UFC 162 provides Anderson Silva an opportunity to add yet another unforgettable moment to his epic career.So much has been said about Anderson again and again. We all know what is at stake at UFC 162, and we continue to hear pundits and fans consider t…
UFC 162 provides Anderson Silva an opportunity to add yet another unforgettable moment to his epic career.
So much has been said about Anderson again and again. We all know what is at stake at UFC 162, and we continue to hear pundits and fans consider the endless possibilities right up to the opening bell. So instead of knocking readers over the head with more opinion, or trying to entice with “a new angle”, let’s simply sit back and appreciate some of the moments Anderson Silva has given us as fans.
Whether you love him, hate him, consider him No. 1 or No. 2 of all time, no matter how often he is the center of your arguments for or against, Anderson Silva has had some of MMA‘s most amazing moments. It is time to appreciate those moments as fans of the sport we all cherish. It is time to appreciate the accomplishments of a man who has made himself something more—a legend.
Anderson Silva made his UFC debut with a 43-second shellacking of Chris Leben at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 5. A few months later, he walked out of the Octagon in Las Vegas, Nev. as the UFC middleweight champion. Silva had a professional record of 18-4 w…
Anderson Silva made his UFC debut with a 43-second shellacking of Chris Leben at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 5. A few months later, he walked out of the Octagon in Las Vegas, Nev. as the UFC middleweight champion.
Silva had a professional record of 18-4 when he faced UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin at UFC 77 in October 2006. Franklin had won the title when he defeated Evan Tanner in June 2005. His fight against Silva was his third attempted defense of the title. Franklin had previously defended the title by defeating Nate Quarry and David Loiseau.
Franklin was 22-1-0-1 when he entered the Octagon to face Silva. Franklin was, without a doubt, the crowd favorite entering the arena that night in Vegas. He was also favored in the eyes of the oddsmakers, via MMAmania.com, as he entered at minus-185 to Silva’s plus-165.
When the fight began, Silva was fluid in his motions and wasted very little time working knees to the body from the clinch. The strikes were very effective, and in short order Silva had Franklin lowering his hands to his reddening torso to block the blows.
As soon as Franklin dropped his hands, Silva went upstairs and delivered a knee to the chin of his opponent. That gave Franklin something to think about, should he protect his midsection or protect his head?
Franklin didn’t have much time to ponder that question. Shortly after planting that seed in Franklin’s head Silva planted a knee directly on his nose. He followed that with a kick to the head and another knee to the head, and that was the end of the night for Franklin.
Just 2:59 after the fight began, the UFC had a new middleweight champion and Franklin had a new angle to his nose. After Franklin was back to his feet, Bruce Buffer announced “and now the new UFC middleweight champion of the world, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva.”
Since that night, Buffer has only announced the finish of Silva’s middleweight bouts with the phrase “and still UFC middleweight champion of the world.” That announcement has been made a UFC record 10 consecutive times.
Will Silva make it 11 at UFC 162 or will we finally hear the words “and new UFC middleweight champion of the world” again? We’ll find out on July 6 when Silva attempts to defend his title against top-ranked Chris Weidman.
The Thai Clinch or plumm is a term which, in mixed martial arts circles, is used to describe a single position—the double-collar tie. This is the terrifying position with both hands cupped on the base of the opponent’s skull from which brut…
The Thai Clinch or plumm is a term which, in mixed martial arts circles, is used to describe a single position—the double-collar tie. This is the terrifying position with both hands cupped on the base of the opponent’s skull from which brutal knees to the face or body may be delivered. This position in itself requires more subtlety than most realise, but on its own, it is not “The Thai Clinch” or the plumm.
In truth, the plummis just a blanket term for the clinch in Muay Thai and the Muay Thai philosophy in the clinch is a beautiful one. In MMA it is hard to think of anyone who epitomizes this philosophy better than the Spider at the centre of the Middleweight web, Anderson Silva.
In Muay Thai, the clinch is used to throw opponents—as it is in wrestling—but the purpose is not always to score a takedown for its own sake. In Muay Thai, the opponent is either off-balanced and struck as he attempts to stay upright, thrown hard to the mat in hopes of hurting him as well as scoring points, or thrown to the mat and hit on the way down. This is a style of clinch fighting geared toward violence more than toward tripping and opponent and achieving a pinning position.
Here are some clips of SaenchaiSor. Kingstar demonstrating some of Muay Thai’s clinch techniques.
Now the flashy climbing elbows are not that much use in a sport where people can just jump into your guard should you attempt them (though props are due to Demetrious Johnson for pulling it off against John Dodson), but Saenchai’s trips to unbalance opponents into strikes are an excellent example of the type of techniques that Silva uses so well.
Silva does not tend to take fights to the ground—except occasional performances against dangerous bangers with deficiencies on the ground like Lee Murray or Curtis Stout—Anderson prefers to strike. Yet Anderson has used trips to off-balance numerous opponents and make them expose themselves to his strikes.
Anderson’s second bout with Rich Franklin is a fantastic example. Rich Franklin knew that Anderson was going to try to secure the double collar tie, break Rich’s posture and work knee strikes. Franklin did an excellent job of maintaining his posture in this match, but Silva had far more tricks up his sleeve than a Wanderlei Silva or Mauricio Rua. Silva will not simply grab and pull on the head until he gets his way and give up if he can’t.
Anderson used a trip which he likely didn’t even want to complete to force Franklin to step back. Franklin’s posture broke as he stumbled to stay on balance and this brought his head toward Silva’s right hand which Silva threaded behind Franklin’s head to complete the double collar tie.
This is truly the difference between fighters who flail to grab a hold of their opponents head and try to knee, and someone like Silva who will set up his grips scientifically.
Anderson Silva’s fight with the overmatched Stephan Bonnar was a clinic in clinch fighting from a striker’s perspective as Silva dominated the fight with short strikes while his back was to the cage. Any time Bonnar rested his head on Silva’s shoulder, Silva would bob down with a bend of his legs, come up with a sharp shoulder strike to Bonnar‘s nose and use the space to move or get off a good knee strike to the midsection.
Another great example, similar to Saenchai‘s throws into knee strikes, came as Bonnar leaned on Silva, Silva turned and threw Bonnaragaint the fence and landed a glancing right straight on the confused American Psycho.
Silva’s domination of the clinch against Bonnar was so complete that at one point, Silva used a two-on-one grip to deflect a knee strike with Bonnar‘s own arm.
The finish to the Bonnar fight came off a successful trip, which Bonnar rushed to get back up. As he did so, Silva followed him and shoved him into the fence, switching feet and hitting Bonnar with a hard knee to the midsection as Bonnar rebounded off the cage.
In MMA, it is not just possible to catch the opponent with a hard strike while they are off balance on the way down, but also when they are regaining their balance on the way up.
Silva genius extends to the fact that once he has the truly dominant double-collar tie grip, he does not go wild and head hunt with knee strikes—he will instead use the control to steer the opponent into elbows, punches and will even throw crisp, low kicks while still holding his opponent’s head.
A final factor that can really be pointed to as a reason for all of Silva’s success in MMA is his ability to aim. Silva does not just throw strikes—he aims and picks his strikes. Where many fighters are completely stifled if their opponent has strong posture when they have the double-collar tie, Silva is not at all stifled and lands effective knees to the midsection.
The reason that Silva’s knee strikes are so effective and other fighters seem less so is that Silva does not just throw knees to the abdomen (which is well-conditioned in most fighters and naturally clenched as the head is pulled upon) but aims knees at the unprotected rib cage. If Silva does throw a knee straight up-the-middle to the body, it will connect right on the solar plexus rather than against the opponent’s abdominal muscles.
This care in aiming pays massive dividends and is why Silva can throw half-effort strikes with frightening effectiveness while other fighters strain and expend themselves with ineffective blows.
The clinch from a striker’s perspective is massively underused in MMA to this day, but Silva has shown how effective the clinch can be as a platform for striking in direct conflict with a wrestler’s approach to the clinch. Hopefully in years to come we will see much more effective striking from the clinch in MMA.
Jack Slack breaks down over 70 striking tactics employed by 20 elite strikers in his first ebook, Advanced Striking, and discusses the fundamentals of strategy in his new ebook, Elementary Striking.
The UFC Middleweight division has long been ruled by the most feared and successful striker in MMA history, champion Anderson Silva. And perhaps more so than in smaller divisions, striking has been a good predictor of success at Middleweight. So examining this division in core striking performance metrics should provide good insight to how fighters will fare against each other in standup. A full explanation of the chart and variables is included at the end of this post.
But first, let’s see how the whole division stacks up against each other, and look at the winners and losers.
The Winners
Sniper Award: Two fights into his UFC career, cross-trained Dutchman Michael Kuiper has landed 49% of his power head strikes. We’ll see if he can maintain this in his upcoming matchup with veteran brawler Tom Lawlor in Sweden. Honorable mention must be given to Anderson Silva who has maintained 40% accuracy over his lengthy and dominant career. And also noteworthy is Italian boxer, Alessio Sakara, currently on the bench for health reasons.
Energizer Bunny Award: Strikeforce veteran Roger Gracie has been almost doubling the striking output of opponents on his way to a string of submission wins in typical Gracie fashion. Some grapplers use strikes to set up their mat-work, others don’t. Honorable mentions go to former champ Rich Franklin, and Strikeforce champ and crossover contender Luke Rockhold, who each tend to outpace their opponents by over 80%.
Biggest Ball(s) Award: The UFC record holder for knockdowns is Anderson Silva. He is literally the best in the business at dropping dudes. Statistically, when Silva lands a power head strike, there’s a 27% chance it will result in a knockdown, which is just ridiculous. These skills have won him Knockout of the Night honors seven times in the UFC.
(Click chart for full-size version. For previous Databombs, click here.)
The UFC Middleweight division has long been ruled by the most feared and successful striker in MMA history, champion Anderson Silva. And perhaps more so than in smaller divisions, striking has been a good predictor of success at Middleweight. So examining this division in core striking performance metrics should provide good insight to how fighters will fare against each other in standup. A full explanation of the chart and variables is included at the end of this post.
But first, let’s see how the whole division stacks up against each other, and look at the winners and losers.
The Winners
Sniper Award: Two fights into his UFC career, cross-trained Dutchman Michael Kuiper has landed 49% of his power head strikes. We’ll see if he can maintain this in his upcoming matchup with veteran brawler Tom Lawlor in Sweden. Honorable mention must be given to Anderson Silva who has maintained 40% accuracy over his lengthy and dominant career. And also noteworthy is Italian boxer, Alessio Sakara, currently on the bench for health reasons.
Energizer Bunny Award: Strikeforce veteran Roger Gracie has been almost doubling the striking output of opponents on his way to a string of submission wins in typical Gracie fashion. Some grapplers use strikes to set up their mat-work, others don’t. Honorable mentions go to former champ Rich Franklin, and Strikeforce champ and crossover contender Luke Rockhold, who each tend to outpace their opponents by over 80%.
Biggest Ball(s) Award: The UFC record holder for knockdowns is Anderson Silva. He is literally the best in the business at dropping dudes. Statistically, when Silva lands a power head strike, there’s a 27% chance it will result in a knockdown, which is just ridiculous. These skills have won him Knockout of the Night honors seven times in the UFC.
The Losers
Swing and a Miss Award:Jason MacDonald and the aforementioned Roger Gracie only land 10% of their power head strikes. Perhaps that’s ok, since both guys are grappling specialists. It remains to be seen with Gracie, but MacDonald’s lack of standup skills has put him on the wrong end of Knockout of the Night awards in the past.
Starnes Award for Inaction: While Michael Kuiper has been very accurate so far, he also been very much a counter striker. He only had half the total striking output of his opponents to date. Some notable grapplers also show up on the far left, like Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Rousimar Palhares. Jacare will have his hand full with the streaking Cypriot, Costa Philippou, while Palhares is still recovering from a beatdown from bomber Hector Lombard.
Smallest Ball(s) Award: Only 12 of the fighters shown have yet to score a knockdown in the UFC. But Jason MacDonald has yet to do so despite over 80 minutes of Octagon time.
Also Noteworthy
The high frequency of the red bubbles shows how successful Southpaws have been in the UFC Middleweight division. Twelve of the 44 fighters shown in the graph are left-handed, about three times the baseline rate for the population at large.
The Middleweights also pack a punch. The fighters shown above have recorded 114 knockdowns in their time in UFC and Strikeforce cages. Amazingly, Anderson Silva owns 17 of those.
Like other divisions, Middleweights show the same tradeoff between volume and accuracy. Counter-strikers tend to be more accurate, but must sacrifice volume while evading opponents, which is dangerous on judges’ cards. And high volume, forward pressing fighters tend not to land with as high accuracy.
This weekend at UFC on Fuel TV 8, watch for a clash between the heavy-handed Hector Lombard, and seasoned counter-striker Yushin Okami. If Lombard wants to test Okami’s chin, he’ll have to improve his movement to cut off the cage and get close. The matchup will certainly have implications on the UFC rankings for the division.
Only two divisions left to look at. Next week we’ll see how Georges St-Pierre stacks up with the rest of UFC Welterweights, and then we’ll look at the big boys.
How the Analysis Works:
In order to understand standup striking performance, which is more multifaceted in MMA than it is in boxing, I need to boil down a few of the most important variables that determine success as a striker. These are fairly uncomplicated variables in isolation, but together they can summarize a fighter’s overall capabilities. Here, I’ve focused on three fundamental, offensive metrics:
Accuracy: I’ve used power head striking accuracy (as opposed to body or leg strikes, or jabs to the head), where the average for UFC Middleweights is about 26%. Certainly, great strikers can attack the body and legs, but the most likely way to end a fight by strikes is by aiming at the head. And in order to keep this comparison apples-to-apples, we can’t have a guy that throws a lot of high accuracy leg kicks skewing his accuracy stat. The accuracy of the power head strike is a great indicator of a fighter’s striking prowess, and there’s a wide range within a single division as we’ll see. This is the vertical axis, so more accurate fighters are higher in the graph.
Standup Striking Pace: Prior analysis reveals that outpacing your opponent is a key predictor of success, and certainly correlates with winning decisions as it reflects which fighter is dictating the pace of the fight. Here, I’ve used the total number of standup strikes thrown as a ratio to the same output from a fighter’s opponents. All strikes attempted from a standup position are counted, including body shots and leg kicks. This is the horizontal axis in the graph, and the average for the whole division must be 1, so fighters with superior pace appear further to the right.
Knockdown Rate: The objective of every strike thrown is to hurt your opponent, and knockdowns reflect a fighter that has connected with a powerful strike. I’ve used the total number of knockdowns a fighter landed divided by the number of landed power head strikes to see who does the most damage per strike landed. The size of the bubble for a fighter indicates their relative knockdown rate; the bigger the bubble, the higher their knockdown rate. The very small bubbles indicate fighters who have yet to score a knockdown in their Zuffa fights.
The data includes all UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce fights through 2012, including UFC 155. Some of these fighters competed in other weight classes or at catchweight, but for the purposes of this analysis, that data was still included and analyzed. Fighters with only one fight or less than 15 minutes of fight time were not included in the graph.
When it was announced that former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes was heading into retirement, many wondered who the next old-guard fighter would be that would hang up the gloves. If UFC president Dana White has his way, it will be another former…
When it was announced that former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes was heading into retirement, many wondered who the next old-guard fighter would be that would hang up the gloves. If UFC president Dana White has his way, it will be another former welterweight (and lightweight) champion, BJ Penn.
Penn has gone 1-4-1 in his last six fights, with his only win being a 21-second knockout of Hughes at UFC 123. The KO of Hughes was impressive and it earned Penn “Knockout of the Night” honors, but the win didn’t do much for his momentum in the welterweight division.
Following the Hughes victory, Penn fought to a draw with Jon Fitch in a controversial decision at UFC 127 and then followed that with two brutal unanimous decision losses to Nick Diaz and Rory MacDonald.
When White was asked about Penn he said, “I would like to see BJ retire.” If Penn retires on his own accord or if he is helped into retirement by the UFC boss, one thing we shouldn’t expect is to see Penn land a position within the UFC. “He’s got a piece of the UFC gym, he’s going to do OK. Don’t worry about BJ, he’s got a couple bucks.”
Penn has dipped his toe in the retirement waters before, announcing that he was done with the sport after the loss to Diaz. But he came out of that short retirement to face MacDonald.
As for Rich Franklin, another former champion that could be considered part of the old guard, White didn’t express any interest in seeing Franklin walk away from competition.
“Rich is still fighting, I haven’t heard anything about retirement from Rich,” White said. “Rich hasn’t taken any beatings. He got knocked out in his last one (by Cung Le), but he hasn’t been consistently beat up. He takes pretty good time off between fights. I don’t know what he wants to do.”
White has never been shy about sending fighters into retirement if they seem to be less than enthused about retiring on their own. Hughes is the most recent example of that, telling Bleacher Report, “I didn’t want to (retire), but when the boss tells you, he doesn’t have to twist your arm very hard.”
Time will tell if that talk with White is in the cards for Penn.
Longtime UFC middleweight and light heavyweight standout Rich “Ace” Franklin has seen better days. Less than one year ago, Franklin said he wanted one more run at the middleweight title, but one perfect punch from Cung Le abruptly ended that lofty…
Longtime UFC middleweight and light heavyweight standout Rich “Ace” Franklin has seen better days.
Many took Franklin’s confident aspirations with a grain of salt to begin with, and rightly so—the man is 38 years old and is a veteran of 37 fights over a 13-year period.
That workload takes its toll on any man’s body; now add in the fact that he has been knocked out five times, with the most recent being the most devastating.
Yeah, his career is dwindling.
In fact, I see just one more fight in Franklin’s future, and the man deserves a big name to sing backup vocals during his swan song.
There is only one man with a sweet enough voice to compliment Franklin’s stellar baritone melody, and that man is Mr. Michael Bisping.
Settle down, settle down, I know what you’re thinking: Bisping is ranked so much higher than Franklin, and he’s already scheduled to face VitorBelfort at UFC on FX 7!
Fair enough, my friends. You got me there.
But (and this is a major but), if Bisping loses this contest, a matchup with Franklin is so perfect my mouth froths at the very idea of its creation.
Both guys like to stand and bang but are adequate wherever a fight may go, both are huge names even among casual fans, both guys are in that awkward “I’m best suited at 195 pounds” weight class and both will be fighting for nothing more than the glory in a potential matchup.
If Bisping loses to Belfort on Jan. 19, a title shot is all but forgotten, and his career will wind down and set the scene for a fight with “Ace,” a possibility he has already mentioned in the past.
For Franklin, the fight makes sense because it gives him the opportunity to close his career against a well-known and respected fighter who would be honored to share the moment with him inside the historic Octagon.
Sure, Bisping is abrasive, but he plays the heel (and he does so marvelously). Deep down, it is pretty obvious the dude cares about the sport, and he always gives his all inside the cage.
Besides this, though, the fight is actually very winnable for Franklin.
We have not seen the type of one-shot knockout power from Bisping that we have from Le, so Franklin should not worry about getting clipped and obliterated like he did in his most recent outing.
On top of this, Bisping has a similarly suspect chin, and Franklin, despite his age, still hits pretty damn hard.
It is not a stretch to think that a nice left hand from “Ace” could end “The Count’s” night early, and that makes the fight pretty tantalizing for Franklin’s camp.
What we have with Franklin vs. Bisping is a fight between two legendary UFC fighters who are slowly shutting off the lights in the locker rooms of their careers.
These men will reluctantly slip into retirement, and they deserve a proper war to ride out on.
If Bisping fails to conquer Belfort at UFC on FX 7, this is the fight to make. It makes sense on both ends, and everybody involved emerges a winner.
