Silva hurts himself in the leg; Cannonier booed after TKO victory

Jared Cannonier stood in the center of the octagon, a microphone in his face, silent.

The crowd, meanwhile, was anything but.

Spectators at Rio de Janeiro's Youth Arena rained Cannonier for nearly a minute after his TKO of legend Anderson Silva at 4 minutes 47 seconds of the first round on Saturday night, as part of the event. main event of UFC 237.

A few seconds earlier, Cannonier kicked inside Silva's right leg. At impact, Silva collapsed on the carpet and grabbed her knee with pain. The referee Herb Dean canceled the bout, and Cannonier was declared the winner.

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It was the first time that Silva, an icon of his native country, had been fighting in Brazil since 2012. And the fans could not accept the end of the fight, as legitimate as it is.

Cannonier thanked Silva for this opportunity, but had a few words chosen for the spectators.

"The crowd is another story," Cannonier said. "They do not respect me, I have no respect for them, and it's just that."

Silva later stated that he had entered the fight with a knee injury that he had not mentioned before.

"I'm sorry guys," Silva said. "At the training, my knee was already a little bad, I took a good kick and it did not hold up, I'm sorry."

Before the coup de grace, Cannonier touched Silva's leg several times. The area around Silva's knee was already bruised. It was the most effective offensive from either man in a fight that had not yet reached his point of departure.

Cannonier (12-4) has now won two straight wins and is on the list of middleweight contenders after already being beaten in both the heavyweight and light heavyweights of the year. 39; UFC. The Dallas native, who trains at the MMA Lab in Arizona, won his middleweight debut against David Branch at UFC 230 in November. Cannonier, 35, won in 10 of his 12 wins.

Silva (34-10, 1 NC) is no stranger to leg injuries during fights. He broke his left leg – a common fracture – in a middleweight title fight against Chris Weidman at UFC 168 in 2013.

"The Spider", who is now 44 years old, has lost two games in a row and has more than one win since 2012. Silva is still considered historically as one of the biggest champions of the sport. UFC of all time, although it is at the back of his career. The Californian resident still holds the UFC record of consecutive wins (16). It was the 23rd main event or co-principal of Silva, which sets the modern record.