Anderson’s antics may have been his undoing.

When it comes to fighting there is no exact science. Sure, you can train to perform a bevvy of different techniques to establish a unique style all your own, but nothing is never truly concrete. Training and preparation are designed to get you ready for the bout at hand, but that can only do so much. Once you’re facing your opponent, it’ll be up to you to perform to the best of your abilities. If this past weekend has shown us anything, it’s that even having a tremendous amount of skill a fighter can still fall prey to their own hubris. UFC Fight Night 84 has come and gone leaving with most everyone with differing opinions on how the event unfolded. Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping went to war in the main event, both men having their own shining examples of pugilistic brilliance during he five round affair. Bisping had great success early against the former middleweight kingpin hurting Silva in both rounds one and two. It was in the third frame that things got interesting when Silva landed a devastating and controversial flying knee that nearly ended the fight. That’s where hubris came into play. Anderson had the chance to definitively end the match in the fourth and even fifth rounds, yet instead of pushing for the finish at the beginning of the fourth, he instead allowed Bisping to get himself back into the fight. Bisping heavily damaged, but there was no quit in the brash Brit. When all was said and done, Bisping did enough on the judges score cards to walk away with his biggest victory to date. The thing is, as much as Bisping’s victory had to do with his own performance, Anderson Silva sealed his fate by not being able to pull the trigger. Now I’m not one of those individuals who criticize fighters without ever having experienced a fight myself. The feeling of pressure, the battle haze, all of it can go a long way to making fights play out in a far different way than anticipated. But in Silva’s case it was his inactivity that hurt him the most in the fight. He still has dangerous striking when he chooses to use it, but rather than pepper Bisping with strikes until he was able to produce the finish, Silva was instead looking for the homerun shot in the fourth round which allowed Bisping to recover. Silva is a counter striker through and through. It was Bisping’s great usage of footwork, volume, and rhythm changes that made it difficult for Silva to counter. But for how damaged Bisping was entering the fourth frame one can’t help but wonder if Silva’s decision to play it safe ultimately proved to be his undoing. Granted, he believed the match was over after the third due to the nature of round’s end, which no doubt caused an adrenaline dump. Still, Silva is a professional fighter who has seen and done it all, and the fact that he didn’t capitalize on a wounded prey may speak more to his deterioration than overconfidence. Time will tell if we’ll see Silva back in the cage again, but if he does choose to continue to compete he must adopt that old attitude he once had when dispatching his many opponents. The fight game is a kill or be killed sport and Silva once again had to learn the hard way that playing with your food can do more harm than good. Who do you think won the fight between Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping? Let us know in the comments and forums. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron MMA on Facebook and Twitter. Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter to keep up with his antics.