Anderson Silva is a man of elegance and style.
Inside the UFC Octagon, Silva moves with an unparalleled grace, always ready to strike, yet always ready to defend.
Like his movement, Silva’s rise in the UFC’s middleweight division was sensational, a highlight reel of exotic finishes and displays of utter brilliance.
And then came Chael Sonnen.
For more than 20 minutes, the itsy-bitsy “Spider” tumbled clumsily down the water spout.
At UFC 117, Silva was not graceful.
He was not elegant, and he was not stellar.
He was, in fact, terrible.
Like all great ones, however, Silva managed to pull off a historic comeback in the form of a triangle-armbar midway through the bout’s final round.
For Silva, the win was close…too close.
At UFC 148, Anderson Silva must be better, or he will find himself on the wrong end of another beatdown, and he will not want to have to rely on a Hail Mary submission attempt a second time.
Here are five lessons that “The Spider” learned from his first matchup with Sonnen.