Downfall: Paulo Filho edition
At one point, Paulo Filho was considered a top 3 (perhaps the best) middleweight in the world- it was him, Matt Lindland, Anderson Silva, and Dan Henderson. Unfortunately, Filho has been spiralling downward ever since. The trouble began after he beat Chael Sonnen in a controversial match to defend the WEC championship. Due to the question of whether or not Chael tapped (sound a little familiar?), an immediate rematch was booked.
Filho was clearly not himself in the rematch. He was talking to himself during the fight and did not know where he was. He looked sluggish and out of shape. Previously, he had delayed the rematch by checking into a substance abuse facility, and missed weight (the match was non-title was a result). People started talking about Filho having drug issues, which was previously unknown. It was one of the most bizarre moments in MMA history.
Filho got back on the winning track, but his behaviour became more and more erratic. He no-showed a fight in DREAM against Yoon Dong-Sik, pulled out of a fight with Bitetti Combat, then said he was going to show up, then didn’t show up for the weight in. He was supposed to fight Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard and didn’t, giving a weird answer that didn’t help his cause. He also started losing, compiling a 3-3-2 record in the last 2 calendar years. Like in the 2nd Sonnen fight, Filho appeared ‘off’ frequently. Unfortunate things keep occurring.
In the course of all this he got a face tattoo. Recently one of his friends has stated that Filho is likely going to die without serious help. It’s a sad tale of someone who could have been one of the greats but was consumed by some very nasty demons.
Now he is slated to fight Mamed Khalidov at the next KSW event. Filho has said he was going to retire after this fight, win or lose. Hopefully this is not another erratic murmuring of a man who has lost his mind and somehow he’ll be able to set things straight.
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Sad. At his age and with all the drugs he’s done his career is finished.
You know, I’ve always thought Filho wasn’t that great. Sure he was undefeated, but this was on the minor circuits. He subbed Chael, but was getting dominated before that. And everyone has subbed Chael. Guess we’ll never find out.
He stopped Sonnen, Doerkson, Misaki, Chonan. Beat Ninja, Suloev (205), Kondo. That’s a pretty good record.