss Saturday night was a hiccup, a fluke that occurred due to his poor judgment; or he will lose two in a row for the first time. A draw does nothing for him.

Hall of Fame boxer Sugar Ray Leonard came face-to-face with this situation in November 1980, five months after Roberto Duran handed him the first loss of his pro career. Duran taunted the slightly favored Leonard throughout their 15-round affair and emerged on the favorable side of a closely contested unanimous decision.

The loss was extremely painful for Leonard, who shed tears afterward. It took weeks before Leonard was able to gather himself and announce that he was ready for a rematch. Leonard would give Duran a dose of his own humiliating medicine in their rematch. He toyed with the hard-hitting Duran, who became so frustrated by Leonard’s superior boxing that he quit in the middle of the ring during eighth-round action.

That was the "No Mas" fight. And Duran, one of the greatest boxers in the sport’s history, never fully regained his legendary status.

Leonard would go on to achieve even greater heights -- wins over Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler stand out. To this day, Leonard is regarded among the greatest boxers ever. This is the scenario Silva will seek to retain in his rematch with Weidman.

But a rematch with Weidman puts Silva in position to experience another loss and a slip in legendary standing. If that happens he might begin to be seen more like “Sugar” Shane Mosley than Ray Leonard. When his fighting days are over, Mosley will be voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. But he will never be in the same class as the elite; he will never be on Leonard’s level.

There was a time when Mosley appeared to be on his way toward entering the conversation for greatest of all time. He was a dominant fighter for many years, even beating Oscar De La Hoya by split decision (June 17, 2000) in a long-awaited, highly anticipated showdown of Southern California natives.

Mosley looked unbeatable after that win. But in January 2002, he put his WBC welterweight title on the line against Vernon Forrest. There wasn’t a lot of fanfare leading into the fight, though Forrest was unbeaten as a pro -- he actually beat Mosley during their amateur days.

Forrest also possessed a fighting style that gave Mosley fits. He hit Mosley repeatedly with a looping right hand en route to a unanimous decision.

The rematch, six months later, wasn’t much different: Forrest took it by unanimous decision.

As in the Mosley-Forrest matchups, Weidman has a fighting style that seems tailor-made to frustrate Silva. Those who picked Weidman to beat Silva on Saturday repeatedly cited his high-class wrestling, top-level jiu-jitsu and extreme confidence as keys. What few, if any, expected to see from Weidman was his punching power, solid head movement and straight left jab.

This aspect of Weidman’s game makes him an even more dangerous opponent in a rematch than the guy Silva faced Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. But it’s the perfect opportunity for Silva to keep his label as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

No matter the outcome, Silva will always be regarded as a great champion. In this rematch, however, there is much more at stake for Silva than reclaiming the UFC middleweight title belt. He must win this fight, some might say convincingly, like Leonard did against Duran, to maintain his standing as the greatest mixed martial artist in the sport’s history.

But it won’t be easy. Weidman proved Saturday night that he is no one- or two-trick pony. Silva will need to be at his absolute best in the rematch, and even that might not be enough.

Fighters sometimes wade through boggy brains to find their words. When they do, we should know enough to receive them with skepticism. This is especially true following the sort of stunning defeat Anderson Silva suffered against Chris Weidman on Saturday, which is why I don’t expect he’ll cling to what he said.

After an uncorking, oxygen and time can impact fighters and wine alike. Silva, the finest vintage of them all, hadn't a chance to breathe when he expressed a perplexing disinterest in the belt he surrendered or the unbeaten New Yorker who just knocked “The Spider” from his web.

Instead, Silva expressed how tired he was of being champion. His time at the top was done. There would be no more high-stakes fights, despite recently signing a new 10-fight deal. This made people go crazy. To many ears, mine included, Silva’s reaction was off-kilter, an indelicate red as it were.

He was so deferential it came off as if he was abdicating the throne.

This is where tone confused people. The trouble was squaring Silva’s reaction with one befitting the sport’s pound-for-pound king. That designation is assigned for competitive dominance as much as overarching skill. Now the guy who ruled forever, the wizard and his ballet of violence, was picking up his ball and going home? Nuts.

Literally, it made people lose their minds. There were so many screams about a fix being in that Dana White was asked about it afterward. A savvy veteran fighter, who shall remain nameless, texted to tell me he thought something was “fishy.” I asked for specifics, but didn’t get a response.

Regardless, there’s no doubt that Silva spoke as if he was determined to leave Weidman in charge. In fact, he said so the week of the fight in an interview with Canadian reporter Joe Ferraro. Sarcastically but prophetically, Silva suggested the “perfect” outcome meant he'd no longer be a UFC titleholder. As for a rematch, which in a rare prefight statement White declared was automatically in play if Silva lost? A face was made suggesting a case of shingles would be more appealing.

Yet half an hour after picking himself up off the canvas, having taken time to breathe, Silva’s rematch repudiation had given ground to reason. At the postfight news conference, the 38-year-old magician conceded he needed time to figure it all out. Three to four months’ worth. He sought to reconnect with his family. He had to step away for a bit, he said. These were perfectly rational requests.

Silva should come to the conclusion that a rematch is the only decision worth making. Yes, the man’s legacy is set, however, it’s not done being written. If Silva declines to fight for the piece of hardware that came to define his career, that’ll be etched into his history, and as more than a footnote.

Silva devoted his life to martial arts. He should be excited to fight Weidman again. Finally. After all these years. A worthy challenger has emerged that didn’t require cloning, and he’s angling to do a series of, what, exhibitions?

The reality is Silva has two options at the moment: retire or rematch.

Who would have thought the middleweight icon needed reminding what it is to be a champion worthy of distinction?

Much has been made of his approach to the fight. Silva was more animated against Weidman than any opponent he faced before. Rather than go businesslike after the challenger the way he had against Chris Leben, or Dan Henderson, or Vitor Belfort, Silva hammed it up, attempting to rouse Weidman with showboating, hands-down, jelly-legged madness.

Silva essentially walked himself into a corner where he transformed from sitting champion to sitting duck. I imagine this will gnaw at him; his pride along with the money he can make with White will influence his return to championship fighting. Let’s hope it won’t be delayed by Silva’s desire to box Roy Jones Jr., who probably had flashbacks of his downfall as he saw history Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Or work on a movie, something he's currently involved in as part of a Kickstarter project. The longer Silva waits, the older he gets and the better Weidman will become.

When Silva chooses to fight, he should prepare for an MMA contest against the guy who just stopped him, not a meaningless boxing match that no one really cares about but him. As an undefeated champ, he had the leeway. Not so anymore. There would be more important things on his plate.

Silva has always fought on the edge. Playing it safe during the closing stretch of his career would be disappointing. He pushed himself to the precipice of safety and eventually took a tumble. If Silva chose to stand properly and defend himself, I think he still could be MMA's best middleweight. But that's only true if he agrees.

There's yet another reason he should embrace the rematch. The new champion, for all the niceties expressed about him, deserves a chance to prove his point. Fans should get to see Weidman make his case against the most dangerous version of The Spider. The tactical sharpshooter who smartly avoids opponents. Weidman deserves to fight the Anderson Silva who demolished Leben, Henderson, Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen. To his credit, the new champ wants that.

Don't you?

LAS VEGAS -- It’s commonly said that styles make fights. Chris Weidman has relied on the mantra for more than two years to convince anyone who’d listen that he possessed the style of fighting to unseat middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

And the more Weidman spoke of his skills, the more convincing he sounded.

But it’s one thing to talk the talk, another to walk the walk. Weidman didn’t just walk, he ran away from the Octagon on Saturday night as UFC middleweight champion.

The goal, however, isn’t close to being fulfilled. Lifting the belt from Silva is only part of Weidman’s goal. Weidman dares to be great.

And Weidman is the first to say, based on his performance inside MGM Grand Garden Arena at UFC 162, he is far from greatness.

“It’s crazy,” Weidman told ESPN.com. “I would think that at this point, I could sit back and relax. But instantly I’m hungry. I have to get better.

“I feel I didn’t look my best. So, I’m excited about going out there and to hold on to this belt for as long as I possibly can.”

It’s this attitude that gives Weidman a chance to achieve his ultimate goal. He isn’t satisfied with being the first man to defeat Silva in UFC competition.

When Weidman spoke of knowing he would defeat Silva, it wasn’t simply because of the favorable style matchup. Weidman believes he is the overall better fighter.

But anything short of successfully defending the middleweight belt for many years will be deemed a failure in his eyes. And Weidman has the skills to achieve his long-term goal.

His wrestling is second to none. His jujitsu is of the highest quality. And his striking game is much better than average. But more than anything, Weidman is improving in every one of these areas.

The next time he steps in the cage, when his title is put on the line, Weidman will be a better mixed martial artist than the one fans witnessed Saturday night. His best isn’t close to being realized.

And that’s why a rematch with Silva will be more intriguing. Silva has not been on the losing end of a fight in more than seven years -- and that setback was due to an illegal kick. Take that loss to Yushin Okamai in January 2006 out of the equation and you have to go back to 2004 to find his last true defeat.

It’s been a very long time since Silva has tasted defeat. He’d never suffered a loss in UFC -- until Saturday night.

So it’s wise to take his talk, inside the cage immediately after the loss, of not wanting a rematch with Weidman with a grain of salt. Besides, he was softening his stance minutes later.

“First of all, we need to respect Chris Weidman,” Silva said during the UFC 162 postfight news conference. “He’s the champion; he won the fight. But right now I’m just thinking of going home. I want to be with my kids and take some time off.

“And maybe in three to four months I will think about what I am going to do. But right now I can’t really think about that [rematch]. I just want to take some time off and be alone to think about everything.

“There was a lot of pressure in defending this title. I’ve defended it for a long time, so I just need some time to myself.”

Though he came up short Saturday night, the 38-year-old Silva showed no sign of slowing down. He was simply beaten by the better fighter – on this night at least.

Silva is still a great fighter who pulled out just about every trick in his MMA bag; Weidman just didn’t bite. If a rematch with Weidman is made, expect Silva to be even better.

But expect the same from the new UFC middleweight champion.

LAS VEGAS -- It was always likely Anderson Silva would eventually suffer a UFC loss.

Fighters stay in this game longer than they should. Even as age diminishes their skills, they continue to walk to the steel cage, wearing nothing but four-ounce gloves.

Eventually, age or the right opponent would catch up with Silva. On a stage that is this unpredictable, Silva’s 16-fight win streak already bordered on mythical.

We should have all been prepared for a Silva loss at some point -- but like this?

What happened at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday enthralled the crowd of 12,399 spectators who paid to see the greatest fighter of all time. Most likely, though, it also left them shaking their heads.

Chris Weidman, an undefeated 29-year-old wrestler, took Silva down in the first 30 seconds of the fight -- a bad sign for supporters of the Brazilian champion. The overwhelming belief was if Weidman did win, it would be on the floor.

But moments later, Silva got back to his feet and broke away. It was a major turning point in the fight, but not in the way many expected.

Immediately after that initial scramble back to the feet, Silva got weird. He dropped his hands or put them on his hips. He pointed to the floor and demanded Weidman come forward, even though Weidman never backed down.

After taking a punch from the challenger, he would laugh and sometimes yell at him. Weidman later said he didn’t think it was showboating from Silva. He’s fine to say that, but it was absolutely showboating from Silva.

The antics, combined with Weidman’s composure, cost Silva the first round -- but not yet the fight. If anything, it felt as though the early momentum Weidman captured with the takedown was gone.

But Silva kept it up in the second round. Added to it, actually. After Weidman hit him with a left hook, he dramatically wobbled on his feet as though he were hurt but still slipped Weidman’s next punches.

It was during that sequence, though, when Weidman landed a left hook that finished the fight and ended perhaps the greatest run the UFC will ever see.

Fair or not, there are two equal pieces to this story: The composure of Weidman. The ridiculousness of Silva.

UFC president Dana White didn't see it that way. To White, Silva’s behavior coincided with many of his past performances. The fight delivered drama, action. If a streak is going to end, you want to be entertained along the way.

“The fans came here to see a great fight,” White said. “They saw a pretty good fight tonight.

“My heart was in my stomach, my hands were sweating, my jacket is soaked. I almost fainted twice. I’d say it was a pretty damn good fight.”

It was, and maybe Silva owes us nothing. Maybe for all the moments his career has produced -- and they are countless -- this was a fitting end after all.

No one really knew what a Silva loss would feel like in the UFC. We’ve been waiting to see one for more than seven years. But for that exact reason, it should have felt different than this. It should have felt like something truly extraordinary, not a goofball move.

Truthfully, it robbed Weidman as much as anyone else, if not more. The kid from Long Island was doing terrific on his own, without Silva’s invitations to take free shots at him.

After the fight, Weidman said the win wasn’t cheapened in his mind due to Silva’s taunting. He, too, pointed out Silva has a past of acting this way.

“Anderson Silva has won a lot of his fights because of what he did [tonight],” Weidman said. “He knows exactly what he’s doing. I capitalized on it. A lot of other guys couldn’t. I’m not trying to take that away from myself.”

No one should -- Weidman earned the belt in Las Vegas -- but people will. When fans read that Silva’s hands were down, when they see the mockery in the faces he made, they’ll say it was more Silva’s foolishness that lost him the fight than Weidman.

On top of that, Silva said he has no interest in giving Weidman the opportunity to further legitimize the win, saying he had no interest in an immediate rematch.

Silva might be the greatest champion in UFC history, but he acted nothing like it in this fight. His first loss in the Octagon was always destined to be something special. In the end, the greatest way to describe it might be disappointing.

LAS VEGAS -- There is no rematch clause in the fight contract between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman, as far as anyone knows -- at least not officially.

Weidman has become a popular pick among the MMA community to hand Silva his first UFC loss at UFC 162 this weekend. Since signing with the promotion in 2006, Silva has won 16 consecutive fights, including 10 title defenses -- both records.

If that streak comes to an end at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, UFC president Dana White says an immediate second fight between the two is a done deal.

“The rematch is a no-brainer,” White said. “Should Anderson Silva lose his first ever in the UFC since 2006, you’re damn right we’ll do the rematch.

“If he loses on Saturday, you guys can go out and print: The rematch will happen. I don’t know what date, but it’s coming.”

Silva (33-4) signed a new 10-fight deal earlier this year. He's 38, so there is a strong possibility he'll never finish that deal, a scenario even White acknowledges.

At this stage in Silva’s career, White says, the middleweight champion is most interested in big-money fights. While an instant rematch with Weidman is guaranteed if Silva loses, the options open up considerably if he wins.

White and Silva have made no secret the top choice is welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. White initially wanted that fight booked in November, but St-Pierre opted to take a title defense against Johny Hendricks instead.

White says he’s tried to make Silva-versus-St-Pierre enough to say with confidence St-Pierre doesn’t want it.


“There’s no doubt about it. That’s a fact,” White said. “If that was the case, [St-Pierre] would say, 'I’ll take that fight. I think Weidman is going to beat him and I don’t want Weidman to have that fight. I want to beat him.'

“At the end of the day, [St-Pierre] weighs 170 pounds. If he weighed 185 pounds [middleweight] and felt that way, I’d be real pissed.”

Previously, White has hinted that any fight between champions would take place within a weight class with a title on the line, but he has since softened that stance, opening the door for a potential catchweight fight.

“It was always, for me, a pound-for-pound fight -- a huge legacy fight,” White said. “Who is the greatest of all time? They could both hold their titles. Georges St-Pierre could do this fight and still be the champ at 170.

“What’s crazy to me is St-Pierre opted to take a very dangerous fight at 170 without trying to take a dangerous fight at 185.”


Roy Jones attending UFC 162, still a Silva target

Amazing as it sounds, a nonsensical fight between Silva and former world champion boxer Roy Jones Jr. actually might have legs.

For years, Silva has publicly stated his desire to get in a boxing ring with Jones. In a recent interview with MMAjunkie.com, Silva said he’d actually prefer that fight to a UFC superfight against fellow champions St-Pierre or Jon Jones.

Picturing Silva getting into the ring with Roy Jones Jr., 44, is difficult. Silva’s UFC deal prevents him from doing so on his own. And certainly the promotion would never be interested in having it in the Octagon -- would it?

“Roy and I are talking,” White said Thursday. “Roy is coming here on Saturday.”

Jones, 56-8 as a professional boxer, hasn’t fought since a 10-round split-decision victory over Pawel Glazewski in June 2012. He serves as a commentator for HBO and has been involved with the camp of Canadian light heavyweight Jean Pascal.

In 2010, the UFC promoted a light heavyweight bout between Randy Couture and former world champion boxer James Toney at UFC 118. Toney was embarrassingly unprepared, losing via submission in the first round.

White wouldn’t go into details on what, if any, agreement might be reached to make Silva’s wish a reality. He acknowledged, though, how serious Silva is about it.

“It makes no sense to me,” White said. “These guys, when they grew up they had their heroes or whatever their deal is. It’s something they want to accomplish. This is something Anderson Silva wants to do.”


White says a Vitor Belfort rematch is a tough sell to Silva

Vitor Belfort, who likes to point out he doesn’t ask for fights, has asked for a fight.

This week via Twitter, Belfort sent a message to White requesting either Silva or Weidman, adding, "I deserve the winner!"

Belfort (23-10), who is on a four-fight winning streak in the 185-pound division, is unlikely to get his wish.

If Weidman wins, White already has said there will be an immediate rematch. If Silva wins, well, Belfort had his shot at that fight. It didn’t go well.

“The hard position Vitor is in, [Silva] went out and kicked him in the face in one of the most devastating knockouts of all time,” White said.

“So when you go back to Anderson Silva in the twilight of his career and say, ‘Hey, what about Vitor?’ ‘I annihilated Vitor. I want to fight other people.' "

White wouldn’t rule anything out when it comes to Belfort’s future, even adding, “I’m not saying Vitor can’t get the next shot or get a shot soon,” but in terms of what’s next in Silva’s career, it’s clear Belfort doesn’t top the list.

LAS VEGAS -- The buzz surrounding Chris Weidman heading into Saturday night's middleweight title bout against champion Anderson Silva at UFC 162 comes as no surprise.

We've watched, sometimes in amazement, as he has risen to the top of the 185-pound contender list with high-class jiu-jitsu, above-average striking and top-level wrestling. Weidman is an offensive guru, but he's equally adept on defense.

No matter where the fight is contested or whatever position he finds himself in, Weidman is always at ease. He never comes unglued. At no time in his nine-fight professional mixed martial career has Weidman lost his poise.

You can chalk it up to extreme confidence, as Weidman has been the definition of it at every step of his journey to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for Saturday's title fight.

But Weidman's confidence wasn't born in March when the title fight was officially announced. It began in 2008 when the fighter first started watching Silva compete.

That year, Silva successfully defended his middleweight title against Dan Henderson and Patrick Cote. In between, Silva took a brief vacation to light heavyweight where he knocked out James Irvin at 1:01 of the first round on July 19.

After watching each of those bouts, Weidman concluded that he could defeat Silva. It was only a matter of time.

Weidman had never trained in MMA or considered participating in the sport until he saw Silva perform in 2008. But Weidman knew that with hard work, dedication and proper training to go along with his natural athletic ability, intelligence and wrestling base he would one day unseat Silva as the UFC middleweight champion.

"If I didn't believe that I could beat [Silva], by watching him back then, I wouldn't have even gotten into this sport," Weidman told ESPN.com. "I envisioned fighting Anderson from day one. The only reason I started doing this was to be No. 1, and that's the case today. I'm excited that I got myself the opportunity to fight [Silva for a title] and to go out there and show everybody what I can do."

Every step in his mixed martial arts development -- his initial training session, his first pro fight against Reubem Lopes in February 2009 and his UFC debut against Alessio Sakara on March 3, 2011 -- prepared Weidman for victory Saturday night. The stars have lined up perfectly for him.

In a strange sort of way, it might appear that being UFC middleweight champion is his destiny. But just when it seemed the stars couldn't align any more perfectly, the unbeaten fighter received an additional dose of good fortune.

Weidman’s father, Charlie, will be in his corner for the first time ever as an amateur or professional. Weidman extended the offer on Father’s Day, and Charlie Weidman, with a huge smile on his face and tears in his eyes, accepted immediately.

"Having my dad out there brings another dynamic," Weidman said. "He's real spiritual. It's important for me to be spiritual, in the right place. He'll pray for me before I go out. And that's a huge part of me having an advantage going against Anderson Silva. [My father] has been driving me to wrestling camps and every match that I've had growing up, since second grade -- sitting in the stands. He's never been in my corner, even for wrestling. This is his first time.

"He's my biggest fan. This is a great thing for him too. It's like a lifetime dream"

A devout Christian, Charlie Weidman raised his children in the Lutheran Church. Chris Weidman has retained his strong Christian faith, though he now worships at a nondenominational church in his native Long Island, N.Y.

Should he become champion Saturday night, Weidman will rely on those Christian teachings to help him become a great role model. He believes that part of being a UFC titleholder is to lead by example.

"I want to be a humble champion," Weidman said. "I want to be a role model for kids. I want to give all the glory to God. There is a lot I want to do. Being the champion, you have a lot of responsibility to do good things. And I look forward to doing that."

The goodness that Charlie Weidman instilled in his son has proved to be unbreakable, and the elder Weidman's influence remains solid. It's why his inclusion in the corner was a no-brainer.

The addition of Charlie Weidman, however, comes on the heels of a big loss. Longtime coach Matt Serra has been on an emotional roller coaster throughout this training camp.

"I had blood clots," Serra said. "They found a blood clot in my lung and my biceps. I had to have surgery to remove my first rib. On top of all that, I ended up having my kid. All this was going on during [Weidman's] camp."

Serra's wife, Ann, gave birth to Sophia, the couple's third child, all girls, on June 8. Medical issues and his wife's pregnancy proved too much for the strong-willed Serra. He was unable to spend much time with Weidman during this camp.

While Serra wishes he could be on hand Saturday night to watch Weidman achieve his goal, he is comforted knowing that the timing is perfect for Charlie Weidman to make his corner debut.

"I feel very confident in Chris for this fight," Serra said. "He's got all the guys in his corner, Ray Longo for striking, John Danaher for the ground, jiu-jitsu, and I think it's nice that he got his father in there. It might be more important [having Charlie Weidman] than having me there right now. It will mean more for him, his spirit. It's a beautiful thing, having his father in the corner."

Throughout Weidman's pro career, it seems timing has always been on his side.

That's why Weidman is confident -- certain to be exact -- that Silva's time as UFC middleweight champion runs out Saturday night.

Since he first stepped into the Octagon seven years ago, picking Anderson Silva to lose has been a fool's errand.

Sixteen fights. Sixteen wins. A record.

The past 10 have been title defenses. Also a record.

In the UFC, Silva defeated every kind of fighter in all sorts of ways, and save for two decisions -- he looked bored to tears against Thales Leites and Demian Maia -- everyone was emphatically, sometimes preternaturally stopped. In fact, Silva, who turned 38 in April, hasn't had a competitive match go the distance since he went three rounds with "Lightning" Lee Murray in London in 2004.

Next in line Saturday night in Las Vegas at UFC 162 is 29-year-old American Chris Weidman. At the point Weidman made his entry into MMA, Silva had already defended the UFC middleweight belt thrice, finishing Nate Marquardt, Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson -- three of the most accomplished fighters in MMA over the past 10 years.

Weidman, by comparison, is just getting started. Yet many media, fans, trainers and fighters -- especially fighters -- have taken to speaking about the grappler from Long Island as if he's the truth, the answer and the man to end Silva's unprecedented reign.

Why? Well, a few reasons.

Mixed martial arts does not lend itself to such things as long unbeaten streaks, certainly not against the caliber of opposition Silva managed to dispatch in his time. Since the stinker against Maia in 2010, "The Spider" willed his way past bruised ribs and Chael Sonnen to score his most dramatic win, slammed a foot into Vitor Belfort's mouth and proved in a rematch that, when healthy, he's far superior to Sonnen, whose wrestling-heavy style was thought to be problematic for the long-legged Brazilian.

There were no signs of slowing, no fraying of accuracy and speed. Yet Silva, nearing 40, can't continue to do what he's done. He has to get old eventually. This is the thinking, at least.

Coupled with what Weidman appears capable of and you begin to get a sense for why the UFC sent out a press release on Monday touting no less than 18 fighters, including several current and former champions, engaging in the previously foolish game of picking against Silva.

"Anderson has shown one weakness -- he can be controlled on the ground by powerful wrestlers -- and Weidman is the most powerful wrestler there is in the division," said former heavyweight champion Frank Mir. "Everyone is making the comparison to Chael Sonnen, but while Chael controlled Anderson on the ground and landed shots, he couldn't hurt Anderson and that was his undoing. Weidman can hurt Anderson with ground-and-pound and he can submit Anderson."

True, when Weidman lands a punch or an elbow, it tends to be damaging. Moreover, where Sonnen succumbed several times to low submission IQ, Weidman appears acutely aware of where he is on the floor relative to his opponents.

So you have a potent grappler, with terrific top control, who can land thudding strikes on the floor. As Mir made clear, Weidman possesses all the makings of a terrible matchup for Silva.

On top of his strength, smarts and preparation, Weidman possesses the confidence of a man who has never tasted defeat in a cage.

This can be a powerful elixir.

But does any of it make him the toughest test of Silva's iconic career? Is Weidman more capable of beating Silva than Henderson? Than Belfort?

How can anyone possibly know based on Weidman's body of work, which one year ago added a destruction of Mark Munoz to the New Yorker's ledger? (It should be noted that Munoz was ravaged by injuries, and his reputation as a dominant MMA wrestler is belied by the takedown statistics.)

Silva has said he doesn't know, nor does he care, whether or not Weidman should be perceived as the greatest threat to this title. He has faced all comers and dispatched all comers, and this, appropriately, is his frame of reference for what happens in the Octagon.

Still, as the fight approaches, consensus seems to hold that Weidman possesses the antidote to Silva's venom. Silva's manager Ed Soares isn't clear why. Not after everything he's seen his fighter do in the cage. Perhaps, Soares said, Weidman is the "great white hope." And he would be within his rights to wonder that sort of thing. The promotion of mixed martial arts lends itself to hyperbole. To the grandiose. So many matchups and cards and events are the best. Until the next.

This train of thought does not include Silva. We know what he is, and what he has been for years.

"My concern is to better myself," Silva said. "My opponent doesn't matter. I want to overcome everything."

Because he has, at least in the UFC, which is where his reputation has been cemented, it's no stretch or hyperbole to call him the greatest of all-time.

"He's done things no one has done in this sport," Weidman said of Silva.

Nonetheless, Weidman's numerous skills and traits lend the challenger something beyond the air of hope against this type of monumental challenge. Hope is necessary, because without it he wouldn't have a shot. And on any given night, that's all a fighter needs.

Roger Gracie lives in a different world than the previous members of his family.

When Roger’s grandfather, Carlos Gracie, helped found Brazilian jiu-jitsu with his brother Helio, there were, obviously, no tournaments to compete in. The only way to actually use their craft in competition was to test it against others.

That is, of course, what happened so famously at UFC 1 in November 1993 -- when another member of the Gracie family, Royce, submitted three men in one night to win the first UFC tournament.

While that might be the most well-known instance of a Gracie family member legitimizing the art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it was hardly the first. Royce showing off the rear-naked choke that night was just the latest detail in a long family tradition.

That tradition is what has led Roger (6-1) to the UFC, where he’ll make his promotional debut against Tim Kennedy next month in Las Vegas.

Unlike other members of his family, Roger never “had” to fight. There are plenty of world grappling tournaments to compete in, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu has grown in popularity enough that his academy in London more than pays the bills.

To never compete in MMA, though, would have been un-Gracie -- in his mind at least. He discussed that and more with ESPN.com, heading into his UFC debut.

You seem like a fighter not really into MMA for the belt, just for the ride. Is that accurate?
I think that’s pretty accurate. I don’t have a goal to have the belt. My goal is to improve in every aspect of MMA. That’s what I was doing in jiu-jitsu, and suddenly there was a moment like, "OK, now I need to do this in MMA."

Why was MMA always in your future? Why is jiu-jitsu alone not enough?
It goes back to the first Gracie, my grandfather Carlos. He had five younger brothers he taught jiu-jitsu, but back then, they were the only ones doing it. There wasn’t a jiu-jitsu world championship. They had to fight to prove how good jiu-jitsu was. With the sport growing, suddenly there were jiu-jitsu tournaments -- but by then, that was how it had always been. Royce, when he was younger, he competed in jiu-jitsu, and then when they created the UFC, he did MMA. Renzo got his black belt and then boom, he was in MMA. I used to look at all of them and say, "That’s what I have to do." Even before I got my black belt, I knew. If I really wanted to follow the Gracie way. It was never a conscious choice.

So there is an expectation in the family to eventually transition to MMA?
Not really. It’s actually the opposite. I’ve had a lot of pressure in my family from uncles and cousins telling me not to do MMA because the sport now it not what it used to be. Now they have massive strong guys and everybody knows jiu-jitsu. They were telling me there is nothing more to prove -- everything has been proven already. But I think each one follows his own path and this is mine.

What does the future of the Gracie family in MMA look like? Are there more on the way after you?
I think the one thing we’ve proven is we have numbers. We’re a pretty big family. So, I’d always expect there is a Gracie popping up somewhere. The family is very spread. It’s not like everybody is in the same place. It may be a cousin in New York or somewhere in Brazil is becoming very good and suddenly, boom he is the next generation. I think that is what’s going to happen forever.

You expect Kennedy to avoid grappling with you?
It’s hard to say. I’ve seen his fight against "Jacare" [Ronaldo Souza], who, in my opinion, is a much better grappler than he is but he took Jacare down twice. That showed he’s not really afraid to grapple with Jacare. If he tries to grapple with me, though, I will be very surprised. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to take me down, but I don’t think he’ll try to grapple with me on the ground.

You’re fighting on the same card as Anderson Silva versus Chris Weidman. Give us your thoughts on that fight.
I think [Weidman] is very, very dangerous. His grappling is at a very high level. He can submit any world-class grappler. I think he’s really that good. He can tap anyone, even me. It’s just a matter of if he can put Anderson in those situations. I would still put my money on Anderson but I think Chris Weidman is dangerous and can surprise him.

LAS VEGAS -- There is no doubt about it: Chris Weidman believes he’ll beat Anderson Silva on July 6.

I had the opportunity to eat lunch with Weidman on the Las Vegas Strip this week. We sat directly down the street from the MGM Grand, where he and Silva will fight for the middleweight title in less than two months at UFC 162.

The biggest thing I took away from the interview is that Weidman is sincerely convinced that, basically, he’s got this. He discussed the possibility of defeating the greatest fighter of all time as though he were describing doing his laundry.

Not that he did it disrespectfully. He acknowledged the enormousness of the opportunity. He admitted that Silva is “great at everything.”

But listening to Weidman talk, you get the sense he’s never watched a Silva fight, sat back and said, “Wow,” like the rest of us. He’s snapped his fingers, pointed at the screen and said, “Right there. That’s where I’d beat him.”

“I just always saw what I could do to him,” Weidman said. “Not really weaknesses. I just always thought I had better wrestling. I thought I had the length and the athleticism to be aware on the feet and strike with my takedowns.”

“

People say he's being cocky and it's bad for the sport. I look at it as he's mentally breaking that guy. He's making him think, 'This guy is so relaxed he has his hands down.' When you're in the cage and you're very structured and tense and the guy you're in with is doing that, it can blow your mind.

” -- Chris Weidman on Anderson Silva's skills

Confidence can be a hard thing to gauge in professional sports. I was fortunate enough to cover Floyd Mayweather’s welterweight title fight last week against Robert Guerrero, and I heard plenty of positive reviews on Guerrero’s confidence.

When I was around Guerrero personally, though, there was something forced about it. It seemed a little too rah-rah. Guerrero never really said (calmly), “I’m ready.” It was always more of an excited, clichéd “we’re gonna beat him down” kind of thing.

Weidman’s confidence is different, tangible -- and that shouldn’t be surprising. This is the same guy who entered the Abu Dhabi World Championships in 2009 with just eight months of jiu-jitsu experience.

He faced world-renowned grappler Andre Galvao in the second round in Barcelona, Spain -- and he didn’t flinch.

“I refuse to believe in people’s hype,” Weidman said. “I go to Abu Dhabi and was matched up against Andre Galvao, and I went after him. I had a broken hand and I didn’t understand the rules, but it was a great experience.

“I was very confident I could beat Andre Galvao. He ended up beating me, but I did not beat myself in that match.”

Silva celebrated his 38th birthday in April. He’s shown no sign of slowing down, but if the Spider is in fact human, eventually he won’t be able to keep up athletically.

Throughout his career, though, and especially in recent years, he’s dominated opponents mentally. Weidman, who majored in psychology while he wrestled at Hofstra University, believes that everything Silva does in the cage has purpose.

“I think that’s the best trait he has,” Weidman said. “He’s earned a certain mystique about him where people fear him before they even get in the cage. He does a great job of making you feel like, ‘I’m that much better than you.’

“People say he’s being cocky and it’s bad for the sport. I look at it as he’s mentally breaking that guy. He’s making him think, ‘This guy is so relaxed he has his hands down.’ When you’re in the cage and you’re very structured and tense and the guy you’re in with is doing that, it can blow your mind.”

After getting to spend time with him, I’m pretty convinced Weidman’s mind is not easily blown.

That can always change in the course of a fight, but when Weidman says things like he wanted this title fight in Brazil so there would be no excuses when he won, I believe he’s being genuine.

Whether he’s able to pull it off we won’t know that until the fight. But I can tell you that on July 6, a middleweight contender is going to go after Silva with the firm belief in his mind it’s his fight to lose. You don’t always get that in a Silva fight.

The first time I saw Anderson Silva in action live was the week he fought Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 in August 2009.

I had seen him on tape previously, but it’s different in person. You see the fluidity of his motion firsthand and hear the crack of his punches -- and subconsciously cradle your own ribs as he throws knees from the Thai clinch.

I felt all of that while just watching him hit the heavy bag, by the way.

As far as the fight went, well, it was maybe the most tailor-made matchup I’ve ever seen for Silva’s skill set, but still. It was awesome.

That was nearly four years ago. Back then, there wasn't a great pool of talent to challenge Silva for the middleweight title, and he wasn’t interested in fighting for the 205-pound belt because his buddy Lyoto Machida was wearing it. The feeling was Silva would just hang on to that 185-pound strap, which he did.

What has changed? The main thing hasn’t. Sitting here, writing this today, I still say there is no middleweight in the UFC who beats Silva if the two fight tomorrow.

Looking ahead, though, Silva celebrated his 38th birthday last month. If UFC president Dana White was correct in comments made last month in New York, Silva has signed a new deal that keeps him around another 10 fights.

If Silva (33-4) enters the Octagon another 10 times, even if a superfight against Jon Jones never happens, that’s a lot of fights. Could a middleweight beat him?

With that, let’s get into our third installment of "Contenders and Pretenders." The question: Who will become the first middleweight other than Silva to hold the UFC title since Rich Franklin in 2006?

The Honorable Mentions: Alan Belcher, Tim Boetsch, Tim Kennedy, Hector Lombard, Mark Munoz, Yushin Okami, Costa Philippou

Lombard may be the honorable mention of the honorable mentions. If he could consistently fight the always confusing Rousimar Palhares, he might rattle off 18 knockouts in a row. A move to welterweight might help, but the problem is that he’s a bit of a one-trick pony -- along with most of the middles on this list.

Belcher is the pound-for-pound champ of “jumping into the camera with a crazy, happy look on your face for future promo reels.” He has perfected it. Skills-wise, he’s a bit one-dimensional like Lombard. We saw that in the Michael Bisping fight, with no adjustments round to round. It will forever be difficult to forget the frightened cat look Okami wore in the cage with Silva in 2011. Kennedy struggles when he can’t outgrapple his opponent. Boetsch is the definition of solid, but he lacks athleticism. Philippou would have lost to Boetsch if it weren’t for early injuries. Munoz, although 35, has the most upside of this group, but the clock is ticking.

The Reality Star: Uriah Hall

Take a second before blasting me for even mentioning Hall. Let’s make this argument in baby steps, because I feel I’m already close to losing you.

Even though Kelvin Gastelum upset Hall in the TUF Finale, we still walked away from this season thinking Hall has the most potential in terms of winning a title. With his potential, unlimited resources await him. He seems loyal to his East Coast team, but if he wants to travel and practice his craft, any gym or trainer will welcome him with open arms.

He’s got nothing but time. Let’s say he fights four times between now and December 2014. The UFC feeds him a couple stand-up fights and allows him to progress. Is it crazy to think Silva would still hold the belt by December 2014? No. That Hall would work into title contention in that same amount of time (19 months)? No. That Hall, turning 30, could actually stand with Silva, who would be pushing 40, by then? No.

The Old Lion and The Count: Vitor Belfort, Michael Bisping

Let’s keep this simple. Discussions on these two could take up a lot of room, but the topic of the day is the middleweight title and who holds it next. I don’t see either of these guys, as talented as they are, as the answer. Maybe if Silva loses to a guy like Chris Weidman and then Belfort or Bisping get their shot, they could hold the belt. But if Silva is still there when these two arrive, it’s a nightmare matchup.

Belfort is a stationary, (at times) inactive target, and questions about his gas tank remain. Bisping probably can’t outwrestle Silva for five rounds and doesn’t have enough power to scare you on the feet.

Right Place, Right Time: Luke Rockhold

Rockhold really didn’t get any favors in his first UFC fight. Vitor Belfort? On TRT? In Brazil? The reigning Strikeforce champ has taken it in stride, and should he win, it really sets him up.

If Silva defeats Weidman in July, Rockhold looks like the No. 1 contender. He would either get Silva next or (maybe even better) take one more fight while Silva deals with the superfight business. Here’s the potential scenario: Rockhold, in his third UFC fight, gets Silva fresh off a megafight that’s been years in the making. If that were to happen, it would be a potential letdown spot for Silva and a great opportunity for Rockhold.

Right Place, Wrong Time: Chris Weidman

In many ways, Weidman feels like the UFC middleweight to finally beat Silva -- but the timing is off.

Weidman will be battling the effects of a year off when he fights Silva in July. Not the end of the world, but to a fighter still developing and heading into the biggest fight of his life, that layoff works against him.

He has earned the No. 1 contender tag, but he hasn’t had that one performance yet, the one where fans in the arena and at home are looking at each other saying, “Yeah, this is the guy.” Jon Jones didn’t have a long résumé when he fought for the title, but he had those performances. Weidman did what he had to in tough circumstances against Demian Maia. He caught Munoz with the elbow. He’s done enough to get here and get us thinking, but he hasn’t Jon Jones’d it along the way.

At 28, the chances of Weidman holding UFC gold during his career are very good. Does he do it now, against Silva? I don’t think he does, and it will take him some time to get back in that position.

The Teammate: Ronaldo Souza

It’s risky to put Souza atop this list, for many reasons. First off, he and Silva are teammates and may shoot down the idea of a fight between them. Second, and less concerning, he’s never fought in the UFC. Sometimes, martial artists find the going rather difficult in the Octagon, but I’m not worried too much about that with Souza. Last, he’s 33 -- not old, but if he refuses to fight Silva and waits for a vacated belt, time will work against him.

Souza is made of champion material. The fact he and Silva are teammates is truly awful, because their styles would make for a terrific fight. Souza’s stand-up is improving, and he’s dedicating himself heavily to wrestling. The athleticism and fearlessness is there to create a dynamic takedown artist, and we know how brilliant he is once his opponent is on the mat.

The final word on this is that even as Silva approaches 40 and the middleweight division adds depth, it’s difficult to find the next champion at 185 pounds. I don’t know if Silva will retire with the belt around his waist, especially if he signed a 10-fight deal, but I kind of feel the same way I did the first time I saw him live in Philadelphia. I can't point to any middleweight who is beating this guy.