On July 6 at UFC 162, we will see Chris Weidman try to take Anderson Silva’s middleweight title. It will be almost a year to the date since “The All-American” called out the champ after a thorough domination of Mark Munoz&m…
On July 6 at UFC 162, we will see Chris Weidman try to take Anderson Silva’s middleweight title. It will be almost a year to the date since “The All-American” called out the champ after a thorough domination of Mark Munoz—who was his toughest opponent to date.
As much as Weidman wanted that shot, Silva and his camp were reluctant to agree to the fight. Silva in one interview told Karyn Bryant, “It’s good for him, not for me.”
Silva crushed Stephan Bonnar at UFC 152 in a non-title fight at 205 pounds, while Weidman was set to face Tim Boetsch at UFC 155. That would change as Weidman suffered a shoulder injury and was forced out of action. He had to watch the middleweight division change shape around him without his impact.
Sometimes things happen for a reason, and to that end this matchup seems to be the case. The other top contenders lost. Michael Bisping lost to Vitor Belfort, Hector Lombard lost to Yushin Okami and Tim Boetsch lost to Constantinos Philippou.
After that shuffle of the deck and with no superfight between Silva and Georges St-Pierre on the horizon, Weidman was the only logical choice for both matchup reasons and selling pay-per-view buys.
Now let’s talk about the matchup. As I mentioned earlier, Weidman will “try” to take Silva’s middleweight strap. Many in the past have just shown up for a fight with the “The Spider” and didn’t exactly display due diligence inside the Octagon.
I will tell you why Weidman will get after it. He will not only give forth a great effort but will succeed in doing so and become the next UFC middleweight champion.
Here are three reasons to believe Chris Weidman will have Anderson Silva’s number.
Uriah Hall is the best prospect to ever emerge from any of The Ultimate Fighter’s 17 seasons. He’s equal parts talent and determination. It also doesn’t hurt that Hall’s got more killer instinct than an executioner.
UFC President Dana White said that h…
Uriah Hall is the best prospect to ever emerge from any of The Ultimate Fighter’s 17 seasons. He’s equal parts talent and determination. It also doesn’t hurt that Hall’s got more killer instinct than an executioner.
UFC President Dana White said that he “is the nastiest guy in Ultimate Fighter history” (via Cagepotato.com).
It’s hard to argue with that, considering both of Hall’s fights on the show ended with his opponents in the back of an ambulance.
Most recently, Hall systematically dispatched Team Jones member Robert “Bubba” McDaniel in the quarterfinals of the TUF tournament. The fight lasted a mere nine seconds. Hall connected with a well-timed short right that not only put Bubba to the canvas, but also broke his face in three different places.
The swift and violent victory led TUF coach ChaelSonnen to boldly state that he believed Hall was a title contender in the middleweight division. That’s high praise coming from a fighter who challenged for that belt on two separate occasions.
In the past, Sonnen has been known to speak in hyperboles, but in his role as a TUF coach he’s been very realistic in tapering fighter expectations. So when Sonnen says Hall is a contender, it’s safe to assume that “The American Gangster” isn’t just blowing smoke: Uriah Hall is the real deal.
Someone else who thinks quite highly of Hall is current No. 1 middleweight contender Chris Weidman, who takes on Anderson Silva at UFC 162. He decided to bring Hall in to help emulate the champ’s style during training camp. In an appearance on Chokes and Jokes, Weidman said plainly why he thought Hall was a good analog for Silva:
[Uriah Hall] is another guy, if you stand there with him, he’s going to kick your head off. It has to be the same strategy. You move forward, you punch him and go for takedowns.
Weidman should know this firsthand, since he’s already been in the cage with Hall and defeated him at Ring of Combat 31 back in 2010. Hall’s other professional loss came against UFC top-10 middleweight and feared-striker Costa Philippou. After the back-to-back losses, Hall rattled off three straight wins before joining TUF and beginning his reign of destruction.
While Hall’s wins on the show have been beyond impressive, it may be easy to write them off as not being an accurate representation of his ability. One of the big complaints about The Ultimate Fighter series has been that the competition is pretty average with a majority of TUF alums fizzling out in the UFC. However, that is hardly the case this season; both teams are stacked with quality fighters.
Can you seriously remember another season of the show that’s had so many highlight-reel finishes?
With that said, Hall has mowed through every guy put in front of him and has looked better and more confident in each outing. This alone has gone a long way in establishing him as a fighter whose name can sell tickets. That marketability is vitally important to securing that title shot down the road.
The biggest component to his success will be his training. Hall already has a great work ethic, but it is imperative that he find the right team to train with. In all honesty, he’d be crazy not to stick with Sonnen and join him at Team Quest. The two have had a really good rapport on the show. Sonnen could be just the right coach/mentor to help steer Hall through the shark-infested waters that make up the middleweight division.
Aside from his obvious talent, Hall has also been blessed with amazing physical attributes. He’s a big, powerful 185-pound fighter, but is fast, with lightning-quick reflexes. At 80 inches, Hall has the longest reach of any fighter currently on the middleweight roster. Combine all of these things and the fact is that Hall is a tough night out for any fighter. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, Hall still has to get through The Ultimate Fighter tournament.
Next he’ll be taking on Team Jones member, and overall last pick, Dylan Andrews in one of two semifinal matchups on tonight’s episode. If the MMA gods are feeling generous, Uriah Hall will win his fight and hopefully collide with heated rival Josh Samman at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale on April 13.
When Uriah Hall makes his way through the next two rounds of the tournament in similarly spectacular fashion and claims the mantle of The Ultimate Fighter, it will assuredly put him in line for a fight with a top-10 middleweight in his official UFC debut.
Age and wear haven’t deterred the soon-to-be 38-year-old Anderson Silva from thrashing every opponent in his path in the UFC’s middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Always cerebral in his approach to training and evolving, Silva&nbs…
Age and wear haven’t deterred the soon-to-be 38-year-old Anderson Silva from thrashing every opponent in his path in the UFC’s middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.
Always cerebral in his approach to training and evolving, Silva has taken all the proper measures to optimize his potential and his career longevity.
Since his impressive debut in 2006—in which he mauled Chris Leben at Ultimate Fight Night 5—“The Spider” has reeled off 15 consecutive wins, including 11 in middleweight title bouts.
Silva’s has also garnered a record-tying (Joe Lauzon) 12 post-fight bonuses in that span, proving that he’s just as entertaining as he is talented.
The Spider’s thorough dominance at his natural weight class (185 pounds) has the UFC’s brass and many pundits demanding that he consider superfights with the likes of welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre or light heavyweight king Jon Jones.
With one of his most prolific draws approaching the age of 40, UFC president Dana White jumped at the chance of re-signing The Spider to a massive deal after UFC 155 (via MMA Weekly):
“He signed a 10-fight deal. I don’t think we’ve ever done a 10-fight deal,” White said after UFC 155. “Maybe we did one with Forrest once, I don’t remember, but Anderson said, ‘I want a 10-fight deal, not an eight-fight deal.’ I’ll give him a 100-fight deal if he wants one.”
Silva, however, can’t lose sight of the nature of the demise of legends like FedorEmelianenko and Chuck Liddell, who reigned supreme over their respective divisions for years before eventually sputtering with age.
Both Emelianenko, a former Pride heavyweight champ, and Liddell, a former UFC light heavyweight champ, were on top of their games when their jaws gave out.
On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, White offered his thoughts on the future of one of the most coveted fighters in MMA history.
“God I hope this guy fights 10 more times. I hope it’s possible. You know, it’s like when I saw this (Adrien) Broner kid and like when you see somebody that’s special. The guys that really got something really special. Anderson Silva is just f***ing unbelievable.”
Despite the fact that Bodog.net has deemed Silva a 3.05-to-1 favorite (-305) for UFC 162, The Spider’s opponent, Chris Weidman, represents one of the stiffest challenges he’ll face in his prolific career.
Akin to former NCAA Division I wrestling All-American ChaelSonnen, who employed a grinding, wrestle-heavy style that nearly worked to dethrone Silva at UFC 117, the 28-year-old Weidman possesses top-flight wrestling chops, brute strength and a motor to match.
A third-place finisher at the 2007 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Weidman’s also a capable striker and a venomous Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner who’s won twice by submission and once by KO in just five UFC bouts.
There’s no hungrier, more versatile or more suited foe dwelling at 185 for The Spider to lock horns with. If he trounces Weidman like he has his last 16 opponents in the UFC, Silva will leave his critics with little to write about and UFC matchmakers with few opponents to line him up with.
Let’s face it, if Silva upends Weidman like the oddsmakers expect him to, then The Spider will enjoy another long period of time in the limelight before being pitted against St-Pierre or Jones in a superfight.
In preparation for his UFC 162 showdown with Anderson Silva, Chris Weidman is looking to enlist the help of breakout The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 star Uriah Hall.It’s tough finding anyone to emulate perhaps the greatest fighter in MMA history, but We…
In preparation for his UFC 162 showdown with Anderson Silva, Chris Weidman is looking to enlist the help of breakout The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 star Uriah Hall.
It’s tough finding anyone to emulate perhaps the greatest fighter in MMA history, but Weidman has to start somewhere.
Why not start with a world class striker with an even longer reach than Silva’s?
“I actually think I’m going to bring in, you know Uriah Hall from The Ultimate Fighter? He has some cool kicks and stuff like that. I actually fought him before too,” Weidman said during an appearance on “Chokes and Jokes.”
Weidman fought Hall back in September 2010 at Ring of Combat 31, where he earned a first-round TKO stoppage.
After the bout, Hall continued to work his way through Ring of Combat before receiving the call to come on TUF. Weidman, on the other hand, earned a UFC contract and climbed his way to a middleweight title shot.
Hall is already drawing Silva-like comparisons after back-to-back vicious knockouts on TUF.
No one is handing over Silva’s crown as the most impressive fighter this generation has ever seen, but it would be ludicrous to overlook Hall’s otherworldly talent and potential. There has never been a more impressive fighter in TUF history.
In the first elimination round, he knocked out Adam Cella with a spinning hook kick. He followed that “Knockout of the Year” worthy performance with a nine second knockout of MMA veteran Bubba McDaniel in the quarterfinals.
Weidman believes Hall’s unorthodox striking can help prepare him for the unpredictable nature of Silva’s offense. The unbelievable front kick Silva landed to the face of VitorBelfort still resonates with the MMA community to this day.
Weidman plans on doing everything in his power to make sure that doesn’t happen to him:
If you get caught standing still, looking at him, he’s going to freaking kick you right in the face. You got to be moving either getting out of there or you’re moving forward. [Uriah Hall] is another guy, if you stand there with him, he’s going to kick your head off. It has to be the same strategy. You move forward, you punch him and go for takedowns.
Victories for Chris Weidman and Johny Hendricks would be of greater benefit to the UFC in the long term than victories for Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre. Yes, you read that right. It’s actually better that the established names lose in this…
Victories for Chris Weidman and Johny Hendricks would be of greater benefit to the UFC in the long term than victories for Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre.
Yes, you read that right. It’s actually better that the established names lose in this case—it’s a matter of age and roster circumstances.
Silva and GSP are the UFC’s two longest-reigning champions. Silva has defended his UFC middleweight title 10 times, while St-Pierre has defended the UFC welterweight championship eight times.
St-Pierre has been champion for five years, Silva for nearly seven.
Unfortunately, Silva and St-Pierre’s facilities with unarmed violence cannot stop Father Time. In all sports, older competitors must eventually give way to the younger ones. This applies more to the 37-year-old Silva than to the 31-year-old St-Pierre.
Chris Weidman, who will be facing Silva at UFC 162 in July, is nearly a decade younger than the Brazilian. Silva might say he has six more years in him, but that’s unlikely. And even if he sticks around, it’s practically guaranteed that his talents will wane as he gets older. Not many fighters can perform at an elite level in their late 30s and early 40s (unless their name is Randy Couture).
Weidman winning would be better because he can be marketed for longer; his sell-by date is much further down the line than Silva’s.
Alas, the same can’t really be said for GSP and Hendricks since there’s only a two-year age difference (31 and 29, respectively).
But there’s more to the issue than age. Each weight class has unique circumstances—circumstances that would improve if Weidman and Hendricks won their fights.
Anderson Silva was the only middleweight fighter fans knew or cared about until ChaelSonnen came along and spiced things up by nearly defeating him. But then, “The Spider” dispatched Sonnen in the long-awaited rematch and interest waned again. Who cares about the lesser fighters that contested their way to the top only to be masterfully beaten down by a bored-looking Anderson Silva?
Just compare the buyrates of Silva’s fights to see this phenomenon in action. The two highest draws were Silva-Sonnen II (925,000) and Silva-Belfort (725,000). Some of Silva’s other fights didn’t pull half these numbers.
It’s time to rekindle interest in the middleweight division.
A Chris Weidman victory can do that. Weidman winning would shake the rust out of a division that’s remained relatively stagnant and boring for quite some time. Fans will finally have interesting, unpredictable title fights instead of a slew of contenders that fans know aren’t a match for the champ.
There are more narratives and therefore more fights to be sold with Weidman winning and Silva losing. Will Silva go on the comeback trail? Who will he fight to work his way up? Is Weidman really the next big thing or was his win a fluke? Fans will tune in to see the answers to these questions.
This argument also applies to Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks. However, admittedly, a GSP loss might not be as beneficial as a Silva loss.
St-Pierre is one of the UFC’s best draws. He drew over 50,000 fans at the Rogers Centre in Canada, and his buyrates have always been above average at worst and great at best.
A GSP comeback trail could sell some pay-per-views, but that’s the problem. There might not be a GSP comeback trail. The champ’s trainer, Firas Zahabi,recently spoke about how much longer St-Pierre would be in the sport, and let’s just say it didn’t sound like he’d be fighting four or five more years.
However, GSP losing to Hendricks would give the UFC the chance to build up a series of fighters in the division rather than use one and only one as the division’s selling point. “Hey, look, it’s GSP vs. some guy who isn’t GSP” would be replaced by “Hey, look, two equally matched competitors who have defeated a bunch of really skilled guys are about to fight!”
Johny Hendricks, the resurgent Demian Maia, Carlos Condit and others could collectively fill the void that a post-defeat GSP retirement would create.
Silva and GSP have become dominant so long that fans have accepted them as givens, as forces of nature in MMA that would always be there. But this is wrong. Time stands still for no man, even the toughest ones. Young lions eventually have to vanquish the champions of old and brave swaths of contenders while carrying the UFC’s banner through the Fox era.
Chris Weidman and Johny Hendricks are these young lions. Their victories will help bring the UFC to its destiny, not keep it locked in the past.
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.
Uriah Hall is the best prospect to ever emerge from any of The Ultimate Fighter’s 17 seasons. He’s equal parts talent and determination. It also doesn’t hurt that Hall’s got more killer instinct than an executioner.
Age and wear haven’t deterred the soon-to-be 38-year-old 