UFC 234 had a main event between the 43-year-old legend Anderson "The Spider" Silva and the 29-year-old rising star Israel "The Style Bender" Adesanya.
Why does that matter?
With the way MMA usually develops, these two are essentially two different generations of fighters. 14 years is enough time that one fighter could have grown up watching the older fighter without even considering a career in the cage.
That's how it was for Adesanya, who watched Silva fight back when Adesanya was just a kid in New Zealand. For perspective, when Adesanya first started training as a kickboxer, Silva was in the midst of his record reign as UFC middleweight champion.
So UFC 234's main event was between two generations of fighters, but, more importantly, it was between two fighters with everything to prove.
At 43, "The Spider" went into UFC 234 with the desire to prove that he still had something left in the tank. Silva went into UFC 234 with one win since 2012, and that win was controversial because almost every media company on the planet scored the fight in favor of Silva's opponent. Throw in Silva's two suspensions during that time, and the middleweight GOAT, looked like he was very vulnerable.
At 29, "The Style Bender" went into 234 with his eyes on being the middleweight champion in the near future. After the issue with the co-main event, Adesanya has a case to be next if Robert Whittaker is going to be out for an extended period of time. For Adesanya, this fight was a must win.
But Johnnie, you said this article was about an important lesson, so what's the lesson?
Well, the lesson of the main event is pretty simple: it's always about respect.
There are a lot of times in sports where we forget that at the end of the day we are all people. Silva and Adesanya both had everything to prove going into UFC 234, but after it was all said and done, they hugged, talked, and bowed to end the night. They showed each other the utmost respect after having put everything on the line that night.
Compare the ending of UFC 234 to UFC 229, where Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor ended their fight with utter chaos, including Khabib fighting members of McGregor's crew. Don't get me wrong, that fight had been building to something like what happened given the amount of hate that built to UFC 229, but they made that fight personal, where most people will not compete in a sport where things get that personal.
Most of the time, we will be in situations where we compete without things turning into a borderline "blood feud." Silva and Adesanya recognized that which is why the ending of UFC 234 was really something special. They respected each other after the fight and showed that respect to each other and everyone watching.
At the end of the day, it was about respect. They both showed it and they both earned it.
