Tuesday 23 February 2016 08:15, UK
Anderson Silva’s evolution into an all-time great wouldn't have happened without a spell in London, according to the man who brought him to these shores over a decade ago.
The Brazilian legend is considered among the elite handful of cage competitors after a majestic run as UFC middleweight champion which resulted in some of the sport's most iconic knockouts - made possible after he perfected his craft in Dave O'Donnell's Cage Rage.
Silva (33-6-1) will next fight England's premier UFC representative Michael Bisping (27-7) in London, returning to the city where his flamboyant but vicious style was developed.
We brought Anderson over to lose to Lee Murray but, when he didn't, we realised we had a star in the making.
O'Donnell signed the up-and-coming Silva to his domestic promotion in 2004 as cannon fodder for English fighters but soon accepted the brilliant Brazilian import would outgrow them.
"We brought Anderson over to lose [a Cage Rage title fight] to Lee Murray but, when he didn't, we realised we had a star in the making," O'Donnell exclusively told Sky Sports. "He had knockout after knockout in London, then the UFC rightly snapped him up.
"We signed Anderson the same way we brought all the biggest names over - we waited for the right moment, when they'd had a loss and needed rebuilding. With Murray being a rising star over here, it was something Anderson could get his teeth into."
Twelve years ago, the 29-year-old prospect Silva boasted a 13-2 record earned in his homeland and Japan. He had been beaten just a year prior to touching down for the first of four fights at Wembley's Conference Centre that have since become the stuff of legend.
But Silva annihilated Cage Rage favourite Murray to shock the home crowd, crippling his legs en route to a unanimous decision. It quickly dawned on promoter O'Donnell that the quiet boy from the streets of Curitiba had something.
"When he first came over to fight Murray he was booed, but by the end of the fight he was respected and nobody could wait for him to come back," said O'Donnell. "Lee wanted to fight the world's best and we thought Anderson would be a test.
"A lot of Brazilians back in those days would just go to the ground but Anderson was different, always coming up with new tricks, he was the Bruce Lee of MMA."
Yet his development wasn't yet completed - after torching the best that London had to offer, Silva surprisingly lost a fight in Japan by submission. Back to the drawing board.
I brought [Silva] to a gym to do a seminar a few days before he knocked out Tony Fryklund with a reverse elbow. He practiced that move in the seminar and we all thought 'what's he doing?'
Sensing his opportunity, O'Donnell tempted Silva back to The Big Smoke, having lined up stern American opposition. Jorge Rivera and Curtis Stout were promptly knocked out but, when Silva travelled to Hawaii for his next fight, he lost via disqualification. His silky skills were obvious but he just needed one spark to truly ignite his rise, and it would come with a never-repeated stoppage win on his next return to London.
"I brought him to a gym to do a seminar a few days before he knocked out Tony Fryklund with a reverse elbow," O'Donnell recalled. "He practiced that move in the seminar and we all thought 'what's he doing?' That was on the Thursday, he went and did it on Saturday. He never played safe."
The technique in question had never been seen, and since 2006 hasn't been repeated in top-level MMA. Silva, from a southpaw stance, connected with an elbow strike thrown like a boxer's lead-hand uppercut. His opponent crashed downwards, the crowd were eerily silent as they digested what had happened, and one of the UFC's future icons was born.
He was quickly poached by the riches of the Las Vegas-based organisation, as O'Donnell expected. Such a magnificent knockout signalled a step forwards in the growth of MMA that, a decade ago, was dominated by rough-and-tumble brawlers. Two months later, Silva needed 49 seconds to win his Vegas debut.
He twice stopped middleweight champion Rich Franklin and built the best winning streak in UFC history spanning 16 fights, 10 of which were for the world title. His limited grasp of English, increasingly unique offence and respectful demeanour was a throwback to The Karate Kid movie.
"From the beginning he was humble," O'Donnell noted. "He was an animal in the cage but a nice bloke outside it. Some guys just have an aura - when he walked into a room you said 'there's something special about him'."
Two defeats to Chris Weidman, including a gruesome broken leg, plus a failed drugs test have dampened the past three years but Silva is aiming for revitalisation in his spiritual home of London once again.
