The Ultimate Fighting Championship will finally come to New Zealand later this year. One of the promotion's big names is Anderson Silva, recovering after a horrific leg injury sustained last year. Dunedin fan Jack Salter looks at the highs and lows of the man they call ''The Spider''.
December 28, 2013, is a date no mixed martial arts fan will ever forget.
The sight of former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Anderson Silva lying prone on the canvas, clutching his shattered leg, is etched in memories like a type of combat traumatic stress.
With Silva indicating he plans to return to the ring as soon as he is healthy, it is interesting to look back on his journey.
Childhood
Silva was one of four siblings born into poverty in Curitiba, Brazil. From the age of 4, he lived with his aunt and uncle, and at a time when jiu jitsu was seen as more of an elitist sport, Silva picked up his initial skills from watching neighbourhood kids.
By 12, Silva was training in taekwondo and capoeira (a traditional Brazilian discipline) before settling into Muay Thai at 16.
He was enthralled with comic book hero Spiderman and would later take on the fight name ''The Spider''.
1997-2006
Silva turned professional in 1997, and won six of his first seven fights before claiming his first major middleweight title in 2001 with a decision over the previously undefeated (in 20 fights) Hayato Sakurai, in Japan's Shooto promotion.
In 2002, Silva joined Japan's Pride Fighting Championship with limited success. He won his first three fights but two surprise losses followed before his association with the promotion ended. A unification bout against Dan Henderson in 2008 saw him win a title after the UFC owners bought the promotion.
2006-2012
Aged 31, Silva joined the UFC as a counter-striker who could evade punches with phenomenal ease by utilising his long limbs.
He would set up his punches with precision leg kicks, and had improved his ground game massively by adding a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt to his accomplishments.
Silva won his debut by knocking out the undefeated Chris Leben after just 49sec. That earned him a middleweight title shot against Rich Franklin, whom he stopped in round one, via numerous knees to Franklin's ribs.
Silva defended his belt six times and won a couple of light-heavyweight fights, including one of his best performances against Forrest Griffin.
While he pushed aside all challengers his confidence and ego grew, and he began taunting opponents he felt were inferior.
In his seventh defence, Silva got a reality check when Chael Sonnen manhandled him over four rounds. Sonnen, a powerful wrestler, was easily ahead on the judges' scorecards and looked certain to win until, from his back, Silva locked in a submission with 1min 50sec left in the fifth and final round.
In a 2012 rematch, Silva finished the American on the ground with a ferocious knee to his chest.
Both wins highlighted Silva's incredible skill and fortitude, but it was his knockout of fellow Brazilian Vitor Belfort that propelled him into notoriety. During the first round, Silva dropped Belfort with a front-foot face kick before finishing him.
Belfort was hyped as Silva's greatest test but instead he became top of his highlight reel.
2013
Silva had brushed aside 10 middleweight contenders and fans wondered if anyone had the game to beat him.
That answer came when Silva (38) fought the physically stronger Chris Weidman (29), a former American college wrestling champion.
Silva got into his taunting ways and against a man undefeated in nine fights, who had a degree in psychology and had endured Hurricane Sandy, it proved a major error. In the second round, with both men standing, Silva pretended to be hurt and was knocked out with a left hook. Weidman became the only man to knock Silva out in an MMA fight.
In December, Silva got his shot at redemption, and this time there was no clowning around. But redemption became a nightmare when, after being knocked down in the first round, he threw a leg kick in the second.
As Weidman raised his bent knee, Silva connected with his shin. Silva's own left shin snapped, and the old saying of ''strongest shins wins'' took the ugliest of twists.
The future
Now living in California, Silva is back doing limited training and appears as determined as ever, but ''The Spider' will be 39-40 when he returns and in one of the toughest sporting theatres, age waits for no fighter.
Silva's greatness is unquestionable, but his skills and motivation appear to have slowed and it has to be asked where he will be at mentally when he returns.
Then again, Spiderman can do anything, right?
