Anderson Silva is the most successful UFC fighter of all time. He’s stood across the cage from another human being, usually a snarling pitbull of a man, 14 times in his UFC career. Every time, ten times in title fights, he’s walked out of the cage with his head held high.
Many of the UFC’s top fighters historically have made their bones the conservative way—by putting their opponent on his back and keeping them there over the entire course of the fight. For a wrestler, it’s the safest route to victory. Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz rode that style all the way to the UFC Hall of Fame. Georges St-Pierre will join them there when his career is over.
Silva is the outlier. In a sport historically dominated by grapplers, he’s a striker who has made shutting off another man’s brain, at least temporarily, an art form. His creativity, adaptability and incredible speed have made him a legend. He’s shown there are other avenues to success in the Octagon, and in doing so, become an icon on three continents.
Anderson Silva, despite being the best fighter in the UFC, is a bit of an enigma. Partially due to a language barrier, partially due to a fierce grasp on his privacy, few know what makes this man tick.
With 26 individual, but interconnected essays, I’ll give dissecting Silva a shot—it’s Anderson Silva A-Z.