Anderson Silva didn’t want to stand with Lee Murray when the pair fought at Wembley Conference Centre 14 years ago. He beat him (that was never really in doubt), and walked away with a Cage Rage middleweight title, but the Brazilian, they said, wasn’t keen to strike with his confrontational opponent, and this, in the context of adding layers to the Murray legend, is kind of all that mattered.
As far as moral victories go, it was about as good as anybody could hope for against Silva. Not only that, it spoke to Murray’s potential. For if this ill-disciplined brawler from south London could spook arguably the greatest striker in MMA history, and then quite comfortably last 15 minutes in his presence, there must be more to him than an unsettling aura and a pair of heavy hands.