Apart from the inevitable conclusion, I was wrong in my Ali/Wepner metaphor.

(does this remind you of another famous, iconic image of a certain iconic Boxing legend?)

After dropping him twice, Anderson Silva sent Forrest Griffin crashing to the mat one final time for the win. In only three minutes and 23 seconds of the first round, the final crash was amazing, propelled by merely a right jab while Anderson was backing up. Upon crashing, Forrest put a hand up, signaling he had enough.

Therefore, I was largely wrong in envisioning Silva vs. Griffin as MMA's equivalent of Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner. Forrest Griffin never put Anderson in danger, and never had a chance to go the distance; Wepner went the distance, and shocked the world when he sent Ali down on his ass in the 9th round. But, Ali inevitably came back, and sent Wepner down for good in the 15th and final round. I was right in envisioning Silva's win as inevitable as Ali's win, and right in envisioning Griffin and Wepner as epitomizing the every man who never quit, but I was wrong in envisioning Forrest Griffin taking Anderson Silva to the distance.

However, I was nowhere near as wrong as the audience, as well as the Internet community. Instantanenously, the audience changed their tune regarding Silva, as they initially booed him during his entrance and introduction. The response from most of the Internet MMA community was similarly faster than the speed of light, as they are now back riding the Anderson Silva bandwagon, and agree with Dana's White assessment of Silva as the "Pound-for-Pound Best Fighter in the World."

But, Anderson Silva never lost his status as the Pound for Pound Best. In his last two Middleweight fights, he was showcasing his ability to toy with opponents and end a fight whenever/however he wants. How many fighters can do that!?

As for Forrest Griffin? The keyboard warriors were judging and criticizing him for running out of the cage immediately after his defeat. Forrest is known to be distressed in defeat, whether it is humbly criticizing his own performance (after the split-decision loss to Tito Ortiz), or crying uncontrollably (after being knocked out by Keith Jardine). All fighters handle defeat differently, but most share one thing: passion. Agony accompanies that level of passion when a fighter experiences defeat. Whether a fighter humbly accepts or reacts emotionally, it is only natural, and any criticism from fans is completely unwarranted. As Frank Trigg says, "anyone who criticizes Forrest Griffin has never been passionate about anything in their life." Forrest will bounce back regardless, because he is a true fighter, and cannot be permanently broken by defeat.

But, several of those finger-tapping warriors consider the defeat embarassing, specifically in the way Forrest lost. Sure, the short arm jab may not have looked as visually "strong" as a dynamite-stacked high kick to the head or a Chuck Liddell swinging knock out of ultra-death, but it was damn impressive, and certainly not embarassing. The fact Anderson can land such a devistating blow in defense while merely backing up is much more amazing and calculated than the C4-explosive high kick or the dialed-up OhMyGawd knock out of uber-violent death. Don't get me wrong, I like explosive endings as much as the next viewer, but Anderson Silva's technique and skill is out of this world. Anyone who still questions or doubts Anderson Silva is a fool.

The biggest question is, how is losing to a man who is the best in the world AND one of the elite strikers in the game... in any way, embarassing? When Forrest Griffin retires, he will be able to look back at his career, and tell people that he fought some of the very best fighters in the history of the sport.

Win, lose or draw, Forrest Griffin has absolutely nothing to be embarassed about.

Besides, everybody loses to Anderson Silva. If Mixed Martial Arts were an Arcade video game tournament, it'd be Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and Anderson Silva would be Akuma. The reason? As David Sirlin explains, "most characters in that game cannot beat Akuma. I don’t mean it’s a tough match—I mean they cannot ever, ever, ever, ever win... his air fireball move is something the game simply wasn’t designed to handle. He is not merely the best character in the game, but is at least ten times better than other characters."

While Akuma is banned from use in U.S. competition, Anderson Silva cannot be stopped. He has as much control over when/how to end a fight as he does over when to retire from competition.