Video: Anderson Silva says Demian Maia disrespected him

This is the quickest plummet from hero to heel in UFC history. Anderson Silva, through his interpreter and manager Ed Soares, says he did nothing wrong in the cage at UFC 112, that it was his opponent, Demian Maia, who disrespected him “as a fighter” and “morally.”

Apparently, Maia may have stated in a pre-fight interview something to the effect that if Silva gives him the opportunity, he’s going to tear of his arm or choke him out. You know, typical confidence-building tough talk to hype the fight. Silva also says that he’s “never disrespected any of my opponents” in his entire career. Yet there he was on Saturday night showboating like a Harlem Globetrotter. When an NBA team is up 30 points in the fourth quarter you bench your top players, you don’t run up the score to embarrass your opponent – it’s called sportsmanship.

Assuming Soares’s translation is entirely accurate, Silva’s arrogance is sickening. He is a dark, nasty piece of work, an egomaniacal superstar who believes all of his own hype yet feels no need to live up to it. You can forgive a certain degree of jerkitude from those who possess such incredible gifts. But there’s a limit and Silva has crossed it. He’s in Ty Cobb territory now.