Savage spider in the UFC: check out Anderson Silva’s 5 most rabid attacks

Anderson loses his cool and sticks a shoulder in Chael Sonnen's chin. Photo: Josh Hedges/ UFC publicity

At weigh-ins yesterday, Anderson Silva, 37, lost his cool and whapped Chael Sonnen, 35, with his shoulder, further fanning the flames of an already heated UFC 148 main event.

Anderson Silva’s idols were always Bruce Lee and Royce Gracie. Perhaps for that reason, throughout his career he has alternated between speaking his mind and breaking down his opposition with the same smoothness the two black belts showed in theirs.

In the Brazilian media, some MMA pundits wrote that Anderson was only not responding to Sonnen’s taunting in kind to not give the challenger any help with his hype. Half right.

That was one of the reasons, of course, but Anderson was always one to respond tight-lipped. In his autobiography, written with the help of Eduardo Ohata, one striking passage describes an episode where the fighter was accused of stealing from a Thai boxing academy. Anderson never defended himself of the accusations. Saddened, incredulous, he simply left the team. Years later he was begged forgiveness by the weeping master.

Whatever the case, a barrel of TNT looks to be inoffensive until the fuse gets short. To put the match the powder once and for all, GRACIEMAG.com is making the most of the adrenaline and kicking the couch at the psychiatrist’s office aside to remind fans who are only thinking about today’s upcoming bout, of four major moments of fury from the UFC middleweight king.

1. ANDERSON SILVA SEES STRESSES OUT ON CHAEL SONNEN

Last week, ten days from the most awaited rematch of recent times, Anderson Silva gave Chael Sonnen a tongue lashing. “This guy’s a criminal, the scourge of the sport. He doesn’t deserve to be in the UFC. He’s got legal problems in the US, he got caught for steroids, he doesn’t respect anything. He’s an idiot. On the 7th I’m going to break his face and knock out all his teeth,” spat the champion, huskying up his famous voice.

How can things have gotten to this point? Tell us, Anderson: “The level dropped when he said I’d reach the end of the fight with my back on the ground, more on the ground than an indebted porno actress. And then he messed with the Nogueiras, saying a black belt from them is worth the same as a treat from a McDonald’s Happy Meal,” recalls Anderson in his book, “Anderson Spider Silva.”

2. ANDERSON SILVA NEARLY GOES TO BLOWS FOR REAL WITH LEE MURRAY AT CAGE RAGE WEIGH-INS IN 2006

The brash Lee Murray was no push-over, and Anderson went and bullied his rival in taking the English promotion’s belt.

3. ANDERSON SILVA WREAKS HAVOC ON DEMIAN MAIA’S PERFORMANCE AT UFC 112

In his April 2010, UFC 112 fight with Demian Maia, Anderson avoided going to the ground and punished his countryman standing. But then he took to cursing, gesticulating and imitating other fighters without trying for a knockout; ultimately winning the decision but earning a barrage of boos from the Abu Dhabi crowd. “Didn’t you say the Spider has eight legs and you’re going to pluck one of them? Get up, playboy!” shouted Silva during the fight. “He said he only respected me as a fighter, not as a person. He doesn’t even know me,” says Anderson in his biography to justify his actions.

4. ANDERSON SILVA GETS FED UP WITH VITOR BELFORT

I’m not part of a team, but a family—the Team Nogueira family. Vitor was received well by this team. And we have an unbreakable code of honor: no one on our team fights with anyone else on it. He broke that code,” said Anderson Silva about the end of his friendship with Vitor.

When he met up with Wand at the TUF Brazil house he said, for all Brazil to see: “Wand, you can’t backpedal. He’s a dick, man. You train, you know… Dang, I’ve got a mic on here? Hold on, man. But I’m not saying anything that isn’t true. Everyone knows it!”

5. ANDERSON SILVA JABS AT DANA WHITE AND UFC

Following below-par fights with Thales Leites and Demian Maia, Anderson kept mum as Dana White rained his wrath on him. After the dust had settled, though, he let his tongue loose: “I’m the one who knows about fighting; I’ve been doing this since I was eight years old. Dana knows about what’s going on on the outside, pay-per-views, audience, endorsements. My job is to come up with the result—to win,” he fired off in interviews, which he also addressed at one point in his biography.

Could today’s fight mark the pinnacle of Anderson Silva’s fury? Comment below.