NEW YORK – It seems like eons ago that Joe Rogan uttered those prophetic words to his good buddy Mike Goldberg, as if the future of fighting had just crystallized before him and everything else was now obsolete: “This is a different kind of striker.”
They were directed at Anderson Silva, right after Silva took apart Chris Leben in 49 seconds. Silva’s debut was an eye-opener. Heading in people were half-enamored with Leben’s it’s-2am-outside-the-bar fighting style and attitude, particularly Leben himself. He wanted to showcase on the Brazilian, who was coming over from Japan with plenty of happy superlatives.