The UFC 208 co-main event saw former UFC middleweight champion and MMA legend Anderson Silva take on middleweight contender Derek Brunson. Silva was in search of his first win since 2012, while Brunson was aiming to rebound from a difficult TKO loss to Robert Whittaker last November. It wasn’t a scintillating fight, but it was a (controversial) winning performance for Silva.

As expected, it was a slow-paced opening two minutes. Silva turned up the heat and rush forward with strikes, and then Brunson closed the distance and clinched up. Brunson threw some short punches before they separated. Derek tagged Anderson with a couple of punches in the clinch, but Silva took them well. Brunson connected on a hard leg kick. Silva threw a right hook and Brunson retreated by essentially running away. Silva landed a nice body kick and then threw a spinning back kick to the head. Brunson battered Silva with a series of hard uppercuts and power shots in the clinch, and then Silva slipped to his back after throwing a flying knee to end the round. Brunson wound up on top in Silva’s guard.

Brunson shot for a takedown early in round 2, and Silva sprawled easily. Silva just missed on a knee as Brunson ducked under. Brunson scored with a nice left hand. Silva threw a straight left that partially landed. A spinning backfist seemed to tag Brunson, who complained of an eye poke before taking Silva down. Silva returned to his feet fairly quickly. Brunson got hit with a standing shoulder strike in the clinch. A double-leg attempt by Brunson was stuffed again by Silva, who again jerked his shoulder up. Silva did a little dance and got in a kick to the chest. Brunson was cracked by a Silva jab before the round ended.

Brunson tried to take Silva down in round 3, but Silva used the whizzer to keep himself upright. Silva tagged Brunson on the counter and then sprawled again on a Brunson double leg. Silva popped Brunson with the jab once more. Brunson cracked Silva with a hard Muay Thai knee. Silva threw a hard knee to the body as he grabbed a hold of Brunson’s head, and Brunson threw punches in the clinch. Anderson threw a spinning kick that apparently hit Brunson in the groin, but Brunson evidently was okay enough to continue. Brunson took Silva down with 90 seconds left. Derek took some elbows to the head, but fired back with punches from Silva’s guard, and that capped off the bout.

Official result: Anderson Silva def. Derek Brunson by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)