ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

Former middleweight champion Anderson Silva was knocked out for the first time in his UFC career on July 6 at UFC 162 after absorbing a left hook from Chris Weidman.

Weeks later, “The Spider” broke down what went wrong against Weidman.

“Getting knocked out is the worst,” Silva said on the Brazilian late-night talk show "Agora é Tarde." "There are always going to be questions -- people want to know what happened, but [when you’re knocked out] you don't remember anything. You black out and that's it.”

Silva's posture and posturizing during the fight was questioned and criticized by fans and media alike. Some went so far as to say he was disrespectful to his opponent. Silva was quick to explain his actions.

“It [the awkward movement] was a technical error to keep my legs parallel; I should have taken a step back instead,” he said.

“Several factors led to the knockout. The tension in the air before the fight, you just want to burst ... it was a series of mistakes.”

Silva revealed another error on his part: Instead of returning to his corner after Round 1 for guidance, he took issue with his team’s suggestions.

“In my career, I’ve always went back to my corner [for advice],” Silva said. “Against Weidman, I went back to argue, and I should have gone back to my corner and calmed down. I didn't do any of that; I lost control."

Disdainful after Weidman’s successful takedown, Silva dared Weidman to hit him, then proceeded to showboat and trash-talk.

When asked what he said to the American, Silva explained he was trying to draw Weidman into a more fan-friendly fight, instead of wrestling and taking matters to the ground.

“I was saying, ‘Come on, let's fight standing up, look at the crowd applauding.’ Because standing up is much cooler than fighting on the floor," Silva said.

Silva intends to finish the 10 fights remaining in his contract with the UFC. The Brazilian already has a rematch lined up with Weidman, set for Dec. 28 at UFC 168.

On the one hand, another nationally televised flyweight title fight is just crazy enough to work at Saturday's UFC on Fox 8 card in Seattle.

After all, if frenetic back-and-forth action is what we want in a main event, this is the formula -- even if the guys fighting in it, challenger John Moraga and 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson, are lighter than most sophomores in high school.

But then again, everybody loves a headliner consisting of two loaf-fisted heavyweight monstrosities trying to take each other's heads off. Given these perhaps outdated but still popular appetites, it's risky to trot out the remora instead of the sharks, is it not?

Not that these are the only factors.

By now you know that nobody knows who Moraga is, and that's why so many people are dishing the CliffsNotes. We need to learn of the fly on the fly. The 5-foot-3 Johnson is better known, but not to the dreaded "casual fans," the ones presumably being tempted toward their television sets. So what we're talking about by making two fairly anonymous fighters the main attraction on a big, widely seen card is that technique, athleticism, skill and speed -- colliding like two angry hummingbirds in a jar -- are more than enough.

The truth is, it might be. Particularly if each has his moments putting the other in trouble. The question then becomes: Does any of this change Johnson's approach? Johnson is holding the flyweight belt in part because he fights smart (a euphemism for "boring" in the minds of some people). He hasn't been involved in a fight that didn't go the distance since 2010, when he fought Damacio Page in the WEC. If he fights tactically against Moraga -- which by all rights he should and Moraga expects -- doesn't he make the least of the coveted spot?

That's all left for Saturday night. Drama is sometimes in the smaller details, and those are on display this weekend in Seattle.

FIVE STORYLINES

The introduction of Moraga

Though the flyweights carry an onus of not being able to finish fights, Moraga crushes onuses like a cold monkey wrench. In two UFC bouts, both at 125 pounds, he has finished the guy in front of him. Should he do to Johnson what he did to Ulysses Gomez (that is, knock him out), here's guessing that everybody knows exactly who Moraga is come Sunday morning.

Flyweights in the floodlights

Aesthetically, the flyweights are fun to watch and almost impossible to truly behold with the naked eye. They require remote controls and liberal use of the slow-motion button. But do we ultimately value that? Should Moraga-Johnson underwhelm, this could be the last flyweight tilt (title or no) we see headlining a big card for a long time.

MacDonald as legit contender

Who has Rory MacDonald fought, cynics want to know. After all, Che Mills isn't in the UFC anymore and Nate Diaz is more of a natural lightweight (as is BJ Penn). As for Mike Pyle? He's awfully long in the tooth. But remember, MacDonald did have Carlos Condit on the ropes until the final seconds. And if he beats Jake Ellenberger, who has won eight of nine, MacDonald puts his name into imminent welterweight contention.

Ellenberger's chance to make statement

Say that Ellenberger goes in and savagely puts MacDonald away in the first round, as he's known to do. What then? The guess is that such an outcome sets up a fight between Ellenberger and Demian Maia as a true No. 1 contender bout while Georges St-Pierre-Johny Hendricks plays out in November.

Lawler's resurgence

It's crazy, but the last time Robbie Lawler won consecutive fights was all the way back in 2007. He traded wins and losses for four years in Strikeforce, coughing up a bit of his mystique. But the upset victory over Josh Koscheck in February put a little wind back in his sail, and should he beat Bobby Voelker on Saturday, he'll essentially have a clean slate.

FIVE QUESTIONS

Can 'Mighty Mouse' finish a fight?

Truth is, Johnson looks better each time we see him in the cage. He looked good against Ian McCall the first time and better against him the second time. Johnson looked great against Joseph Benavidez. Ditto John Dodson. The knock is that Johnson is a points fighter who does just enough. Does that end against Moraga?

Can Ellenberger win a decision over MacDonald?

You ask people how Ellenberger wins his fight against MacDonald and they'll say via knockout. But what happens if MacDonald stays disciplined and is there all night? Can Ellenberger eke out a win on points? He did fade against Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez, and neither is as big and strong as MacDonald.

Which Melvin Guillard shows up?

Realistically, there's only one Guillard, and that's the same one who will show up in Seattle. He switched training camps (yet again) to Denver, where he's been training with Trevor Wittman. Thing is, he loves his power and trusts it to trump everything he'll encounter. Against Mac Danzig, who has gone 3-6 in his last nine fights, Guillard will once again sink or swim by his infatuation.

How does Carmouche rebound?

Fate is funny. For a few seconds at UFC 157, it looked like Liz Carmouche was about to defeat not just Ronda Rousey but the very reason for women's MMA in the UFC. It was a tense few moments when she had Rousey's back, but in the end, Carmouche went down gallantly. Facing Jessica Andrade, Carmouche -- the biggest favorite on the card -- has to guard against the spiral.

Will MacDonald come around to GSP?

This question is premature, which makes it the kind of question we love to ask. Yet should MacDonald beat Ellenberger, St-Pierre take care of Hendricks in November and the two be asked to fight each other thereafter, we have arrived at the next Jon Jones-Rashad Evans (and the hunch is MacDonald won't protest for long).

WHO'S ON THE HOT SEAT?

John Albert -- He has lost three fights in a row since beating Dustin Pague in his UFC debut. A loss to Yaotzin Meza is almost a guaranteed pink slip. But if Albert wins? Yahtzee! The "Prince" lives to see another day.

Aaron Riley -- Riley is only 32 years old but has been in 44 fights. He's been around the block a few times. In his last fight against Tony Ferguson, in 2011, he suffered a broken jaw. Should he lose to Justin Salas, if he doesn't hang up the gloves himself, the next pair he wears might not say "UFC" on them.

Trevor Smith -- The Strikeforce immigrant takes on an angry Ed Herman, who, in a fit of optimism, made a cameo appearance in Strikeforce against Ronaldo Souza and lost badly. Tough draw for Smith. Herman's relevance is at stake.

Melvin Guillard -- Yes, there's a Leonard Garcia thing going on here. Guillard always comes to fight, does so on short notice and lets the chips fall where they may. Dana White likes him. But he needs a win badly. Very badly. Then the UFC won't be forced to make any hard decisions on him.

Mac Danzig -- See Guillard.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Because the flyweights have one speed, which is blue blur ... because Johnson is one of the most underrated fighters to ever carry such mastery to the cage ... because Moraga swings for the fences and is fighting for his late cousin Jay ... because there's not one, but two women's fights, and Julie Kedzie versus Germaine de Randamie will have your grandmother spitting out her tea ... because Danny Castillo does love himself a brawl ... and for that matter so does Michael Chiesa ... and Jorge Masvidal ... because Herman can't afford to lose to Smith, and when a "Short Fuse" meets "Hot Sauce," the thing gets flammable ... because MacDonald is fighting Ellenberger, and it won't cost you a dime.

John Moraga didn’t get into mixed martial arts for fame and quite frankly, he really didn’t get into it to satisfy any real hunger for competition, either.

Moraga started training to fight in 2009 with one thing in mind: Money.

“I didn’t get into this sport to be on posters or be a household name,” Moraga told ESPN.com. “Money. Let my kids grow up with everything I didn’t have.”

That’s not to say Moraga (13-1), who faces Demetrious Johnson for the UFC flyweight title this weekend at a UFC on Fox event in Seattle, doesn’t enjoy what he does. A former collegiate wrestler, Moraga is a lifetime competitor.

But the reason he trains multiple times a day and makes sacrifices in his lifestyle so he can weigh 125 pounds before a fight is to provide for his two sons.

“When my girlfriend got pregnant, that’s when I decided to get in the gym and see what I could make of it," he said. "There wasn’t much opportunity when I started, but I had faith that I would have an opportunity to make a living out of it. It’s worked out.”

Money has been a major talking point in the UFC in 2013, with several former and current fighters publicly criticizing the promotion’s current pay structure.

Moraga is an interesting case study in the discussion. Since signing with the UFC in mid-2012, the 29-year-old has fought twice, both times on the undercard.

His most recent performance, a submission win over Chris Cariaso at UFC 155 in December, was the opening fight of the event. Most of the Las Vegas crowd didn’t show up to see it. The UFC paid Moraga a salary of $22,000, according to Nevada.

Had Moraga lost, he would have made just $11,000. Half of the salary came from a win bonus, which is included in the majority of UFC contracts. Also, he would have been 1-1 in the UFC. Fighters who fall to 1-2 are routinely cut from the UFC roster.

That may seem, in Moraga’s word, “cutthroat” -- but so far, he has made the UFC pay system work for him. Shortly after his first UFC win, a first-round knockout over Ulysses Gomez, the company sent him a discretionary bonus in the mail.

When he submitted Cariaso at UFC 155, Moraga also was the recipient of a $65,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus. Just two fights into his deal, he’s in a position to win a UFC belt and possibly headline a pay-per-view event in the future.

Moraga’s view on UFC pay is that the company forces him to earn his money. If he performs to its expectations, they take care of him.

“I feel the UFC wants exciting fighters. If you go out and put on an exciting fight, if you put enough effort out there, then they’ll take care of you," he said. "I think they let their fighters earn their money, and I’m cool with that.”

Moraga is in a terrific spot now, but acknowledges things could have gone south just as easily.

In that UFC debut, the one where he knocked out Gomez and was awarded an extra check, Moraga was originally scheduled to fight Ian McCall. McCall, ranked the No. 3 flyweight in the world at the time, withdrew with injury.

Moraga’s guaranteed paycheck for that debut was only $9,000, with a $9,000 win bonus. Obviously, he would have gone into the bout against McCall with confidence, but it clearly would have been a much tougher fight than the one he ended up with.

Prior to McCall’s injury, Moraga was looking at a situation in which he was scheduled to face the No. 3 fighter in his division, potentially for a mere $9,000 -- and on top of that, a potential loss in his promotional debut.

“It’s definitely a gamble,” Moraga said of being an undercard fighter. “That’s what we sign up for. But that’s how I saw it. I saw [my undercard fights] as a little amount of money to get me on my feet and I saw it as an opportunity.

“I was supposed to fight Ian McCall. That’s a little different than your average UFC debut. At the same time, I knew I just had to prove myself.”

Moraga admits to not knowing “what the UFC makes” per event or “how much it costs to keep business going.”

Those two issues have long been arguing points in the UFC fighter pay discussion. Disgruntled fighters have complained about UFC revenue split, as the company refuses to release figures to the media on the subject. The UFC responds that it absorbs its own production costs and spends millions of dollars on advertising and promoting the sport, which opens sponsorship opportunities for its fighters.

From a personal sense, Moraga doesn’t have the time to inmmerse himself in that discussion. In his mind, if he continues to perform and fight in an entertaining style, the money will come.

That’s far more than he can say regarding other times in his career. When Moraga first started off, he says his pay was based on the number of tickets he was able to sell to friends and family, many of whom didn’t have the funds to help him out.

“I made like, ticket-sale money,” Moraga said. “Selling tickets was hard. Everyone I know is from the hood. They were like, '30 dollars? Tell me how it went, player.'

“I think the most I was ever paid for one of my fights [before the UFC] was $1,000, maybe $1,200. Before that, it was $400 here, $600 there.”

Moraga was also involved in the well-known Nemesis Fighting MMA promotion, which produced bounced checks to fighters after an event in 2010.

Moraga suffered the only loss of his pro career at that event to fellow UFC flyweight John Dodson, but was supposed to collect his largest payday. He collected nothing.

“I didn’t get paid for that fight,” Moraga said. “It was supposed to be online PPV. It ended up being a total scam of a show.”

Of course, Moraga has no concern of that happening in the UFC and now, as was the case when he first started training, he’s optimistic regarding his financial future.

Regarding his upcoming fight against Johnson, Moraga says he views it as life and death. In his mind, it may be his only chance ever at real, life-changing money.

In the current UFC pay structure, that mindset probably has a lot to do with Moraga’s success so far.

“I take it as survival,” Moraga said. “I see it as my one chance. That’s how I have to see it. Who knows what can happen? I might never get this chance again if I don’t make the most of it.”

Imagine if heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum had gotten his wish and faced Daniel Cormier in a title eliminator. Then imagine Werdum losing. What a mess that would have left at the top of the division.

Earlier this month, UFC president Dana White revealed that Werdum requested a fight with Cormier. It was a bout UFC officials were seriously considering. Fortunately, they opted instead to have Cormier fight Roy Nelson on Oct. 19 at UFC 166 in Houston.

Here’s the deal, Cormier would have accepted the fight against Werdum; he loves being in high-profile bouts. But it’s highly likely Cormier would have beaten Werdum, and that’s when things would have gotten messy on the heavyweight contender landscape.

You see, Cormier will fight anyone UFC officials place in front of him, other than his close friend and training partner, heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Cormier is a vicious human being inside the Octagon, but a considerate person outside of it. He doesn’t want to do harm to the promotion in any way. And knocking off Werdum would have resulted in lots of uncertainty at heavyweight.

The possibility of Cormier beating Werdum and the problems it would have created wasn’t lost on mixed martial arts fans. And they let Cormier know it.

“I’d kind of gotten a negative reaction from the general public about that,” Cormier told ESPN.com. “They were all like, ‘Well, you’re leaving the division, why would you guys fight in an eliminator? What if you win?' "

“I am leaving the division. But I like being in big fights. I imagine that [Werdum’s] the only guy with a real strong case for a title shot right now, outside of myself. Under normal circumstances, a title eliminator between us would be logical. But being that I’m trying to get down to the next weight division, it’s not as cut and dry as it would normally be."

“I would have taken the fight if UFC had offered it to me. I will fight anybody who’s winning, anyone but Cain. So if they would have offered me the fight with Werdum in an eliminator, I would have accepted it and I would have beaten him and not taken the title shot. It would have really kind of jacked things up a little bit.”

The potential for disaster, however, has been averted. There will be no title eliminator, and Cormier is okay with that. In addition to performing against top-caliber opponents, Cormier is motivated to put on solid performances. He gets to satisfy both in his final heavyweight fight.

Nelson has name recognition and almost always puts on exciting fights. He rarely ever takes a backward step. He’s the guy Cormier wanted to fight all along.

The two have been targeting one another since early June when Nelson claimed that Cormier turned down an offer to fight him at UFC 161 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Cormier took offense to Nelson’s allegation.

While White and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva were still weighing what to do next with Cormier, ESPN.com’s fourth-ranked heavyweight contender, he and Nelson took their spat to Twitter. And Monday night, promotion officials announced that the fight was on.

An excited Cormier told ESPN.com he couldn’t be happier. Things couldn’t be better in his pro fighting career at this time: He gets to settle matters with Nelson, look impressive doing so and make a solid case to fight for the light heavyweight title shot early in 2014.

Cormier is hell-bent on becoming the next 205-pound champion, whether Jon Jones still holds the belt when he arrives in the division or not. However, Cormier predicts Jones will defeat Alexander Gustafsson on Sept. 21 at UFC 165 in Toronto.

“I have the skills to win that fight [against Jones],” Cormier said. “But I have to get through [Nelson] first. I have to fight a fight that will strengthen my case."

“Because what I will be asking to do at the beginning of next year is something that is going to make a lot of people mad. I’m going to ask to cut the line at 205. So I have to have a fight [at UFC 166] where I am impressive. And show that my body of work warrants a title shot, even though it’s my first time fighting in that weight division.”

If Cormier looks impressive in beating Nelson and lands a title shot in his light heavyweight debut, there will be very few complaints from the masses. A Jones-Cormier title bout is sure to generate lots of excitement.

It’s hard to put a finger on, but there is something about Rory MacDonald that just rubs Jake Ellenberger the wrong way.

Maybe it has to do with MacDonald calling out certain fighters; maybe it’s the comparisons to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre or maybe it’s the perceived lack of quality opposition on his résumé. It might be all of the above. Whatever the reason, Ellenberger doesn’t like it and plans to knock the highly touted welterweight contender down a peg Saturday night at UFC on Fox 8 in Seattle.

“He calls out BJ Penn, who’s a good friend of mine; your days of calling out guys are over,” Ellenberger told ESPN.com. “You’re claiming to be a top-echelon guy, top five in the world, and you’re asking for who you’re going to fight -- Carlos Condit. No! That’s not how this game works.

“If you’re the best in the world you take any fight that UFC offers and prove that you’re the best in the world. That’s how your training partner Georges St-Pierre does it, that’s why he’s the best in the world.

“For people to be saying that Rory MacDonald is the next GSP is absolutely ridiculous. He’s got a very tough fight on his hands; that’s for sure. I’m more than ready, more than excited.”

MacDonald is ranked sixth among welterweights by ESPN.com. Ellenberger sits at No. 4.

But being the higher-ranked fighter doesn’t soothe Ellenberger’s feelings toward MacDonald. He just doesn’t care much for the 23-year-old, who is currently on a four-fight win streak.

When Ellenberger compares his professional record to MacDonald’s he shakes his head in disbelief. How could anyone reasonably put MacDonald in his league, Ellenberger seems to say to himself.

Going down the list of opponents on his ledger, Ellenberger comes across Jay Hieron, Pat Healy, Rick Story, John Howard, Jake Shields, Diego Sanchez and Nathan Marquardt.

“

For people to be saying that Rory MacDonald is the next Georges St-Pierre is absolutely ridiculous. He's got a very tough fight on his hands; that's for sure. I'm more than ready, more than excited

” -- Jake Ellenberger

Ellenberger and MacDonald have faced Condit and Mike Pyle. But the only other highly recognizable opponents MacDonald can claim are Penn and Nate Diaz, each of whom are natural lightweights.

As far as Ellenberger is concerned MacDonald has not accomplished enough in UFC to warrant the hype surrounding him. It was enough to make Ellenberger take to Twitter in June and ask, "Which round is Rory going to melt?"

That wasn’t the first time Ellenberger had taken a shot at MacDonald’s worthiness as a high-ranking 170-pound contender -- he revealed his position during interviews to promote the bout. Each time MacDonald dismissed the verbal jabs as a small talk, not worthy of a response.

There comes a point when even the usually quiet, mild-mannered MacDonald can no longer brush off the verbal assaults anymore. And when Ellenberger took matters to Twitter, MacDonald concluded taking it lying down anymore.

So MacDonald turned on his computer, signed into his Twitter account and responded to Ellenberger’s latest insult. MacDonald said that Ellenberger talks too much, questioned his ability to take a shot on the chin and promised to shut him up in the cage.

Ellenberger succeeded: He touched a nerve inside MacDonald, something no other fighter had been able to do. MacDonald’s reaction caught Ellenberger by surprise.

It took a few minutes to figure out his next psychological tactic against MacDonald. But Ellenberger eventually concluded his work was done -- he had gotten in MacDonald’s head, gotten him riled up. He’d achieved his goal.

“I didn’t expect him to respond, but he did exactly what I was hoping he would -- take it personal,” Ellenberger said. “For me it was for laughs, but either way, whether I said something or not, we’re still going to fight.

“It’s funny because it’s really not his personality. Everybody I know who knows him says he’s very quiet, very much to himself, very introverted. I was so happy that he kind of came out. I love it; I’m glad he said something.”

But if Ellenberger’s intent was to reveal a side of MacDonald that had not been seen before, he succeeded on that front as well. Engaging in prefight trash talk isn’t MacDonald’s style; he’s known to always keep his cool. But that wasn’t the case in June.

MacDonald admits to being caught off guard by Ellenberger’s taunting. He considers responding to Ellenberger’s taunts on Twitter a minor setback and promises it won’t happen again. But MacDonald added that some good did come out of the experience.

“Yeah, he had a lot to say about me. I didn’t see it coming,” MacDonald told ESPN.com. “I heard what he had to say about me in a couple of interviews and on Twitter posts, but it really doesn’t change my mind as to the fight.

“I’m going to go in there and win this fight like any other, in devastating fashion. His words are just going to put more pressure on him and make it a bit of a harder fall from grace.

“It was kind of fun going back and forth on Twitter when you’re going through training camp and everything is kind of boring. But it won’t change anything on fight night. I’m still going to go in there and kick his ass.”

In the days before his 11th middleweight title defense, Anderson Silva spoke repeatedly of the monetary wealth he'd amassed during his UFC championship reign.

Holding the 185-pound belt for nearly seven years put Silva in position to become a multimillionaire -- his children will never know the economic struggles he experienced as a youth in Curitiba, Brazil. During each pre-UFC 162 interview, Silva smiled while struggling to find words to adequately describe his joy of being financially secure.

Silva is set for life monetarily. His belly is full and, as a result, it's possible he has lost some of the drive that made him a champion.

As we know, he would lose his middleweight title at UFC 162 when Chris Weidman knocked him out in the second round. And while Silva's presumed lack of hunger can't be singled out as the sole reason he lost, it was a contributing factor.

Silva's loss was monumental, sending shockwaves throughout the fighting world. It also put every single UFC champion on notice: Let your guard down and the same will likely happen to you.

Flyweight titleholder Demetrious Johnson was among those who got the message. He watched intensely as Silva dropped his hands, got touched on the chin by a Weidman left hook and fell to the canvas.

As Silva was getting pounded out, Johnson shook his head before immediately turning his attention back to July 27. That's when he puts his title on the line against John Moraga at UFC on Fox 8 in Seattle.

Johnson is a very talented fighter, just like Silva. But unlike the former middleweight champion, Johnson remains extremely hungry.

In order to satisfy his cravings, Johnson needs to make money and lots of it. And the best way to continue putting food on his table and keeping a roof over the head of his family -- Johnson's wife, Destiny, gave birth to the couple's first child [a boy] on Friday -- is to win fights.

He's in no mood to lose a fight inside the Octagon anytime soon.

"It is what it is. Anderson Silva played that game and it happened," Johnson told ESPN.com. "For me, I'm always motivated -- not only to keep the belt but to win my fights. I got into this sport to become champion and now I am a champion and now I'm on a mission to put money away for the rest of my life so I don't have to work anymore.

"That's where my head's at. In order to do that I have to train my butt off and, hopefully, go out there and win this fight. And stack my money up. I want to be champion for a long time, but the belt doesn't mean the world to me. It just means the world to me not to lose."

Johnson views Moraga as the latest of many obstacles he must overcome to achieve his long-term goal of financial security. He expects to retain his title, but isn't underestimating his challenger as Moraga is too talented to be overlooked.

"One of the things he brings that other fighters I've faced didn't is finishes in the flyweight division," Johnson said. "John Moraga is a tough opponent and he has a good set of skills. He brings good things to the table, but I've been fighting for pretty much a long time."

A major key to Johnson's success is being honest with himself. While most fighters refuse to admit looking beyond the bout in front of them, Johnson has no such inhibitions. He isn't shy when it comes to discussing future title defenses.

"I ask myself this all the time: If I get past John Moraga, who is next for [me]?" Johnson said. "My goal is that anybody who's in the UFC flyweight division must have a loss from me on their resume."

Thus far, Johnson (17-2-1) is off to a solid start. He has victories over several of the best UFC flyweights in UFC -- Ian McCall, Joseph Benavidez and John Dodson, who by the way, is the only fighter to hand Moraga a professional loss.

After a tough go of it during the opening two rounds on Jan. 26 in Chicago, Johnson rebounded to beat Dodson by unanimous decision and retain his title. It was Johnson's first title defense.

Dodson beat Moraga by unanimous decision in December 2010. But don't put too much stock in that fight when attempting to handicap Moraga's upcoming showdown with Johnson. Moraga has taken his skills to a higher level since falling to Dodson.

He's looked especially impressive in his two Octagon appearances -- knocking out Ulysses Gomez in the first round last August in his UFC debut, and submitting Chris Cariaso in the third round at UFC 155.

Moraga is 13-1, and ESPN.com currently ranks him fifth among flyweights. Whether standing or on the ground, Moraga poses a serious threat to Johnson -- and his goal of achieving financial wealth.

It's been a couple of years since Benson Henderson and his trainer, John Crouch, watched their 2010 WEC title loss to Anthony Pettis.

Henderson doesn't get "too tape happy" to begin with. He'll watch a fight once to find a feel for his opponent and be done with it. So in advance of the lightweights' Aug. 31 rematch in Milwaukee, Henderson may not even revisit the close decision and the Showtime kick. The truth is, he needs no refresher course on his only loss during 18 fights over the past six years. Lessons there to be learned, have been.

"I was able to man up and move on with my life," Henderson told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "It wasn't anything I was obsessing over. Now that we do get the chance to square off again and once I get my hands on him it's going to be a fun night for me. Let's put it that way."

The current UFC lightweight champion, seeking his fifth straight defense, is clear about where he could have done better the first time around. Outside of a few "stale moments" he classified his performance during one of the most dramatic title fights in Zuffa history as just "OK." Henderson and Crouch felt the effort in the cage that night was lackadaisical. In response, the trainer didn't ask his charge to get "mean," per se, but he wanted Henderson to be "more aggressive and try to have our way in the fight." Henderson, 27 at the time, stewed for a bit. He was quiet. Reflective. But also motivated.

"It would have been the same against anybody," said Crouch, who coaches out of The Lab in Glendale, Ariz. "He likes to compete. He hates to lose. He took it very hard."

Henderson's next appearance was his UFC debut. "As soon as we started in the UFC you could see the difference," Crouch said. "When he fought [Mark] Bocek, fought [Jim] Miller, fought [Clay] Guida, we were much more aggressive." Those wins set Henderson up for a title challenge against Frankie Edgar. All Henderson has done since is win, which considering his current status is the only thing he needs to do. Taking on Pettis is the next step. That's how Henderson and Crouch see it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"When you've got the belt, every single person in this division wants to beat me up," Henderson said. "That's how it goes. It doesn't matter to me who my next defense is against. It's cool."

"It's the same thing for us," Crouch said. "It's going to be our fourth belt defense. We're gonna keep the belt for a while. It's just what we do."

If there's ever a good moment to fight Pettis, weeks removed from a knee injury that knocked him out of an Aug. 3 challenge of Jose Aldo, it would seem to be now. The 26-year-old challenger got the call after TJ Grant was concussed while training for his title shot. Pettis was in line for his own opportunity after the WEC win, but injuries derailed those plans and kept him out of action more than he’d like the past couple of years. In the meantime, the current champion strung together consistent performances against top-shelf competitors, including a squeaker in April over Gilbert Melendez.

"Benson has developed a whole bunch” since losing to Pettis, Crouch said. “You kind of overstate that with your own guy. I think he's better, but it's just part of the process."

Henderson has been pushed, prodded, and proven to be sharp. The challenger, spectacular yet sporadic.

The switch from Grant to Pettis is a "curveball," Henderson said, but nothing he hasn't dealt with in the past. And with five and a half weeks remaining until fight night, there's plenty of time for Henderson to properly prepare. The fact is Henderson had already cut down on the length of training camps because, Crouch said, "he works too hard and beats his body up.” Since they were just about to get in the gym to prepare for Grant, "timing is just fine," the trainer said.

Henderson sees the scenario in front of him as typical, which means there's no such thing as a perfect situation in MMA. At a minimum, Pettis is a guy with a chance, and that's all any fighter requires to pull off something special. This is how the lightweight champion processed Chris Weidman’s stunning victory over Anderson Silva: “The reason why we fight is that any given day the best can lose.”

Pettis, of course, is no long shot. Oddsmakers have pegged the challenger, who’s fighting in his hometown, as the slight favorite.

"It doesn't matter to me where it's at, who's it against, what hometown," Henderson said. "Bump all that noise. It doesn't matter to me. I'm going to beat him up. At the end of the night I'm going to get my hand raised."

One question I get just about every week on the Friday chat was some variation of this: Which UFC champion will fall first?

For the past year, it’s been easy to imagine that none of the current champions would ever lose again, given the state of the matchmaking. Not with Ronda Rousey fighting Liz Carmouche, and Georges St-Pierre fighting Nick Diaz, and Jon Jones fighting Chael Sonnen, and Anderson Silva fighting Stephan Bonnar with no belt in the balance, and Dominick Cruz not fighting at all.

With landslide favorites in these matchups, the answer was always Junior dos Santos. Heavyweights have never been good at holding on to the belt. Then it became Cain Velasquez, when he beat Dos Santos. That is, until Velasquez was resaddled with Antonio Silva, whose odds the second time were longer than his gangly reach. When that happened, the question of who would fall first came back around to its usual futility.

The real question was: Who would get Matt Serra’d first?

For the past year, it wasn’t that the UFC champions were being catered to and protected, so much as the matchmaking lacked imagination. Or the matchmaking had too much imagination, because it required the open-mindedness of our disposable income. There was not enough genuine threat, due to circumstances (injuries), limitations (shallow heavyweight division) and cash-out gimmickry (Sonnen). Aside from a few exceptions -- Gilbert Melendez versus Benson Henderson, say, or any Demetrious Johnson fight -- for a long time we had main events that looked and felt more like potboilers.

Just activity for the sake of activity, with low-flame drama.

Yet here we are in mid-2013, and a champion has fallen. Anderson Silva, the longest-tenured, most unthinkable of the titleholders with his 16-0 record in the UFC, lost to Chris Weidman spectacularly at UFC 162. There’d be no such thing as “eras” if they went on forever. Now the Silva era hinges on the rematch in December. How are those for stakes?

If that wasn't novel enough, after a long dry spell of pretenders getting shots on whims and shaking limbs, suddenly it looks as if Silva could be just the first domino to fall. Most of the title fights slated to take place in the second half of 2013 pits a challenger who looks and feels like an actual threat to the throne. Suddenly we can imagine a world where Johny Hendricks is posing for magazine articles with the belt slung over his shoulder, know what I mean?

Think about this: By the end of 2013, we might have recast our pantheon of UFC champions. Hendricks is a legitimate threat to St-Pierre. So is the barely talked about John Moraga over flyweight champion Johnson. Dos Santos could reclaim his title against Velasquez, just the same as Silva could reclaim his belt against Weidman. These fights are booked and happening (pending health).

Rousey will be the odds-on favorite to beat Miesha Tate, just as Jose Aldo will loom large over Chan Sung Jung -- but Anthony Pettis beat Benson Henderson once, what’s to say he can’t to it again at the end of August? Especially in his hometown of Milwaukee?

Romanticists might point to Alexander Gustafsson as a viable challenge to Jon Jones, but that one is more wait and see. Yet Gustafsson feels like Ares in there against Jones after fostering our collective beliefs for so long over Sonnen’s chances.

By the end of 2013, our pound-for-pound lists may become a weekly Etch-a-Sketch. This is how it was drawn up in the Ultimate Fighting Championship -- to stake the best fighters in the world against the people who the matchmakers think could beat them. That’s how this thing works best. Champions, after all, are made to be vulnerable.

And it’s refreshing to look over a slate of upcoming fights and genuinely have no idea how things are going to go. It’s better, when asked a question like "which UFC champion will fall first," to counter with: "A better question is -- which one will still be champion this time next year?"

Anthony Pettis could write a book about lost title shots in the UFC.

The time he let one slip through his fingers two years ago in a loss to Clay Guida, that one felt fast. It was a mistake on his part -- one he’s been paying for since.

“That was the fastest fight of my life,” Pettis told ESPN.com. “It was just one of those I didn’t get up for. All I kept thinking was, ‘I’m going to knock this guy out, and I’ll get my title shot.’

“Even during the fight, I thought I’d catch him in a triangle -- catch him somewhere. It just never happened.”

The last title opportunity that disappeared, against Jose Aldo for the featherweight title on Aug. 3, that one had a slow, demoralizing, heartbreaking feel to it.

In June, he flew to Rio de Janeiro to promote the proposed UFC 163 fight. On his last day there, he and light heavyweight Phil Davis decided to cram in a workout before flying home. While rolling, he felt his knee pop, but thought maybe it was nothing serious.

When it started to swell an hour into the long international flight, he knew better.

“It was so annoying, man,” Pettis said. “I could feel it getting bigger and bigger. I thought, ‘Damn, there it goes. There goes my title shot.’

“

They gave me Joe Lauzon; I knocked him out and was supposed to get a title shot. They gave me Donald Cerrone; I beat him and was promised a title shot. I'm not talking my way into shots.

” -- Anthony Pettis, on earning his title shot against Benson Henderson

“Phil Davis was on the plane, and he felt so bad. I was trying to act cool, telling him it was probably just a little sprain, but deep down I knew it was pretty serious.”

There have been others, of course. Pettis was supposed to fight for the UFC lightweight title in his promotional debut more than two years ago. In that time, the Guida loss, injuries and other circumstances have conspired against him.

Finally, it appears the cruel joke is over. Last weekend, Pettis replaced the injured TJ Grant in a title fight against Ben Henderson at UFC 164 on Aug. 31 in Milwaukee.

Despite everything he’s been through to get to this spot, some accuse Pettis of jumping in line. He asked for the shot against Aldo even though he’d never fought in that weight class before.

And his campaign for Grant’s spot in Milwaukee actually began before Grant injured himself -- and it rubbed some the wrong way. Grant had, after all, earned the opportunity as well, knocking out Gray Maynard in May.

Pettis (16-2), as you might imagine, is unapologetic of his calls for a title shot.

“If people really believe that, they need to go back and actually look at my career,” Pettis said. “See how I’ve fought when I didn’t have to fight. Even after I lost the Aldo fight, I was getting ready to fight Josh Thomson.

“They gave me Joe Lauzon; I knocked him out and was supposed to get a title shot. They gave me Donald Cerrone; I beat him and was promised a title shot. I’m not talking my way into shots.”

In addition to a UFC title fight, a rematch with Henderson has really always been in the cards for Pettis. Their first meeting, which Pettis won via unanimous decision in Henderson’s hometown of Phoenix, was the perfect ending in the WEC’s final event.

Henderson (19-2) has rattled off seven consecutive wins since the loss. He claimed the UFC title in February 2012 and already has posted three successful defenses.

In regard to the first Pettis fight in late 2010, Henderson has said numerous times he allowed the moment to affect his game plan. Instead of wrestling Pettis for 25 minutes, he got caught up in the idea of proving he could strike with him.

Pettis says that description is most likely influenced by what happened in his loss to Guida, when he was basically neutralized on his back for three rounds.

The notion that Pettis can’t handle elite wrestlers stuck with him after that loss, but he invites Henderson to go ahead and test it when the two meet for the second time.

“Uh, I think he saw the Guida fight and he’s saying the same thing everybody else said,” Pettis said. “Ben did what he wanted to do in the first fight, we went five rounds, we both had our moments and I got my hand raised.

“People say they can go in and ‘Guida’ me, but that’s not happening again.”

In January 2010, Marloes Coenen went into a featherweight bout against Cris Justino (then Cris Santos) convinced that her opponent was using illegal supplements.

A positive drug test by Justino nearly two years later in California did little to change Coenen’s mind. Thing is, though, she doesn’t care.

“When I was fighting her, I expected her to be on something,” Coenen told ESPN.com. “I know how I look and how hard I train and I know how she looks. But it’s up to the media and the fans to judge her. I’m not going to do that.”

No one can be certain whether Justino (11-1) benefited from any illegal substance leading to her third-round TKO win against Coenen -- except for Justino herself.

What we do know, for certain, is the former Strikeforce champion tested positive for stanozolol metabolites following a 16-second knockout over Hiroko Yamanaka on Dec. 17, 2011, in San Diego.

Justino claimed innocence, pointing to a diet pill given to her by a teammate as the source of the positive test. Despite her stance that she ingested the steroid unknowingly, the California commission suspended Justino for one year.

As Coenen (21-5) prepares to meet Justino for a second time in the main event of this weekend’s Invicta FC 6 event in Kansas City, isn’t she angry with her? Based on the belief Justino was cheating the first time they fought?

“Of course it makes you mad,” Coenen said. “The thing is, if you lose, you shouldn’t come up with excuses. It doesn’t matter how good your excuse is. You can’t say, ‘Oh I lost, but she’s on steroids.’ Well then don’t step in the cage, you know?

“If someone makes a mistake, you should give them a second chance -- and that’s what I’m giving her right now.”

Justino returned from suspension at Invicta FC 5 in April, finishing Fiona Muxlow in the first round via TKO. The inaugural Invicta 145-pound title will be on the line in her rematch against Coenen, but she still considers herself a champion, having never suffered a loss as the Strikeforce titleholder.

The one-year suspension and the negative connotations that come with a failed drug test, however, have been hard on the 27-year-old.

Ultimately, she says she’s been able to turn it into a positive for her career. In addition to finding out who her “real” friends were during the difficult time, she says she’s done seminars in Brazil to discourage kids from using performance-enhancing drugs.

“Bad things happen in your life but you learn something,” Justino said. “I learned a lot of things. I learned who my friends were -- who the good people behind me are.

“I have 1,000 kids training MMA in Brazil. Me and the other partners opened a big place in Brazil. I want to show the kids this sport can change your life and you can’t use drugs for training.”

The rematch will mark Invicta’s debut on cable and satellite pay-per-view. It’s the second time Coenen is set to headline a card for the promotion. She defeated Romy Ruyssen in the inaugural event in April 2012.

Coenen admits she’d like to avenge every loss of her career (she has actually avenged one) and is confident in her ability to make adjustments against Justino.

In the first meeting, Coenen says, she was caught off guard by the punching power of Justino. Way off guard.

“I don’t remember that much about the fight,” Coenen said. “The only thing I basically remember was that I had never been hit that hard in my life before.

“I didn’t have a good strength program for that fight. She really outpowered me with her strength. This time I did a really good strength and conditioning program. I will have to actually cut weight now. I know what’s headed toward me.”

Justino, who has never been involved in a rematch, says she’s held high respect for Coenen ever since their first bout, mostly because she is the only opponent ever to strongly request a second fight.

“She said it right after the fight,” Justino said. “I saw her in the lobby at the hotel and she told me -- she’s very friendly, very nice girl -- she wanted to fight me again. She said, ‘Before I retire, I will find you again.’ She is a true fighter.”

Unbeaten Chris Weidman did what some thought to have been the unthinkable by knocking out middleweight champion Anderson Silva on Saturday at UFC 162 in Las Vegas.

Weidman, 29, caught Silva, who had defended his title a UFC-record 11 times, leaning back with a short left hook and finished the job on the ground to score a stunning second-round knockout.

The Baldwin, N.Y., native and former two-time Division I All-American wrestler at Hofstra University visited ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., Thursday and took some time to answer our questions:

What did you do to celebrate after getting home from Saturday’s victory in Las Vegas?
I didn’t get to celebrate yet when I got home from Vegas -- it was right into media stuff for the UFC. I was in Vegas until Monday, but I got back early Tuesday morning and tried to get some sleep, which did not happen. It’s just been rock 'n' roll with the media. I can’t wait to get home and just lie down in my bed, hang out with the family and let it absorb a little bit.

Going back to your initial takedown of Anderson Silva in the first round, was that something you practiced countless hours specifically for him, or was it just muscle memory in the moment?
Yeah, muscle memory. It just happened. That specific takedown and the way I finished it, I don’t think I’ve done that once in sparring. I’ve wrestled my whole life and done that takedown a million times, but never in sparring [for this fight.] It was just natural feel.

Was there any one of Silva’s antics inside the Octagon that irritated you the most?
Just the excessiveness of it. I was just like, yo, you’re not punching me and I don’t know, like, bro … I mean if you could do all that, punch me in the face. I actually let him punch me in the face; there was one time where I just said, "hit me." He punched me [Weidman points to his chin] and I said, "hit me again." He punched me, and then I could hear my coaches yelling, “Wideman! Stop! Stop!” I’m like, all right, and I circled out. I was just like, bro, what are you doing? I’m laughing inside and saying, I’m winning the fight. It got to the point where I wanted to hit him, so it motivated me to put my hands on him.

Silva has long been considered the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. But who do you now consider to be No. 1 in the world?
I’m not a big rankings guy, to be honest with you. But I would say Georges St-Pierre or Jon Jones. One of those two, I think.

You debuted this week on our ESPN.com P4P list at No. 5 with Silva right ahead of you at No. 4. Do you feel like you have to beat him another time to disprove all the naysayers?
I expected that when I took this fight. I said I would beat him and that after I finish him, we’re going to have an immediate rematch at Madison Square Garden. That was the only part that I got wrong, the Madison Square Garden. So we are having a rematch and I understood that, no matter what I did to him. I did the impossible and knocked him out and there’s more naysayers than anything. But if I would have submitted him it probably would have been worse. No matter what I did out there, if I had decisioned him, no matter what I did, he’s known as the greatest of all time and people think that he’s unbeatable and are shocked that anyone could actually beat him. So they are going to come up with excuses.

You have probably already heard a lot of excuses since Saturday not giving you a lot of credit. So how motivated are you for a rematch?
I’m very motivated. I’m motivated without that. I get to fight him again, and I want to put on an even better performance.

There are obviously a lot of other athletes and entertainers that follow the UFC. Has there been any celebrity who has shocked you by coming out of the woodwork and contacting you?
Stone Cold Steve Austin. I thought that was cool. He direct messaged me on Twitter. First he wished me good luck. I had never met him before. But I thought that was pretty cool. He thinks I’m a badass apparently. So, I’m a big fan of his now.

We’ve read that your home was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy and about the nonprofit work you have done to help rebuild the area. Tell us about that and about how you and your family have recovered?
We are about nine months out from Hurricane Sandy. The house is still not back to 100 percent. It’s still a mess. But we have recovered -- we are on the second floor. We are good and are happy with where we are at. Obviously this fight has helped us a lot. We might be moving out and getting a new house, we’ll see. As far as nonprofit, I worked with Theo Rossi from “Sons Of Anarachy” and [Dallas Cowboys running back] DeMarco Murray. It’s something Theo Rossi started called Staten Strong that I just kind of jumped on because I was affected. We work together to get some money together and help people. But honestly the biggest thing I did right after Hurricane Sandy was me and my wife set up a point where people could bring food and batteries and cleaning supplies. We had it through my social media where everyone brought it to our local church and we passed it out to different charities and helped a lot of people.

There are a lot of great nicknames, of course, in MMA. You are known as The All-American. How did you get that name?
When I started and first got to the MMA gym the guys would start and say, “You’re like the All-American kid.” It was because, I don’t know, I go to church every Sunday, I got married young and I’ve always been an All-American in college having gone All-American all four years [two years each at Nassau Community College and Hofstra]. They just started calling me it and that was really it.

Let’s talk about some other fighters in your division not named Anderson Silva whom you could potentially fight. We’ll start with Vitor Belfort. What are your thoughts about him?
Tough guy. I would say he’s the No. 1 contender right now. If I wasn’t fighting Anderson Silva in a rematch, I’d probably be fighting him.

What do you think about all of the controversy surrounding him about testosterone-replacement therapy, and what are your thoughts on TRT in general?
I don’t like it, to be honest with you. If your testosterone is low, man, that’s God telling you that you have low testosterone, and if you can’t train the right way or whatever it is, it’s time to retire and do something else. It’s a little unfair that you could be 38 years old and he definitely has higher testosterone than me. [Note: Belfort is actually 36.] I’m 29 and have decently low testosterone, but I would never take testosterone because you are stuck on that thing for your whole life. I would never want to be on TRT. And I feel fine, [having low testosterone] doesn’t bother me. So I can’t imagine these guys that are using it for performance reasons. I don’t like it, and I know California banned it recently although other commissions allow it. I don’t like it.

What are your thoughts on Michael Bisping?
Another tough guy. I would love to fight Bisping, to be honest with you. That would be a great fight for me.

How about Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza?
Really good jiu-jitsu, good standup. He’s another tough guy, I think. All of these guys would be great challenges, and I would really love to entertain them.

Of all the other fighters out there, who is the one you admire the most and why?
I really like Cain Velasquez. I like his pace that he puts on; he is mentally and physically breaking everybody he goes with. He’s just tenacious and relentless. I like Anderson Silva, too. I like his style. He’s very relaxed.

If Silva had won the fight against you, there was talk about possible superfights for Silva against either Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre. Now that for the time being that’s not going to happen, would you ever consider a fight against either of those two guys?
Definitely not against GSP. First off, I would never call out someone who was a lot smaller than me. I’ve trained with him before, and he’s just a smaller guy. I’m not the type of guy who is going to be like, Hey, you want to fight? I’ve got Anderson Silva on my mind, but if the fans wanted to see that fight [against Jones] and the UFC wanted it to happen, I’m 1000 percent in. I asked to fight Jon Jones on 10 days’ notice back when Dan Henderson got hurt. But I wasn’t a big enough name at that point, so they were like, no.

With your wrestling background, what are your thoughts about the current state of Olympic wrestling?
It’s crazy that it’s even in question and up for voting. But it is, so it’s sad. I think wrestling is the one of the greatest sports there are. It’s the ultimate combat sport, and I just think it needs to be in the Olympics. I think the Olympics was made from wrestling and that it’s a staple. There just needs to be a lot of attention brought to it to keep it there.

Your goal has always been to be champion. Now that you have reached the pinnacle of your profession, how have you readjusted your goals?
My ultimate goal was always that I want to be known as one of the greatest of all time. The first step was obviously to be UFC champion. I did that, and now it’s time to take one fight at a time and really just set myself apart from the group. That’s my goal.

Opinions on why Anderson Silva lost his UFC middleweight title Saturday night to Chris Weidman continue to pour in.

Light heavyweight Jon Jones became the latest person to offer a take on the matter during Tuesday’s news conference in Toronto to promote his Sept. 21 title defense against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165.

“He’s got to the point where he really believes in his gift, and he abused his gift,” Jones said of Silva. “He disrespected the gift by disrespecting his opponent.

“He just got disrespectful and the war gods made him pay for it. He’s still that great Anderson Silva in my book.”

Watching the one mixed martial artist he looks up to go down in a heap remains difficult for Jones to accept. Upon reflection, however, Jones is using Silva’s demise as inspiration, and a personal warning, moving forward.

Jones (18-1) is determined not to let his success in the cage cause him to lose focus.

“It [Silva’s loss] actually motivates me a lot to watch somebody who I look up to lose,” Jones said. “It’s a reality check. I try to keep my ego in check when it comes to the fight game.

“Watching Anderson lose like that, first of all, it’s something I would never do: put my hands down and fight my opponent that way. But watching Chris Weidman’s dream come true, I have to make sure to be a dream crusher.”

Jones is expected to retain his title against Gustafsson; he’s considered too rangy, too talented and too strong. Now add a more focused Jones to the equation and a Gustafsson upset becomes less likely.

Despite being a prohibitive underdog, Gustafsson will receive the “very dangerous foe” treatment. And he should. Gustafsson has demonstrated steady improvement with each fight.

He is currently riding a six-fight win streak that has put him at or near the top of the 205-pound contender rankings. Gustafsson (15-1) is ranked third among light heavyweights by ESPN.com.

There was a long moment after Chris Weidman became the UFC’s new middleweight champion that Ed Soares, the longtime manager and friend of Anderson Silva, stood staring at the cage at MGM Grand. He looked devastated. Crestfallen. The empire he had lorded over had just crumbled before him, and just like that, it all became merely a dream. Only it was a dream that now belonged to somebody else.

It wasn’t just the fact of it happening, because Silva one day losing was a long enduring inevitability. We all knew at some point he’d fall. He wasn’t going to win forever.

It was the how.

Silva rolled out the red carpet for Weidman to come forward and touch his chin under the lights for everyone to see. Only thing Weidman could do was oblige. He wasn’t falling for the hocus-pocus like so many who went before him. He was bent on wresting that belt from Silva’s grip.

And he did just that.

In a sequence that will forever go down as one of the most bizarre, intense and humiliating in UFC history, the 38-year-old Silva dropped his hands and dodged bullets in the second round. The showman in him trusted his reflexes to steer clear of danger, as he’d done plenty of times before. He postured and egged the challenger on, and strafed Weidman with the occasional fast-twitch jab. “Come on,” he kept saying, waving Weidman in. Was he psyching Weidman out, or psyching himself up? Like Muhammad Ali, there’s no distinguishing between the two. UFC president Dana White later said all that was just “Silva being Silva.”

Yet everyone knows that Silva being Silva is more complicated than it should be. He is, after all, duplicitous. He pretended his knees buckled when a left rolled off his brow. Mockery. What he was saying was clear: “That’s all you got?”

Weidman, the intended target of the humiliation, kept forward.

Seconds later he clipped Silva, and down went the boogeyman of the division. Who’d have thought that Silva would cough up his belt to something as awkward as this: antics that backfired spectacularly. It wasn’t the way people imagined it might happen. Seven years of reign and myth all came down with him. The centerpiece to the “superfight” drama of the past couple of years went down, too. So did the stadium shows and a streak for the ages. Weidman cleared out the superfight division with an engraved left.

Everything else evaporated before our eyes. Like water.

So what do we make of the whole thing, a couple of days later? It’s open season for opinions.

Maybe it was hubris that caused the showboat to capsize. Maybe it was Weidman’s cool, his refusal to be baited into something dumb. Maybe Silva is finally his age, getting too old for adjectives such as “sublime.” Maybe he knows it. Maybe he knew Weidman was a greater threat the whole time, and was carrying self-doubt into the Octagon. Maybe the wig-out was pressure coming to the surface, or he was thinking about Roy Jones Jr. sitting cageside. Then again, maybe Weidman is just that good. Maybe Weidman never loses again, or he just has Silva’s number. Maybe he just got caught, as Mark Munoz said after the fight.

The plain fact is this: It was hubris that got Silva knocked out, and it’s hubris that will bring him back in. You think a champion of his ability and legacy is going to go out like that? No way. Moments after the fight, he said he had no pressing need for a rematch. That rare moment is no time to take a man at his word.

Wait until the whole thing sinks in. That he got clubbed after all but sending out an embossed invitation for Weidman to do it. That had he presented himself as a “ballet of violence,” as Joe Rogan once famously said, instead of a willing participant to his own downfall. That he could have run his streak to 17-0 in the UFC, and made Weidman look as green as they said he was.

No, it won’t take long for pride to report, even if Silva does take some time off. That might be what’s needed after suffering his first loss in 17 UFC fights. In the time it takes him to realize he wants his belt back, there will be a new landscape to think about. All of the guys who lost to Silva and had little chance of getting another shot at the belt have been reinvigorated overnight. The new sheriff has so little history. He barely has an ounce of Silva’s mystique -- even if he’s carrying that mystique around Long Island today in his back pocket.

One thing is certain, though. Silva losing has its own fascination. How does he respond? Does he come back in no-nonsense form like when he was downing Chris Leben and Rich Franklin? Or was UFC 162 the dreaded day that began Silva’s undoing?

These are all of the new narratives. And we’ll have to contemplate them along with Ed Soares until they come together again. When they do, it’ll be Silva who walks out first. And that in itself is very strange indeed.

After years of being the most dominant mixed martial artist in UFC history, Anderson Silva suffered defeat in the Octagon for the very first time Saturday night in Las Vegas. And he didn’t know how to handle it.

Chris Weidman knocked Silva out at 1:18 of the second round to become middleweight champion. Minutes after regaining his faculties, Silva was asked about a rematch.

“I won’t fight [again] for the belt,” Silva said. “I had the belt for a long time. I have 10 more fights [with UFC], but not [necessarily] for the belt.”

Considering the time and circumstances, Silva’s response should have been taken with a grain of salt. Within minutes of his initial statement he had softened his stance.

“First of all, we need to respect Chris Weidman,” Silva said during the UFC 162 postfight news conference. “He’s the champion; he won the fight. But right now I’m just thinking of going home. I want to be with my kids and take some time off. And maybe in three to four months think about what I am going to do. But right now I can’t really think about that [rematch]. I just want to take some time off and be alone to think about everything.”

There will be a rematch. Silva will demand it. At least Silva has given us a general time frame in which he is likely to tell UFC president Dana White it's OK to set it up.

Silva’s a great champion, and like great boxing champions who have suffered a major defeat, he’ll want to restore order in his universe.

But, for the first time in his illustrious fighting career, Silva finds himself at a crossroads. His back is against the wall -- his future as a fighter, and how he will be remembered, hinges on what happens in that rematch with Weidman.

There are only two scenarios that matter: He will defeat Weidman handily, proving that the loss Saturday night was a hiccup, a fluke that occurred due to his poor judgment; or he will lose two in a row for the first time. A draw does nothing for him.

Hall of Fame boxer Sugar Ray Leonard came face-to-face with this situation in November 1980, five months after Roberto Duran handed him the first loss of his pro career. Duran taunted the slightly favored Leonard throughout their 15-round affair and emerged on the favorable side of a closely contested unanimous decision.

The loss was extremely painful for Leonard, who shed tears afterward. It took weeks before Leonard was able to gather himself and announce that he was ready for a rematch. Leonard would give Duran a dose of his own humiliating medicine in their rematch. He toyed with the hard-hitting Duran, who became so frustrated by Leonard’s superior boxing that he quit in the middle of the ring during eighth-round action.

That was the "No Mas" fight. And Duran, one of the greatest boxers in the sport’s history, never fully regained his legendary status.

Leonard would go on to achieve even greater heights -- wins over Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler stand out. To this day, Leonard is regarded among the greatest boxers ever. This is the scenario Silva will seek to retain in his rematch with Weidman.

But a rematch with Weidman puts Silva in position to experience another loss and a slip in legendary standing. If that happens he might begin to be seen more like “Sugar” Shane Mosley than Ray Leonard. When his fighting days are over, Mosley will be voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. But he will never be in the same class as the elite; he will never be on Leonard’s level.

There was a time when Mosley appeared to be on his way toward entering the conversation for greatest of all time. He was a dominant fighter for many years, even beating Oscar De La Hoya by split decision (June 17, 2000) in a long-awaited, highly anticipated showdown of Southern California natives.

Mosley looked unbeatable after that win. But in January 2002, he put his WBC welterweight title on the line against Vernon Forrest. There wasn’t a lot of fanfare leading into the fight, though Forrest was unbeaten as a pro -- he actually beat Mosley during their amateur days.

Forrest also possessed a fighting style that gave Mosley fits. He hit Mosley repeatedly with a looping right hand en route to a unanimous decision.

The rematch, six months later, wasn’t much different: Forrest took it by unanimous decision.

As in the Mosley-Forrest matchups, Weidman has a fighting style that seems tailor-made to frustrate Silva. Those who picked Weidman to beat Silva on Saturday repeatedly cited his high-class wrestling, top-level jiu-jitsu and extreme confidence as keys. What few, if any, expected to see from Weidman was his punching power, solid head movement and straight left jab.

This aspect of Weidman’s game makes him an even more dangerous opponent in a rematch than the guy Silva faced Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. But it’s the perfect opportunity for Silva to keep his label as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

No matter the outcome, Silva will always be regarded as a great champion. In this rematch, however, there is much more at stake for Silva than reclaiming the UFC middleweight title belt. He must win this fight, some might say convincingly, like Leonard did against Duran, to maintain his standing as the greatest mixed martial artist in the sport’s history.

But it won’t be easy. Weidman proved Saturday night that he is no one- or two-trick pony. Silva will need to be at his absolute best in the rematch, and even that might not be enough.

Fighters sometimes wade through boggy brains to find their words. When they do, we should know enough to receive them with skepticism. This is especially true following the sort of stunning defeat Anderson Silva suffered against Chris Weidman on Saturday, which is why I don’t expect he’ll cling to what he said.

After an uncorking, oxygen and time can impact fighters and wine alike. Silva, the finest vintage of them all, hadn't a chance to breathe when he expressed a perplexing disinterest in the belt he surrendered or the unbeaten New Yorker who just knocked “The Spider” from his web.

Instead, Silva expressed how tired he was of being champion. His time at the top was done. There would be no more high-stakes fights, despite recently signing a new 10-fight deal. This made people go crazy. To many ears, mine included, Silva’s reaction was off-kilter, an indelicate red as it were.

He was so deferential it came off as if he was abdicating the throne.

This is where tone confused people. The trouble was squaring Silva’s reaction with one befitting the sport’s pound-for-pound king. That designation is assigned for competitive dominance as much as overarching skill. Now the guy who ruled forever, the wizard and his ballet of violence, was picking up his ball and going home? Nuts.

Literally, it made people lose their minds. There were so many screams about a fix being in that Dana White was asked about it afterward. A savvy veteran fighter, who shall remain nameless, texted to tell me he thought something was “fishy.” I asked for specifics, but didn’t get a response.

Regardless, there’s no doubt that Silva spoke as if he was determined to leave Weidman in charge. In fact, he said so the week of the fight in an interview with Canadian reporter Joe Ferraro. Sarcastically but prophetically, Silva suggested the “perfect” outcome meant he'd no longer be a UFC titleholder. As for a rematch, which in a rare prefight statement White declared was automatically in play if Silva lost? A face was made suggesting a case of shingles would be more appealing.

Yet half an hour after picking himself up off the canvas, having taken time to breathe, Silva’s rematch repudiation had given ground to reason. At the postfight news conference, the 38-year-old magician conceded he needed time to figure it all out. Three to four months’ worth. He sought to reconnect with his family. He had to step away for a bit, he said. These were perfectly rational requests.

Silva should come to the conclusion that a rematch is the only decision worth making. Yes, the man’s legacy is set, however, it’s not done being written. If Silva declines to fight for the piece of hardware that came to define his career, that’ll be etched into his history, and as more than a footnote.

Silva devoted his life to martial arts. He should be excited to fight Weidman again. Finally. After all these years. A worthy challenger has emerged that didn’t require cloning, and he’s angling to do a series of, what, exhibitions?

The reality is Silva has two options at the moment: retire or rematch.

Who would have thought the middleweight icon needed reminding what it is to be a champion worthy of distinction?

Much has been made of his approach to the fight. Silva was more animated against Weidman than any opponent he faced before. Rather than go businesslike after the challenger the way he had against Chris Leben, or Dan Henderson, or Vitor Belfort, Silva hammed it up, attempting to rouse Weidman with showboating, hands-down, jelly-legged madness.

Silva essentially walked himself into a corner where he transformed from sitting champion to sitting duck. I imagine this will gnaw at him; his pride along with the money he can make with White will influence his return to championship fighting. Let’s hope it won’t be delayed by Silva’s desire to box Roy Jones Jr., who probably had flashbacks of his downfall as he saw history Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Or work on a movie, something he's currently involved in as part of a Kickstarter project. The longer Silva waits, the older he gets and the better Weidman will become.

When Silva chooses to fight, he should prepare for an MMA contest against the guy who just stopped him, not a meaningless boxing match that no one really cares about but him. As an undefeated champ, he had the leeway. Not so anymore. There would be more important things on his plate.

Silva has always fought on the edge. Playing it safe during the closing stretch of his career would be disappointing. He pushed himself to the precipice of safety and eventually took a tumble. If Silva chose to stand properly and defend himself, I think he still could be MMA's best middleweight. But that's only true if he agrees.

There's yet another reason he should embrace the rematch. The new champion, for all the niceties expressed about him, deserves a chance to prove his point. Fans should get to see Weidman make his case against the most dangerous version of The Spider. The tactical sharpshooter who smartly avoids opponents. Weidman deserves to fight the Anderson Silva who demolished Leben, Henderson, Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen. To his credit, the new champ wants that.

Don't you?