Anderson Silva explains why all UFC champs could soon be American

(This story appears in today’s edition of USA TODAY.)

For seven years, Brazilian Anderson Silva held onto the UFC middleweight title with an iron grip. But this past week, he found himself trying to answer the question why he and several of his countrymen had lost theirs in recent years.

“Brazilians forgot some things to focus more on other things,” ventured Silva, who ceded the belt to New Yorker Chris Weidman in July 2013. “We forgot the evolution.”

The UFC is an American product, but it’s roots are Brazilian. After Royce Gracie’s early runs of the table in the MMA promotion’s tournament days, there are few times when a belt wasn’t held by a Portuguese speaker.

With time, they’ve headed north to Canada for extended stays; Quebecois George St-Pierre ruled the welterweight division for six years before his current hiatus. And yet, at this moment, evolution looks a lot like uniformity; only one champion is not American.

That’s why some U.S. fans are feeling a little patriotic in advance of Saturday’s UFC 179 event (10 p.m. ET, pay-per-view), where American Chad Mendes (16-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) meets Brazilian featherweight champ Jose Aldo (24-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro.

A clean sweep for America would be significant at a time when the UFC’s reach stretches farther than ever. Not since 2006 did the promotion’s champs hail from a single country (Tim Sylvia, Chuck Liddell, Rich Franklin and Matt Hughes), and it didn’t stay that way for long.

Mendes could help change that, despite the fact the UFC now has champions in nine different weight classes. The former collegiate wrestler not only seeks revenge for a knockout loss to Aldo two years ago, but thinks his win would be better for business. He said the UFC isn’t getting any help from the champ.

“I need some help selling the damn thing,” says Mendes, who called Aldo “a hermit crab in Brazil” who’s failed to live up to his promotional responsibilities.

The jab echoes some of Silva’s early critics, who said his native tongue would be a hindrance to the UFC’s bottom line. His brilliant career inside the octagon shot that down, but the question remains: Would the promotion benefit from a roster of American champions?

So far, all signs point to notoriety – not nationality – as the chief driver of success. There are outliers such as former WWE star Brock Lesnar, who brought countless pro-wrestling fans to the UFC. Most stars, however, are built over time. Silva’s impact wasn’t as immediate, but by his later career, his fights reportedly brought Brazil to a standstill.

Aldo might not do that today, but the promotion still searches around the globe to find the next star. The bet is that fans like fighters, regardless of what language they speak.

The featherweight champion, though, thinks they’ll be hearing plenty of Portuguese in the future.

“In the future, I see other Brazilians also holding a belt,” he says. “There will be other belts. The fans need not worry. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be holding this belt for a long time.”

For complete coverage of UFC 179, check out the UFC Events section of the site.