Anderson Silva already had an impressive resume when he burst into the UFC with the destruction of Chris Leben at Ultimate Fight Night 5 in 2006, but it still came as a bit of a surprise when he easily laid waste to middleweight champion Rich Franklin in his second trip to the Octagon a few months later.
Silva reinforced his dominance over Franklin at UFC 77 a year later, when he stopped "Ace" in the second round with a violent barrage of knees.
"The Spider" continued his reign over the middleweight division for nearly a decade before a pair of losses to Chris Weidman, and a failed drug test for PEDs prior to his comeback bout against Nick Diaz at UFC 183, tarnished his reputation as the sport's greatest fighter.
Franklin, the man Silva decimated twice, appeared on Submission Radio this week (as transcribed by MMAMania.com's Jesse Holland) to discuss his former nemesis' fall from grace.
I mean, I feel bad for him, honestly. Anderson's had this long run and then of course when something like this happens the fans are going to start asking 'well how long has he been on this stuff?' And for him to have such a run the way that he did and to come back from an injury the way that he did, it's just, it's a shame to think that that is going to tarnish his reputation. Like, that that's what he'll leave his career on. Much like Lance Armstrong. He won all those Tour De France's, but as soon as he tested positive for PED's, that's what people remember; is all that stuff and you tend to forget the accomplishments that the guy had, and so I feel bad for him in that sense. Like, because there are guys in this sport, they know how to play the system, they know how to take their chemicals and beat the test somehow. I don't know how they do it, like with masking agents and I'm not saying that that's the case with Anderson, but if people are going to start questioning that and wondering that, and it's just....like honestly, my heart bleeds for the guy, man.
The Nevada Athletic Commission handed Silva a temporary suspension for the failed drug test pending an upcoming hearing.
