When the UFC hosts Ultimate Fight Night 5 on June 28, 2006, at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas Nevada, the organization has just five weight divisions and no active champion for it’s Lightweights. The night Anderson “The Spider” Silva makes his debut, at the Hard Rock Casino, it’s a warm but not scorching Nevada summer evening. In front of a crowd of just over six hundred people, this is the first time The Spider fights in the continental U.S. The UFC championship picture comprises of four very white men:
Silva comes off a victory in the U.K. based fight promotion Cage Rage against Tony Fryklund. A victory the Brazilian celebrated with the zen-like humility only one with who is a committed student of the fight game is capable of.
Ultimate Fight Night 5 would be the Brazilian Muay Thai kickboxing technicians twenty-second fight in nine fight organizations.
Silva enters the bout with nine knockouts on his record. Leben’s record as of Fight Night 5 includes seven knockouts in fifteen victories, undefeated in five fights in the UFC having joined the roster following the first season of The Ultimate Fighter.
The evenings televised bouts leading into the the main event were all drab decisions, but the main event lived up to it’s hype quickly.
A steely stare down by The Spider precedes the opening buzzer and the fighters meet in the center of the octagon and Leben’s skull is met instantly with some laser-like jabs and one-two’s, Leben stumbles and rises only to be met with more ruthless punishment.
The punching combination that knocks The Crippler on his back to end the Spider’s initial assault is worth a second look for any MMA fan, regardless of recent developments in the scientific community regarding the long term implications of blunt force trauma on the human brain.
Dazed after having been thoroughly lambasted, Leben gets to his feet one more time, perhaps regrettably, and Silva finishes the job.
In just under fifty seconds, Leben’s castigation is finally at an end and Silva notches his first UFC victory marking the beginning of an unprecedented seven year win streak for the Brazilian.
After a sole victory, Silva will go on to face Middleweight Champion Rich “Ace” Franklin and become the face of the sport. He’ll dominate the Middleweight division as well as move up in weight for the occasional Light-Heavyweight fight.
Despite a bad stretch of luck for Silva the last two years, he remains the first fighter in the world’s premiere fight organization to completely dominate his division for well over half a decade.
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