Anderson Silva is the most dominant fighter in UFC history with the middleweight champion going 11-0 in the octagon since his debut in 2006.
In the past four years there's only one challenge that's stymied Silva, connecting with the organization’s paying fans. His title fights have usually underperformed on pay-per-view, with Silva unable to capture the attention of casual fight fans with his title defenses.
So why is Saturday's UFC 117 card generating so much buzz? Chael Sonnen's trash talk is a reason, but the UFC reached into its playbook for a classic maneuver.
It focused on mitigating his lack of box office appeal by always ensuring that his fights were on the strongest possible shows. His defense against Thales Leites at UFC 96 was supported by Chuck Liddell vs. Shogun Rua in what was billed as Liddell's retirement fight. His superfight against Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 was the co-main event to the eagerly anticipated lightweight title fight between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian. And at UFC 112 his infamous match against Demian Maia was part of a championship double header with BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar. Ensuring that Anderson Silva wasn’t left to carry the box office all by himself worked, with all three events surpassing the 500,000 buys mark whereas other Silva fights struggled to break 300,000.
It’s a tactic that the UFC is repeating this Saturday with UFC 117 having a stacked undercard including a final eliminator for the heavyweight title between Roy Nelson and Junior Dos Santos, a long-delayed rematch between top welterweight contenders Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch and fights involving popular lightweight Clay Guida and the former welterweight champion Matt Hughes.
The conventional wisdom of the lack of Sliva's market appeal is because of his failure to fight in an exciting style. There is undoubtedly some truth to this. And while Silva has had several exciting fights, many fans still struggle to forgive either his safety-first tactics against Leites and Patrick Cote or his bizarre refusal to finish a clearly outclassed Maia. But while Silva’s performances have sometimes alienated fans, that’s not the sole reason for his failure to properly connect with them.
Silva’s struggles commercially can in part be traced back to the UFC not properly introducing him before giving him a world title shot. Silva challenged for the world title in only his second fight with the organization, having impressed UFC president Dana White by demolishing Chris Leben in his debut. By fast-tracking Silva, White denied "The Spider" the opportunity to develop a following within the UFC before becoming champion. Instead of being a dominant contender challenging for the title in a long-awaited showdown with the champion, Silva was still largely unknown when he defeated Rich Franklin to win the title at UFC 64.
Silva would become frustrated with the lack of fan interest in his fights, especially as his pay was linked to his performance on pay-per-view. Silva would respond by seeking superfights against either light heavyweights such as Griffin or the boxer Roy Jones Jr.
Ironically this is the one Silva title defense that doesn’t need such a stellar supporting cast, with challenger Sonnen having caught everyone’s attention by mercilessly mocking and insulting the champion for the past four months.
And for once the softly spoken champion is giving as good as he’s getting, with his increasingly eccentric behavior and the cheerleading from his manager Ed Soares creating the perfect foil for Sonnen’s all-American motormouth shtick. The UFC may have given Silva vs. Sonnen a stacked undercard in preparation for a substandard level of fan interest, but for once everyone is talking about what will happen in the Silva fight on Saturday.
