For the past few months, the MMA world has been anticipating October 25th.  Anderson “the Spider” Silva is defending his title once again.  Whenever you hear Anderson Silva is going to fight, you need to plan on being there to watch.  Why?

Not only he is the undisputed champion in the Middleweight division of the UFC, he is considered to be the best fighter in the world!  That is right, pound for pound, no one can touch him.  Every single aspect of his fighing is perfect.  He is a Muay Thai genious and even better on the ground in the art of Brazilian Jiu jitsu.

To top all of this off, he is an extremely respectful and humble champion.  This was displayed during UFC 90 in his fight against Patrick Cote.  Cote was the first fighter to survive to the third round against the Spider.  Then it happened, Cote twisted his knee and tore his ACL.  The fight was over.

Silva was picking apart Cote and easily would have won the fight unless a huge mistake was made.  To me the fight is not the story, though.  What angered me is the fans.  The fans booed Cote after the injury.  He even apologized to the crowd and was still shouted at.  What did Silva do?

Being a true martial artist and champ he would not even celebrate the victory.  His heart went out to Cote, and he clearly was distraught and empathized with the worthy contender.  The Spider even scolded the crowd, telling them they had no idea what sacrifice Cote and all the fighters make to step into the ring.  The long training camps, struggling to maintain weight, and often fighting injured.

Silva even bowed to Cote in a very traditional manner.  He got down on both hands and knees and lowered his head to the ground.  This is how students would greet their masters in ancient martial arts schools.  There is no higher show of respect than that.

Silva is the true embodiement of what a martial artist should be.  If you were number one in the world, would you be that humble?