The UFC’s annual MMA celebration, “International Fight Week,” is one of the most keenly-awaited moments of the year, as the promotion stacks the deck with multiple title fights and, sometimes, multiple cards in Las Vegas for a full week of fan-friendly events, capped off by a stacked show (or two or three).
This year’s “International Fight Week” was supposed be this week, but the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on the shelf. The UFC instead is in Abu Dhabi for a 14-day, four-event run on Yas Island.
“International Fight Week” has certainly produced some remarkable memories down the years, so here at The Blue Corner we’ve taken a look back to pick out some of the biggest moments served up by the UFC’s annual summer jamboree.
Here, in chronological order, are five UFC “International Fight Week” moments that will live long in the memory.
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2013: Weidman starches Silva at UFC 162
[autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag] was on top of the world heading into Las Vegas in 2013. “The Spider” arrived in Las Vegas riding a 17-fight winning streak. He’d defended the UFC middleweight title 10 times and had even found time to jump up to light heavyweight and score a trio of impressive finishes, including stoppages of “TUF 1” legends Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar.
It seemed as if Silva could do no wrong, but when he stepped into the octagon at the Mandalay Bay to take on the unbeaten New Yorker [autotag]Chris Weidman[/autotag], few could have predicted the outcome.
Silva looked loose and confident. Overconfident, as it turned out. While the champion clowned and taunted Weidman, the young challenger stayed composed as he refused to be goaded into opening up by the Brazilian. Then, just moments after Silva had waved him in and pretended to be hurt by a punch, Weidman found Silva’s chin and hit the jackpot.
A huge left hand landed perfectly on Silva’s chin and dropped the champion hard. He looked almost done at that point, but Weidman wasn’t taking any chances and pounced on “The Spider” to finish the fight with heavy ground strikes. It left the MMA world stunned as the man painted by some as an untouchable champion was finally beaten, and in emphatic fashion, too.
Weidman’s knockout victory still ranks as one of the most stunning upsets ever seen in a UFC championship fight and it elicited a classic – and true – quote from Joe Rogan, who said, “You can’t play games in the octagon.”
Silva found that out to his cost, and the Brazilian legend has never held UFC championship gold since.
Next up: A rising star goes stratospheric