On this day in 1997, Anderson Silva made his official MMA debut in Brazil when he scored two finishes on the same night.
Anderson Silva is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time because of the legacy he has left behind in MMA.
This past Saturday, the final fighter from the legendary 2011 era, Jon Jones announced his retirement from the sport, and Silva paid tribute to ‘Bones’ with a heartfelt message.
Despite both dominating in the UFC around the same time, ‘The Spider’ made his MMA debut years before Jones and kicked off his career with two huge finishes in the same night.
Anderson Silva scored two finishes in one night to kick off legendary career
Kicking off his MMA career in 1997, ‘The Spider’ made his debut in Brazil at BFC 1 against Raimundo Pinheiro. Despite being known for his sensational striking, Silva went on to score a first round rear-naked choke win.
Later on the same night, Silva took on Fabricio Camoes, once again scoring a first round finish, this time with a TKO due to strikes.
It was three years later when the Brazilian competed again and he was handed his first career loss against Luis Azeredo.
Silva then went on a nine fight win streak and picked up several wins in Pride, including a devastating win over Carlos Newton.
And then after a short stint of fighting in the UK, Silva finally debuted in the UFC in 2006 when he scored a devastating knockout over Chris Leben.
Just four months later Silva was booked to fight Rich Franklin for the middleweight title and successfully won the fight with another huge KO.
From then on, ‘The Spider’ put together one of the most legendary UFC careers, defending his title 10 times.
Anderson Silva’s UFC career sadly ended with a three fight losing streak
Towards the end of Silva’s UFC career, he unfortunately somewhat tarnished his legacy with seven losses from his last nine fights.
After losses to Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier, Silva was matched up against Uriah Hall in what was his final fight under the UFC banner.
Unfortunately the fight took place from the UFC Apex without any fans in attendance as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
