Tag: Anderson Silva

UFC 134 Results: How Many Fights Are Left for Anderson Silva at Middleweight?

In the main event of UFC 134, middleweight champion Anderson Silva completely outclassed Yushin Okami, stopping him with effective ground-and-pound in the second round. After a UFC record 14-consecutive wins and nine-consecutive title defenses, The Spi…

In the main event of UFC 134, middleweight champion Anderson Silva completely outclassed Yushin Okami, stopping him with effective ground-and-pound in the second round.

After a UFC record 14-consecutive wins and nine-consecutive title defenses, The Spider has firmly solidified his place as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) MMA fighters of all time.

Silva has soundly run through the “Who’s who” list of prominent 185-pounders in the sport, including Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson (at the time), Chael Sonnen, Nate Marquardt, Chris Leben and most recently Okami.

The only intriguing rematch at middleweight for Silva at this point is Chael Sonnen. 

Since Silva’s dominant UFC run, Sonnen is the only guy to utilize an effective strategy against the highly-skilled Brazilian for four-and-a-half rounds. 

Prior to being submitted, Sonnen was comfortably ahead on all three judges’ scorecards. 

Sonnen’s lack of respect, and really utter disdain, of Silva shows that he would push the pace and not be afraid to get physical with The Spider if the two were ever to meet again in the Octagon.

Chael’s wrestling pedigree and unparalleled ability to talk trash mean that the fight would be a huge seller, especially due to Sonnen turning his feud with Silva into an all-out war with the MMA community from Brazil.

Unfortunately, this fight is no sure thing, and the alternatives at 185 are not very enticing.

If Brian Stann is able to defeat Sonnen at UFC 136, he will be next in line for a shot at Sonnen. 

While the pre-fight build-up would be solid given Stann’s military accolades, the bottom line is that he matches up miserably with Silva.

It is well documented that Stann is tough as nails and packs a powerful punch, but at the end of the day no striker at middleweight stands a chance against Anderson.

This is why a rematch with Vitor Belfort or Chris Leben (albeit extremely unlikely) would be pointless. 

Belfort has repeatedly shown that he is immensely talented, but he has never shown the propensity to step up to the plate for the big fights. 

And Leben is simply no longer a top-tier middleweight. 

A new fight for Silva that is a realistic possibility is Mark Munoz, but despite being a pretty solid wrestler, he is not as talented or as mentally tough as Sonnen. 

There is little doubt that The Spider would finish Munoz inside two rounds if they ever met inside the cage.

The only new fight at middleweight for the Black House MMA fighter that fans are legitimately interested in seeing is one against a fighter that has never fought at 185: Georges St. Pierre.   

The reigning UFC welterweight champion, who is generally considered the second-best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA, seems to be one of the few legitimate threats left for Silva.

His expert game planning and excellent wrestling make him a great matchup for Silva, and his black belt in BJJ doesn’t hurt his cause either. 

However, GSP has shown very little interest in bumping up for this fight, despite having very few challenges left at welterweight. 

St-Pierre’s main issue seems to be with adding 15 to 20 pounds of muscle to his frame for one middleweight fight, before then dropping back down to 170. 

GSP’s insistence to remain a full-time competitor at welterweight may very well keep this fight from ever happening.

To be fair, the French-Canadian still has some quality opponents remaining in the form of Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit and perhaps guys like Rory MacDonald, Diego Sanchez and Rick Story somewhere down the line.

With that in mind, is light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones the only realistic challenge left for Silva, outside of Sonnen?

Silva has already expressed no interest in bumping up to fight his “friend,” but Jones said he would have no issues signing on the dotted line for the super fight. 

If Bones defeats Rampage Jackson at UFC 135, few challenges remain at 205 outside of Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans. 

A rematch with Mauricio Rua has some interest after Shogun’s dominant victory over Forrest Griffin, but it’s difficult to imagine Rua providing a real challenge for Jones after seeing how their first bout played out. 

Very few middleweight matches for Silva are worth watching at this point, so hopefully the UFC has a plan in tact if Sonnen or Stann come up short against Silva. 

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UFC 134 Aftermath: Spoiler Alert, Brazilians Outmatch their Opponents


I get what he’s trying to say, but it’s a stretch to call his tilt with Okami a “date”

Perhaps it’s pointless to write an aftermath article for an Anderson Silva fight anymore. Not necessarily because he hasn’t lost since 2006, but rather, because Anderson Silva summed up his dominance of the middleweight division perfectly himself. After his victory over Yushin Okami last night, Kenny Florian asked Anderson Silva if there’s anyone out there he would like to fight next. His response? “My clone”.

If the idea of multiple Anderson Silvas wasn’t somehow reminiscent of the plot of Terminator, I’d agree with him. Other than a rematch with Dan Henderson (if the money is right) or a rematch with Chael Sonnen (if he can get past Brian Stann), who else is out there for him? Or rather, who else at middleweight?

This doesn’t mean that Yushin Okami doesn’t deserve credit for his performance. If Yushin Okami had any chance of beating Anderson Silva, it was going to involve getting Silva on his back and avoiding submissions. Okami started out well enough, pushing Silva into the cage and clinching with the far superior striker. The only problem was that Okami was completely unable to take Silva down. After eating a head kick at the end of the first round, it was only a matter of time before the gun-shy challenger got caught again.


I get what he’s trying to say, but it’s a stretch to call his tilt with Okami a “date”

Perhaps it’s pointless to write an aftermath article for an Anderson Silva fight anymore. Not necessarily because he hasn’t lost since 2006, but rather, because Anderson Silva summed up his dominance of the middleweight division perfectly himself. After his victory over Yushin Okami last night, Kenny Florian asked Anderson Silva if there’s anyone out there he would like to fight next. His response? “My clone”.

If the idea of multiple Anderson Silvas wasn’t somehow reminiscent of the plot of Terminator, I’d agree with him. Other than a rematch with Dan Henderson (if the money is right) or a rematch with Chael Sonnen (if he can get past Brian Stann), who else is out there for him? Or rather, who else at middleweight?

This doesn’t mean that Yushin Okami doesn’t deserve credit for his performance. If Yushin Okami had any chance of beating Anderson Silva, it was going to involve getting Silva on his back and avoiding submissions.  Okami started out well enough, pushing Silva into the cage and clinching with the far superior striker. The only problem was that Okami was completely unable to take Silva down. After eating a head kick at the end of the first round, it was only a matter of time before the gun-shy challenger got caught again.

It took Mauricio “Shogun” Rua just under two minutes to prove that he still belongs in the mix at light-heavyweight. Fighting in Brazil for the first time since 2003, Shogun capitalized on Griffin’s attempt to push the pace and avenged his loss to Griffin from 2007. Aside from knocking Griffin out last night, Shogun may have permanently knocked Griffin out of contention for another light-heavyweight title shot. It’s been fun while it lasted, but perhaps it’s time for Griffin to be relegated to the proverbial old guy division.

In other action, Edson Barboza predictably defeated Ross Pearson, though the fight was far closer than most anticipated it being. Barboza may have gotten the victory, but it’s hard to imagine his stock rising after barely getting by a handpicked opponent. Meanwhile, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who essentially made a career out of coming back from early damage to win fights, showed us more of the same in his comeback victory over Brendan Schaub. Perhaps Schuab, who was in trouble early against Cro Cop in his last fight, wasn’t as ready for the step up in competition as we were led to believe. Likewise, Big Nog looked slow and vulnerable for most of the fight. While it’s still an impressive victory for Nogueira, it’s also premature to declare that he is back in the mix at heavyweight.

For the record, Luiz Cane is the only Brazilian on the card to lose to a foreign opponent, getting knocked out by Stanislay Nedkov. Cane has now lost three of his last four. Luis Ramos, who fought fellow Brazilian Erick Silva, was the only other Brazilian to lose last night.

Full results, courtesy of MMAFighting.com:

Main Card
Anderson Silva def. Yushin Okami via second-round TKO
Mauricio Rua def. Forrest Griffin via first-round KO
Edson Barboza def. Ross Pearson via split decision
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Brendan Schaub via first-round KO
Stanislav Nedkov def. Luiz Cane via first-round TKO

Preliminary Bouts
Thiago Tavares def. Spencer Fisher via second-round TKO
Rousimar Palhares def. Dan Miller via unanimous decision
Paulo Thiago def. David Mitchell via unanimous decision
Raphael Assuncao def. Johnny Eduardo by unanimous decision
Erick Silva def. Luis Ramos via first-round TKO
Yuri Alcantara def. Felipe Arantes via unanimous decision
Yves Jabouin def. Ian Loveland via split decision

UFC 134 Results: MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva added on to one of the greatest legacies in professional sports with a TKO victory over Yushin Okami at UFC 134 on Saturday night. The champion used his deadly boxing and Matrix-like head movement to pick the co…

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva added on to one of the greatest legacies in professional sports with a TKO victory over Yushin Okami at UFC 134 on Saturday night.

The champion used his deadly boxing and Matrix-like head movement to pick the contender apart in the standup exchanges and earn the stoppage at 2:04 of the second round.

There is no denying Silva’s brilliance in the bout, but it’s hard to look past Okami’s poor game plan. If there is one weakness in Silva’s game, it has to be his wrestling, which happens to be Okami’s strongest skill set. Instead of sticking to his strengths, the Japanese grappler curiously decided to stand and exchange with the greatest striker in MMA history.

Silva has virtually stomped out the entire middleweight division, and the only bouts left for the future Hall of Famer are rematches and superfights at light heavyweight.

There is always the slim possibility of a blockbuster superfight with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. The bout could finally answer the most debated question in all of MMA. Who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world––Silva or GSP?

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When Anderson Silva Fights, Opponents and Records Both Fall

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Anderson Silva celebrated his 36th birthday just two months ago, yet at an age when most fighters are nearing the conclusion of their athletic careers, the “Spider” looks no closer to falling back to the middleweight pack. A true natural phenomenon, he seems immune to aging and unaffected by the laws of physics.

So far above the rest is Silva that not only has he never lost in the UFC octagon, he’s also barely ever been in a real fight. During his record UFC run, only Chael Sonnen pushed him for any extended period of time. Yushin Okami was thought to have a chance due to a skill-set that is similar to Sonnen’s, yet after Silva spent a couple minutes surveying Okami’s tentative plans, it soon became a quick night of work.

The victory extended some of Silva’s own records, and set others. Here’s a look at some of his historic marks.

Most all-time knockdowns in UFC history – 15
No. 2 – Chuck Liddell, 14
Silva is arguably the most devastating striker in UFC history, even ahead of big punchers like Liddell or Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Amazingly, Silva has his 15 knockdowns in 14 career bouts. Liddell needed 23 fights to notch his 14 knockdowns. How does he do it? See below.

No. 1 in significant strike accuracy – 68.5%
No. 2 – Cheick Kongo, 61.3%
One of the reasons Silva is No. 1 all-time in UFC knockdowns is because of his accuracy. When Silva finds his range, he gets laser-lock on his opponent, and it becomes target practice. He’s not just No. 1 in this category, he’s No. 1 by a wide margin. If you stand in front of Silva, you’re going to get hit, and hit hard.

Longest all-time UFC win streak – 14
No. 2 – Georges St-Pierre, 9
Fourteen straight wins is an absurd number at the highest level of MMA. There are too many ways to lose, yet his opponents haven’t found one yet. Think about this: Chuck Liddell‘s longest UFC win streak was seven. Matt Hughes‘ was six. Randy Couture‘s was four. BJ Penn‘s is three. Those are four of the most respected champions in UFC history, and Silva’s streak is completely out of their league.

Best all-time UFC win percentage – 1.000 (tie)
No. 2 – Cain Velasquez, 1.000
Maybe one day Velasquez can boast of a record like Silva’s, but he’s not there quite yet despite holding the UFC heavyweight championship. His seven straight wins are only half of what Silva has accomplished, and his first couple of fights as a rookie were against fellow newcomers who didn’t present him any significant challenge. Silva, on the other hand, was basically a top contender from the second he entered the UFC octagon for the first time. He’s basically always faced the best available competition.

Most title fight victories – 10
No. 2 – Georges St-Pierre, 9
St-Pierre’s number comes with an asterisk, as one of his title fight wins was an interim title bout. GSP is 9-2 in title bouts, an excellent record, but it doesn’t sound nearly as impressive against Silva’s ridiculous 10-0 mark. When you’re the champion, everyone is gunning for you. When you’re the champion as long as Silva, your challenger works extra hard to attain the historic position of being the man to end the streak. Yet Silva keeps right on winning.

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Most UFC title defenses – 9
No. 2 – St-Pierre, 6
Keeping motivation levels high after you reach the top is a great challenge to many athletes. It’s easy to focus when there is someone else to focus on. But when you reach the top, there is a natural tendency to look around and enjoy the view. Silva hasn’t gotten lazy or got into bad habits. He continues to work hard and that’s why he stays physically sharp.

Longest reign by days – 1,779
By virtue of his win over Okami, Silva virtually ensures that he will hold the belt on October 14, a day that will mark the fifth anniversary of his championship win over Rich Franklin back at UFC 64. One day he’ll lose the belt, right? Right?

At this point, it’s safe to say Silva is the greatest mixed martial artist in history. The sport is still young, so it’s quite possible someone will surpass his achievements within a few years, but for those of us lucky enough to have witnessed him, we’ll know what we saw. For Anderson Silva, winning was not enough, he had to set records, too. Age may be chasing him in a way that opponents never could, but for now, it appears that neither is gaining any ground.

 

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Anderson Silva celebrated his 36th birthday just two months ago, yet at an age when most fighters are nearing the conclusion of their athletic careers, the “Spider” looks no closer to falling back to the middleweight pack. A true natural phenomenon, he seems immune to aging and unaffected by the laws of physics.

So far above the rest is Silva that not only has he never lost in the UFC octagon, he’s also barely ever been in a real fight. During his record UFC run, only Chael Sonnen pushed him for any extended period of time. Yushin Okami was thought to have a chance due to a skill-set that is similar to Sonnen’s, yet after Silva spent a couple minutes surveying Okami’s tentative plans, it soon became a quick night of work.

The victory extended some of Silva’s own records, and set others. Here’s a look at some of his historic marks.

Most all-time knockdowns in UFC history – 15
No. 2 – Chuck Liddell, 14
Silva is arguably the most devastating striker in UFC history, even ahead of big punchers like Liddell or Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Amazingly, Silva has his 15 knockdowns in 14 career bouts. Liddell needed 23 fights to notch his 14 knockdowns. How does he do it? See below.

No. 1 in significant strike accuracy – 68.5%
No. 2 – Cheick Kongo, 61.3%
One of the reasons Silva is No. 1 all-time in UFC knockdowns is because of his accuracy. When Silva finds his range, he gets laser-lock on his opponent, and it becomes target practice. He’s not just No. 1 in this category, he’s No. 1 by a wide margin. If you stand in front of Silva, you’re going to get hit, and hit hard.

Longest all-time UFC win streak – 14
No. 2 – Georges St-Pierre, 9
Fourteen straight wins is an absurd number at the highest level of MMA. There are too many ways to lose, yet his opponents haven’t found one yet. Think about this: Chuck Liddell‘s longest UFC win streak was seven. Matt Hughes‘ was six. Randy Couture‘s was four. BJ Penn‘s is three. Those are four of the most respected champions in UFC history, and Silva’s streak is completely out of their league.

Best all-time UFC win percentage – 1.000 (tie)
No. 2 – Cain Velasquez, 1.000
Maybe one day Velasquez can boast of a record like Silva’s, but he’s not there quite yet despite holding the UFC heavyweight championship. His seven straight wins are only half of what Silva has accomplished, and his first couple of fights as a rookie were against fellow newcomers who didn’t present him any significant challenge. Silva, on the other hand, was basically a top contender from the second he entered the UFC octagon for the first time. He’s basically always faced the best available competition.

Most title fight victories – 10
No. 2 – Georges St-Pierre, 9
St-Pierre’s number comes with an asterisk, as one of his title fight wins was an interim title bout. GSP is 9-2 in title bouts, an excellent record, but it doesn’t sound nearly as impressive against Silva’s ridiculous 10-0 mark. When you’re the champion, everyone is gunning for you. When you’re the champion as long as Silva, your challenger works extra hard to attain the historic position of being the man to end the streak. Yet Silva keeps right on winning.

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Most UFC title defenses – 9
No. 2 – St-Pierre, 6
Keeping motivation levels high after you reach the top is a great challenge to many athletes. It’s easy to focus when there is someone else to focus on. But when you reach the top, there is a natural tendency to look around and enjoy the view. Silva hasn’t gotten lazy or got into bad habits. He continues to work hard and that’s why he stays physically sharp.

Longest reign by days – 1,779
By virtue of his win over Okami, Silva virtually ensures that he will hold the belt on October 14, a day that will mark the fifth anniversary of his championship win over Rich Franklin back at UFC 64. One day he’ll lose the belt, right? Right?

At this point, it’s safe to say Silva is the greatest mixed martial artist in history. The sport is still young, so it’s quite possible someone will surpass his achievements within a few years, but for those of us lucky enough to have witnessed him, we’ll know what we saw. For Anderson Silva, winning was not enough, he had to set records, too. Age may be chasing him in a way that opponents never could, but for now, it appears that neither is gaining any ground.

 

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UFC 134 Results: Anderson Silva Shows Why He Is Greatest of All Time

If there was any doubt that Anderson Silva was the toughest fighter to ever step in the UFC ring, he made sure that doubt was gone when he beat down Yushin Okami during UFC 134. UFC 134 was the first fight in Brazil for the UFC in 13 years, and Silva r…

If there was any doubt that Anderson Silva was the toughest fighter to ever step in the UFC ring, he made sure that doubt was gone when he beat down Yushin Okami during UFC 134.

UFC 134 was the first fight in Brazil for the UFC in 13 years, and Silva returned to his homeland with a bang, knocking Okami out in the second round with a barrage of punches to the head and body.

Okami was standing with Silva for most of the fight, but it was hard to tell if he was as good as him or if Silva was toying with him.

One knockout later, he was just toying with him.

Silva told ESPN after the fight about his mentality entering the battle:

I’m training hard; I’m training hard for my team. I came here to fight. I train hard for the best guys in the world. I pushed the fight.

To say that he pushed the fight would be an understatement, and Silva made Okami abandon the strategy that he had been working on for months in a matter of minutes.

That is the beauty of Silva.

When anyone fights Silva for his title, that fighter prepares for months in every way that he can to try to take the Brazilian champion down, but unlike any fighter I ever saw before, Silva will spends the first round studying the opposition and the second round exploiting the weaknesses he finds.

It has now been almost five years since Silva won the UFC Middleweight title, and with the lack of competition that can stand with Silva, I don’t see Silva losing the belt unless he moved weight classes.

Check back for more on the UFC as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s Mixed Martial Arts Page to get your fill of MMA.

UFC 134 Results: Anderson Silva’s Mind Is Difference Maker vs Yushin Okami

Anderson Silva gets called many things by many people, but he does not get enough credit for being one of the smartest fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts. At UFC 134, Silva proved that his mind is just as important in the way that he fights as…

Anderson Silva gets called many things by many people, but he does not get enough credit for being one of the smartest fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts.

At UFC 134, Silva proved that his mind is just as important in the way that he fights as his speed, quickness and precise striking ability.

Yushin Okami’s only chance to defeat Silva was by taking the fight to the ground and wrestling him for five rounds. Everyone knew that, including Silva, and he was avoiding the ground like the plague.

There was one moment in the second round where Silva connected with Okami’s chin and Okami fell to the canvas. But the shot was clearly not strong enough to knock Okami out, nor was it enough to faze him. Okami was trying to bait Silva into attacking him on the ground so that he could get him on the ground.

Silva, understanding the situation and knowing that he makes a living in the stand up position, let Okami get back to his feet. About 30 seconds after Okami was stood back up, Silva rocked him with a shot again and Okami went back down. This time, though, Silva knew that he had Okami right where he wanted him and he pounced on the challenger.

The reason that Silva was able to beat Okami, and every other fighter that he has gone against in UFC, is because he knows when to attack and when to let his opponent come to him. He knows when to move in and when to back away.

The brilliance of Anderson Silva does not come from all the spectacular knockouts and submissions that he gets, rather it comes from his ability to know when he has to attack and when he has to step back.

That comes from discipline and understanding what it means to be a championship fighter. In short, Silva is smarter than every other fighter in mixed martial arts today, and he proved that again at UFC 134.

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