Anderson Silva has been getting away with this crap for years, and now he’s finally paid for it with his title.

Somebody other than Anderson Silva possesses the UFC middleweight belt for the first time since 2006.

And Silva has only himself to blame.

Chris Weidman took advantage of some of Silva’s usual showboating early in the second round to knock out the longtime champ. A left hook to the chin of a lackadaisical Silva dropped him and a few moments (and a few more Weidman punches later), the fight was halted.

“We expected him to do things like that,” Weidman said. “He’s done it plenty of times in a lot of fights. I don’t see him as being cocky. He’s trying to mentally defeat you in there. It got to the point when he was doing it, ‘You know what? Screw this. I’m hitting him.’”

Silva’s never shied away from showboating, especially as he ruled the middleweight division where he successfully defended the belt a UFC record 10 times.

You have to respect these MMA fighters, but you also have to wonder how much damage a real boxer could do to these guys if he could learn to handle the other fight aspects. Silva’s sloppiness is shocking and it was just a matter of time before someone clocked him good.

Recently Chris Weidman spoke with our own Bullz-Eye.com about his quick rise in the UFC, Anderson Silva, and cutting 32 pounds in 10 days.

Here’s what Weidman had to say about “The Spider”, specifically:

“Since I got into the sport anytime I’d tell people I was doing MMA they’d ask what weight class and I’d say middle weight and they’d say “Isn’t that Anderson Silva’s weight class? Oh, you’re screwed. You better change weight classes, pal.” That motivated me and he deserves that type of respect ‘cause he’s earned it, but it motivated me to take risks like fighting on short notice and I’ve worked really hard to be the #1 contender and for him to just kind of downplay me, more his managers, it’s kind of frustrating. So I hope the UFC makes the fight happens but if not, I will fight someone else.”

Click here to read the entire interview.

UFC 149 saw a new champion crowned, an interim champ that is.

Renan Barao pushed his winning streak to 29 fights by beating Urijah Faber via unanimous decision to win the UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship on Saturday night.

Barao made not have gotten the finish, but he decisively beat Faber thanks to his reach and his kicks. Each round he managed to out-point Faber and stay out of danger, leaving “The California Kid” puzzled throughout.

Barao certainly beat Faber in easier fashion than the actual champ, Dominick Cruz. It will be interesting to see if Cruz can find a way to stop the runaway train that is Barao. Barao may very well be the best 135-pounder in the world.

Faber has now lost his last five championship bouts, dating back to his time as a featherweight in the WEC. Though he is still highly competitive, he will likely not get another title fight anytime soon.

In the co-main event, Hector Lombard had a very unimpressive UFC debut.

The man considered to be a potential threat to Anderson Silva proved to be more of a threat to himself, as he was very tentative against Tim Boetsch. Neither man did much to impress, but two of the three judges believed that Boetsch did a little bit more, which earned him a split decision.

The poor showing from both men may open the door for Chris Weidman to earn the next middleweight title shot following his brutal KO win over Mark Munoz last week.

For complete results from UFC 149, check out the jump.

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Not that many needed convincing, but Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world.

There was a little bit of doubt in the minds of some due to Silva’s performance against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, but on Saturday at UFC 148, Silva removed all doubt.

Silva stopped Sonnen at 1:55 into the second round with a barrage of strikes that Sonnen couldn’t respond to, as he defended his UFC Middleweight Championship for the 10^th time.

Sonnen won the first round, as he took Silva down quickly and held him down for five minutes, but Silva showed great takedown defense in the second and used his pinpoint accuracy with his striking to end the fight.

With Sonnen past him for good, there really is no viable challengers left to Silva. Sonnen seemed to have the best style to beat Silva, and the champ still ran through him.

Silva is now 15-0 in his UFC career and just adding to his legacy as the greatest UFC fighter of all time. Perhaps a change in weight class is in order to challenge him, or perhaps he should just retire on top of the world.

In the co-main event, Tito Ortiz saw his career come to an end in a unanimous decision loss to Forrest Griffin.

Ortiz (16-11-1) a former UFC champion and now Hall of Famer, seemed to tire early in the fight, which opened the door for Griffin to pepper him with strikes. Ortiz landed a few big punches and a few takedowns, but Griffin had a 3/1 edge on total strikes and was the more active fighter.

Ortiz is going out at the right time, as he clearly is not among the best in the division and this performance proves it. For knowing it was his last bout, he didn’t have much of a spirited effort to win. For a man of his stature and his talk about being the people’s champion, he sure didn’t go out on his sword.

Griffin didn’t look at that great either, but he was definitely looking to finish the fight at the end.

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Jon Jones added another former UFC champion to his list of victories on Saturday, as he defeated Rashad Evans by unanimous decision to retain his UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 145.

Evans seemed to be the only man in the 205-pound division to pose a threat to Jones, as Evans was a former teammate of Jones, and Evans seemed to have the speed to present a problem for the champ.

However, Jones didn’t struggle much, as he used his kicks, knees, and elbows to control the spacing and pacing of the fight. Evans landed a few big strikes, but never seemed to be comfortable in the bout. Jones bruised up Evans’ face and earned all five rounds on one scorecard and four of the five rounds on the other two.

With another easy win for Jones, the question is, who is left in the division? Dan Henderson is expected to get the next shot, but he doesn’t seem to have the skills that would really be a problem for Jones.

A dream bout with Anderson Silva would seem very intriguing for the UFC, and also a possible move to heavyweight could be in the cards sometime soon. Jones is already walking around at 230 pounds, and UFC heavyweight champion, Junior dos Santos, isn’t much bigger.

Jones appears to possess the skills and composure to transcend divisions and become a true all-time great.

Speaking of all-time greats, welterweight Rory MacDonald appears to be in the early stages of that path. At 22, MacDonald has already picked up impressive wins and he added another on Saturday, beating Che Mills by TKO in the second round.

MacDonald unleashed a vicious array of ground-and-pound on Mills that left him a bloody mess. MacDonald may have the best ground striking in MMA and he continues to improve with each fight.

MacDonald trains with current champion, Georges St. Pierre, and has a similar build and style to the champ. MacDonald was just a few seconds away from earning a decision win over current interim champ, Carlos Condit. Condit earned a late TKO after MacDonald had out-grappled him for three rounds a few years ago.

It is hard to know just where MacDonald is in the welterweight rankings, but he seems to be in the discussion for top 5.

For complete results from UFC 145, check out the jump.

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