MMA legend Anderson Silva, 46-years-old, turned back the clock on Saturday night in Mexico, when he won an eight round split decision over former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Two judges gave Silva the fight with 77-75 scores, with the third official handing the same score of 77-75 to Chavez Jr.

Chavez Jr. was already in bad spot on Friday, when he failed to make weight - coming in 2.4-pounds above the contract weight of 182-pounds.

He was forced to fork over a penalty of $100,000 to Silva.

During the fight, Silva started slow but eventually began to outwork and outbox Chavez Jr. as the contest played out. Chavez Jr. was visibly tired in the second half and was dealing with a cut under his right eye.

Silva, who at one time was one of the biggest names in mixed martial arts, was overwhelmed with emotion when the victory was announced.

“I feel so happy,” Silva said. “I need to say thank you cause my coach worked with me a lot. I need to this because I love fighting and boxing is my dream for many, many years and I need to prove my respect for boxing. I can’t come in here and not do my best.”

On the other hand, Chavez Jr. disagreed with the officials scores. He felt the contest should have been scored a draw and denied being hurt in the fight.

“It could have been draw,” Chavez Jr. said. “I failed to throw more punches. He didn’t really do much damage. But it was enough for a draw.”