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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Anderson Silva's 13-month layoff came with a successful payoff on Saturday night at UFC 183, as he defeated Nick Diaz by unanimous decision in the main event.
Silva was overcome with emotion after the decision was announced, falling to the mat and breaking down in tears at the completion of his journey back from a broken leg. However, it may have also been his final fight, as "The Spider" talked about how his sons want him to stop fighting, and how he wasn't quite sure what was next.
Retirement or no, Silva's return to the cage ended with his hand raised, and though the fight was a bit bizarre, he did more than enough to earn the decision in his favor.
Diaz didn't quite do what many expected of him off the bat; instead of trying to walk Silva down and pressure him, he tried to get Silva to come to him by outwardly taunting the former Middleweight Champ. That led to a lot of tentativeness throughout the fight, as each fighter was trying to get the other to engage first.
Ultimately, when it came time to actually engage, Silva was the one taking the most advantage. Diaz connected on a number of exchanges throughout the 25-minute fight, but it was Silva doing the most damage and landing more overall. That led to one-sided scores in Silva's favor, handing Diaz his third straight UFC main event loss.
[Anderson Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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