In MMA, 20 years is a lifetime – and it’s been that long since Anderson Silva burst onto the scene in the UFC.
On June 28, 2006, Silva made a highly touted debut in the organization with a 49-second knockout of “Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 member Chris Leben. A little more than months later, Silva was UFC champion.
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But it all started with a thorough dismantling of Leben in Las Vegas in what was set up as a title eliminator right out of the gate after Silva arrived after several years in Pride, Cage Rage and other international promotions.
Check out Silva’s UFC debut above.
After the Leben win, he won the middleweight title at UFC 64 with a brutal stoppage of champion Rich Franklin. He held the 185-pound title for a record 2,457 consecutive days and 16 straight wins. Silva defended the middleweight title 10 times against the likes of Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Dan Henderson and Demian Maia, and he also fought non-title bouts at light heavyweight with easy wins over Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar.
Silva went into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2023, several years after his final fight in the promotion. In June 2021, he won a split decision over former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a boxing match in Mexico, then knocked out literally one of the dumbest humans on the planet, Tito Ortiz, under the Triller Fight Club umbrella.
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Perhaps most prominently in his post-UFC years, Silva – 47 at the time – lost a decision to Jake Paul in a highly publicized boxing matchup.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: This Date in MMA History: Anderson Silva has 49-second KO in UFC debut
