There are three things you need to make life hard for Anderson Silva: an adamantine chin, suffocating wrestling and uncompromising submission defense. Of course, having the apocalyptic punching power of Dan Henderson also helps.
The best place to beat Silva is on the ground. The problem is doing it quickly.
In a fight against Anderson Silva, the clock is not your friend. Be it on his feet, with his flawless counter-punching or off his back, utilizing long-limbed submissions, Anderson is the type of fighter to capitalize on his opponents’ mistakes.
They are bound to make them, and so, a fighter’s only bet is to finish the fight early. That no one has ever done this is no reason for Dan Henderson to try.
Since his always-appreciated destruction of Michael Bisping, Henderson added knockouts of Fedor Emelianenko, Rafael Cavalcante and Renalto Sobral to his resume.
While these fighters are clearly not in the same league as Silva’s, does anyone think, Emelianenko notwithstanding, they were in Henderson’s?
Henderson, a two-time Olympian, has some of the best wrestling in MMA. Henderson’s first round with Silva at UFC 82 had everyone thinking that the Brazilian’s reign was ending. He dominated Silva on the ground, blocking his airways and hammerfisting him to the temple while the champion clutched Henderson like a plank from the Titanic.
Then, in the second, Silva caught Henderson with a big shot, got on top of him and finished the fight, garroting him with a rear naked choke.
Opponents have since rocked Henderson on several occasions, but never finished him.
Henderson’s scramble with Rua, resulting briefly in Hendo locking up a true crucifix, has demonstrated his fluency with submissions and, presumably, how to defend them.
The fact is that Anderson Silva can beat any man on any given night. There is no fighter in the world that so clearly outclasses the champion that he unseats Silva as the favorite.
Nevertheless, Hendo has all the tools he needs to bring the title to Murrieta, CA.
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