Pros react to Anderson Silva’s decision win over Derek Brunson
Last night, the UFC touched down in beautiful Brooklyn, New York with UFC 208, an admittedly slow, but undeniably historical night of mixed martial arts.
In the main event of the evening, we saw Dutch kickboxing specialist Germaine De Randamie become the UFC’s first ever women’s featherweight champion with a controversial decision defeat of former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm. The co-main event, meanwhile, produced an equally controversial result.
In one corner of this co-main event battle, we had former UFC middleweight champion and bona fide MMA legend Anderson Silva. In the other, we had rising contender Derek Brunson, a brick fisted wrestler who sought to rebound from a recent knockout loss.
Having paid dearly for his over aggression in his last fight, this fight saw Brunson take a far more tentative approach than usual. Because Silva opted to pick his shots and wait for counterpunching opportunities, this resulted in a pretty slow fight. It also gave the cage side judges very little to work with. In the end, of course, a victor had to be crowned, and the judges sided unanimously with the legend Silva.
With this result, some members of the MMA community shared their elation with seeing Silva return to the win column. Others vented their frustration, explaining that they believed the decision should have gone to Brunson.
Here are the best pro reactions to Anderson Silva and Derek Brunson’s fight, and Silva’s decision win.
Silva is the Ali of MMA
— Platinum Mike Perry (@PlatinumPerry) February 12, 2017
2-0 @SpiderAnderson. Brunson needs a stoppage #ufc208
— Stephan Bonnar (@StephanBonnar) February 12, 2017
Win or lose, watching @SpiderAnderson fight is like playing a video game and being able to switch styles at any moment. So much skill @ufc
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) February 12, 2017
Hmm ,I am surprised. Bummer
— Big Ben Rothwell (@RothwellFighter) February 12, 2017
How was that a win for AS ?? WTF
— Big Ben Rothwell (@RothwellFighter) February 12, 2017
Pretty cool watching Anderson from outside the cage.
— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) February 12, 2017
OMG 30-27 on 1 score card
— Robert Whiteford (@Flyinjudoka) February 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/ILLxWillBrooks/status/830646398106423297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
What?
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) February 12, 2017
I had it 29-28 for @DerekBrunson.
— Brandon Gibson (@SixGunGibson) February 12, 2017
Long live The Spider. #goat
— Michael Chiesa (@MikeMav22) February 12, 2017
ANDERSON SILVAAAAAAAAAAAAA #ufc208
— Angela Hill (@AngieOverkill) February 12, 2017
Brutal decision.
— Krzysztof Soszynski (@KSOSufc) February 12, 2017
I feel horrible for Brunson #ufc208
— . (@patrick_cote) February 12, 2017
With that said about Anderson. I love him but he clearly lost. @ufc
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) February 12, 2017
My dude Brunson got robbed!!!
— Rumble Johnson (@Anthony_Rumble) February 12, 2017
There is no question that @DerekBrunson won that fight. #UFC208
— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) February 12, 2017
Happy for Anderson ! #UFC208
— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) February 12, 2017
Wow unreal I put my heart & soul out there on 3 weeks notice only to get it taken from me.I just outclassed the… https://t.co/TxiZ78mj4A
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) February 12, 2017
Having defeated Brunson, Silva secures his first win since an October 2012 defeat of Stephan Bonnar. Since then, he was stopped twice by Chris Weidman, and lost decisions to Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier. These losses were punctuated by a decision defeat of Nick Diaz, though this win was overturned when Silva failed a post-fight drug test.
In defeat, Brunson falls onto a two-fight skid, having been knocked out by Robert Whittaker in his last fight.
What did you think of Anderson Silva’s decision defeat of Derek Brunson? Sound off, PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/12/2017.
Topics:
Anderson Silva Derek Brunson UFC 208
