Anderson Silva: The Spiderman

Anderson Silva is the most recent phenomenon in the world of mixed martial arts. He has yet to have a match in the cage go to the judges, in fact, he has yet to go to the end of the second round.

Most UFC fans know Anderson as the guy who is dominating the middleweight division, but don't know much else about his history, so I thought this would be a good chance to profile the Spider, look at his accompishments and some of the struggles over the years.

As an up and comer, Silva was regarded as a very good Muay Thai striker with underrated power. His long arms and legs allowed him to keep his opponents at range and his very good clinch games allowed him to dominate anyone who got inside of his range, this is still his perferred method of attack, and his skills have improved even more since then.

Anderson made his debut in Brazil on the Meca Vale Tudo card, a very well established event. Though he lost the fight to a much smaller fighter in Luis Azredo by Decision, he would go on to fight in Meca many more times during his early career, going back and forth between the Brazilian show and the Japanese based Shooto organization. Anderson would win every fight following in both of these organizations, including putting on solid showings against good opposition in Hayato Sakurai and future UFC fighter Roan Carniero.

With a record of 6-1, 4 finishes, Anderson was signed by the Pride Fighting Championships and fought Alexander Otsuka at Pride 22. Anderson beat Otsuka by unanimous decision, and the fight as impressive enough to earn him another fight, where he took on Carlos Newton, a well known welterweight who moved up to 185 pounds to fight in Pride.

Silva made quick work of Newton, KOing him with some impressive Muay Thai skills 6:27 of the opening round. Beating a well established fighter was enough to really get Anderson some attention, and his next fight was against one of Pride's many Japanese gatekeeper fighters, Daiju Takase.

Pride executives wanted to see if Anderson had a submission game, and putting him against a solid groundfighter like Takase, who was sure to make the fight go there for a little bit was important for letting Anderson rise in the ranks. Anderson's ground game was not up to par, and he was submitted with a triangle.

While Anderson says openly that he has been studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for as long as he has doing Muay Thai, but he only really started honing his Jiu-Jitsu skills for MMA use after losing to Takase, and picked a good training camp when he started training under the Nogueira brothers. Anderson would later get his blackbelt under the brothers Nogueira.

Anderson left Pride for a little while after his loss and fought in smaller shows in Brazil and America. He was dominant in those fights and was soon called back to Pride to fight another submission fighter and gatekeeper to the upper echelon in Ryo Chonan.

Many people thought that Anderson's striking and reach was sure to overwhelm the smaller Chonan, but Chonan proved to be a warrior and went toe-to-toe with Anderson in one of the best standup wars in the history of the Pride division, but most people just know the fight for its ending.

At about 3:05 in the third round Chonan threw his body at one of Anderson's legs for an incredible takedown into a heelhook submission. To this day, it is considered one of the most incredible submissions ever and is worth watching for any MMA fan.

Anderson fought a few more times in Cage Rage, beating two opponents until he fought Yushin Okami at Rumble on the Rock, where Anderson was disqualified for an illegal kick.

After beating Tony Frykland in Cage Rage Anderson was signed by the UFC and brought in as an opponent for Chris Leben. No one really knew if this was supposed to be a stepping stone match for Leben, who had smashed his previous opponents, or if it was a genuine attempt by the UFC to give us an impressive war on free TV. Whichever of those it was, Anderson put on the best show of his career, stopping Leben in 49 seconds with a dozen perfectly placed punches.

Leben was considered a top contender, and the speculation is that the match was put on free TV to get Leben some attention before the UFC offered him a shot at Middleweight champion Rich Franklin. Whatever the intent, Anderson was now the wrecking ball of the 185 pound division, and demanded attention.



The UFC gave Silva a title shot against Rich Franklin partly due to a lack of other competition for the title and partly because Anderson was such an interesting fighter to talk about. No one in the UFC had really seen anything of him except his domination of Leben, which was probably the most played piece in the promos leading up to the event.

Silva met Rich Franklin at UFC 64 and destroyed him. The fight lasted a little longer than his match with Leben, going all the way to the three minute mark, but even in that short time, Anderson put Rich in need of reconstructive facial surgery with a thai clinch and repeated knees to the face.



The Ultimate Fighter 4 was designed to give a definite top contender in the UFC middleweight division (as well as one for the barren welterweight division), and brought in Travis Lutter, a well know submission fighter with the monoquer of "the serial killer." Though Lutter was a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor, seemingly destined to confront Anderson with a predicament he hadn't really dealt with since his fight Takase, the newly crowned champion made Lutter look like a school boy, locking down a technically perfect triangle choke and finishing Lutter with a combination of the submission hold and elbows to the top of the head. Anderson's dominance on the ground was cemented in the promos.



Lutter became the first opponent to take Silva past the first round, but Anderson made sure it wouldn't happen again, decimating Nathan Marquardt with strikes at 4:50 in the first round.

Most recently, Anderson took a rematch against Rich Franklin in Franklin's native Ohio. While the fight lasted twice as long, going all the way to 1:00 in the second, it looked the same, and Anderson dominated Franklin at range and in the clinch, finally finishing him with knees.

No one knows who will be tapped to fight Anderson next, but whoever it is, they are in for trouble, as Anderson has yet to make any sort of technical mistake in the Octagon. He's definitely a tall order for anyone at 185.

Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddell

I'm sure I'll write many more articles on this fight before the event happens in December, but all I have to say right now is: finally.

Like many longtime MMA fans, I've been waiting for a Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddell supermatchup to occur for a long time. I didn't just off the bandwagon when they lost their titles, because it's not a fight that's just about being on top, it's about a matchup that is, stylistically, awesome. To quote Dana White, this is "fucking unreal."

Chuck Liddell was on top of the UFC lightheavyweight division for over a year after he beat Randy Couture in their rematch to take the title back, and Wanderlei ran PRIDE's 205 pound weight class with an iron fist (and lots of knees).

While many fans believe that these two fighters aren't in their prime, we can't forget that these are two of the greatest strikers at 205 pounds ever, and both are known for their ability to leave their opponents wondering what the hell just happened to them.

Still, it's not just the fact that both of these guys hit like a ton of bricks, it's also the way that they attack opponents.

Wanderlei has always been known as the most aggressive, viceral striker in the sport, period. They call him the Axe-Murderer because he doesn't come to matches to beat you, he comes to hurt you. He wants to use his shins, his knees and his knuckles to bash someone like they were talking about his mama, and that's what makes him so fun to watch.

Chuck Liddell is almost the complete opposite. While he moves and attacks as hard as Wanderlei, he lets his opponents come to him, and then he lays them out with one of his classic haymaker punches.

Wanderlei has incredibly orthodox style, keeping everything tight, fast and furious. He comes from Chute Boxe Vale Tudo academy, which is one of the best Muay Thai schools in the world, and he brings all of that to the table every time he fights.

Chuck Liddell is unorthodox and fights with a Kempo style that is unique. No one else carries their hands as wide as Chuck or moves their head like Chuck, and he has been criticized by alot of professional boxers for not being "technically sound." Still, you can't argue with results, and Chuck has plenty of them.

Both fighters have lost their last two fights, and they've been tough losses. Wanderlei lost his semi-final match in the PRIDE open weight grand prix to Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic and then lost his lightheavyweight title to "Dangerous" Dan Henderson. Chuck lost his title to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and dropped a decision to Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine.

While many people are going to say that they'd wished this would have happened at the height of the game for these two fighters, this is a matchup I'm very excited to see.

More Power Politics In The UFC

Dana White is often credited with being the most powerful man in the sport of mixed martial arts. He's a major stockholder in and president of the UFC, the worlds undisputed goliath when it comes to MMA, but recently he's looked a little bit like an angry third grader, pointing fingers and calling names.

When M-1 announced the signing of #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, who the UFC had been chasing for some time, Dana could be heard referring to Fedor's management as "crazy Russian[s]." You'd expect the whitest collar in the room to be mature, but that's not the way things are looking right now.

With the recent resignation of the UFC's heavyweight champion Randy Couture and major contracts like Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Chuck Liddell dropping bouts to stepping stone opponents, Dana is in a tough position.

For starters, he has a heavyweight division that lacks any real top. With fighters like Cheick Kongo, Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, all of whom could be considered for a title shot, Dana has to realize that it's going to be a while before he has a real dominant posterboy in that division.

Second, he's spending money on fighters who don't deserve it, and drastically underpaying guys who deserve alot more money. Fighters on smaller contracts who are starting to get the limelight, like Houston Alexander and Keith Jardine, are going to need more money when the UFC starts negotiating to resign them, and judging by the amount of time it took the UFC to renegotiate a contract with Brandon Vera (one of the fighters they are now paying alot of money to fight in the middle of a card) it's hard to say that we are confident in the UFC brass's ability to handle their money.

The UFC is really considered the show, but with the recent vacuum created in the heavyweight division, the possibility of an organization like M-1 creating a solid heavyweight division and building from there, eventually posing a threat to Dana and his boys, is significant.

Besides just the issues of how the fighters are performing in relation to how they are being paid, there's alot of concern over whether the UFC's wages are fair. The top fighters and faces of the organization are living confortably, and Dana is certainly bringing home the bacon, but many contracts for UFC fighters seem inadequate, since there are so few sponsorships to go around.

Even in the deal that the UFC offered to Fedor, top sports agents thought that he was being exploited. Imagine the guys who's contracts aren't getting looked at by the big sports agents.

Dana White doesn't seem to be captaining a sinking ship, but he's got a challenge ahead of him. All we can hope is that for the sake of the Octagon, he pulls through.

Marcelo Garcia's MMA Debut

Marcelo Garcia is one of the most acomplished grapplers in the world. Last year, won his division at Abu Dhabi and finished second in the open weight. Among his list of conquests are upper weight class competitors like former UFC-Heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzaga, Mike Van Arsdale and Renato "Babalu" Sobral.

The kicker, though, is that Garcia competes in his natural weight class of 66-76 kg.

Garcia has proved a force to be tested in the submission grappling world, but on October 28th he will make his debut in Korea, fighting Korean Judoka Dae Won Kim (3-3-0).

In his weight class, Garcia is the best grappler by far, as he proved when he choked out Shinya Aoki at ADCC in 2005. Aoki is considered one of two top grapplers in the world at 155 (the other being BJ Penn) and after the way Garcia dominated Aoki in their grappling match, alot of grappling fans have suggested the idea of a match with Penn.

While the UFC has made a big deal out of one K-1 sensation being signed, Brock Lesnar, Garcia is a more accomplished grappler and if he brings it to the ring on the 28th he could prove that he deserves to be considered as elite in MMA as he is in grappling.

Garcia's debut is anticipated by many long time grappling fans, who hope that his multiple world championship wins as a BJJ blackbelt and his 3 straight 76 kg titles in the Abu Dhabi combat club will get showcased in MMA. His debut should be awesome, technical and quick, and hopefully he'll get signed to be a competitor in the new UFC lightweight division.

A Recap of the Year of the (Under)Dogs

Here's a recap of the biggest upsets in the UFC and PRIDE so far this year, and there are definitely plenty. You can also see this post at the prognostication station.

Before the start of 2007, we got a sneak peak of the year ahead when 7-1 underdog and UFC newcomer Joe Lauzon TKO'd former lightweight champion Jens Pulver in his return to the Octagon.

February 24th

The world begins to shake at PRIDE 33: The Second coming and while many UFC fans weren't aware yet, something strange had started.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou stopped the seemingly unstoppable Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in 23 seconds, becoming the first man to stop either of the great Noguiera brothers in their extensive MMA careers.

Frank Trigg upset top ten middleweight Kazuo "The Grabaka Hitman" Misaki, giving Twinkle Toes fans some hope that he might be returning to form. (That hope was later crushed by Robbie Lawler. Sorry folks.)

Nick Diaz beats #1 lightweight Takanori Gomi with a gogoplata, executing a submission that Gomi had probably never seen before, and neither had most of the MMA world, either.

To finalize things, Dan Henderson avenges his split decision loss to Wanderlei Silva with some fireworks, putting Silva out in the 3rd round with one of his classic right haymakers.

March 3rd

Jason Lambert opens the floodgates in the UFC when he KO's long time MMA staple Renato "Babalu" Sobral in the second round, creating a stir that led many newer fans to dismiss the hype around Sobral and got Lambert some attention. Later that night, Randy Couture comes out of retirement and beats the 6'8 heavyweight champion Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia standing and on the ground en route to a decision that would be one of the most exciting five rounders in history. While some people will dispute Couture being the underdog, there's really no doubt that as a 43 year old man coming out of retirement after losing in the weight class below Sylvia's, stepping in the ring with the reigning champion, definitely pulled out the upset.

April 7th

The UFC's next pay-per-view card sporting the winner of TUF 4 getting his promised title shot at Georges St. Pierre was, for lack of any better words, batshit craziness. So much that I'm not going to waste my time putting it all in one paragraph.

At the bottom of a card that so many Canadians weep over, Mike "Quick" Swick, an almost certain top contender in the 185 pound weight class, was scheduled for a steppingstone match with Yushin Okami. Okami spends three rounds beating the wholly hell out of Swick and gets his first dose of attention, which would lead him to fight at the top of a card in his next fight.

Then, Josh Koscheck did what no other man before him had done. After three rounds he beat Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez, ending the undefeated streak that had been Sanchez's professional career up to that point. But that wasn't the end of it.

In perhaps the greatest upset to date in this sport, Matt "The Terra" Serra KO'd Georges St. Pierre, the most revered 170 pound fighter in the western hemisphere, in exciting fashion. Serra was the Standford to St. Pierre's USC, and damn that was fun to watch. Well, unless you like nice people.

The next night, the underdog action gets felt overseas as Makoto Nakao upsets up-and-comer Zelg Galesic, in what would begin a tough year for Croatian MMA fans. Also on the PRIDE 34 card in Saitama, unknown Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou proved that his earlier KO of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira wasn't a fluke by posting his second round one stoppage in a row when he beat Ricardo Arona.

April 21st

The tough year continued for the Croatians, as Gabriel Gonzaga shocked the world, putting Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic to sleep with a left high kick. It was one of the most shocking KO's of the year, and another case of a stepping stone stepping back.

May 26th

More than a month passed without any major organization action, but at UFC 71, the underdogs came again. In a list of intersting undercard upsets. Houston Alexander, Terry Martin and Thiago Silva put on round one knock outs of Keith Jardine, Ivan Salaverry and James Irvin, respectively, and Kalib Starnes beat Chris "The Crippler" Leben with a decision.

To top off the night, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, only a slight underdog, proved that the odds probably shouldn't have been so tight when he shut down Chuck Liddell with some brutal strikes in round one of their title matchup.

August 25th

UFC's 72 and 73 were more or less unimpressive as far as upsets go, but the underdogs immerged from their summer haiatus as hungry as ever, when Clay Guida upset former Pride contender Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio by decision and Patrick "The Predator" Cote decimated TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove with a first round TKO.

September 8th

London saw some major action and Croatian fans, along with the rest of the CroCop Squad, suffered some heartbreak as Cheick Kongo slowed down comeback hopes with a big decision win. Also on the card was Quinton Jackson's win over Dan Henderson which, despite holding the UFC title and Octagon experience, wasn't necessarily favored by the bookies.

September 22nd

UFC 76, our most recent event, has shown even more escallation in bizarre turnarounds. #1 205 pound fighter Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, was choked out by barely top 20 fighter Forrest Griffin and former UFC lightheavyweight champion Chuck Liddell dropped a decision to Keith Jardine, but even below the main card, there was craziness.

Japanese judoka Michihiro Omigawa made an awaited debut only to lose to "Hansome" Matt Wiman and when top ten fighters Ryoto Machida and Kazuhiro Nakamura squared off, the favorite, Nakamura, lost on the judges scorecards.

Whatever's next, on the gridiron or in the cage, it'll be surprising. At least now we're expecting it.

Randy Couture's Big News

Randy Couture is, beyond a doubt, the most successful fighter in the history of the UFC. He's held more titles than any other fighter and has a career that spans ten years and two weight classes. He's beaten Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, two of the top champions in history at 205 pounds, and he's beaten heavyweight legends from Pedro Rizzo to Tim Sylvia. His career has been a rollercoaster and every fight, win or lose, has been exciting.

Couture has vacated his heavyweight title as a combination of age, conflicts with UFC management and #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko opting to fight in M-1, instead of coming to the UFC.

The real question is what happens now?

Personally, I'd like to see a UFC heavyweight tournament on a large scale: ideally a 16 man competition.

The UFC heavyweight division is so cluttered right now that there's no way you can just have 2 top contenders. Here's a brief profile of the top guys and why they can't be considered the only ones:

Tim Sylva: coming off a disappointing loss of his title to Couture and recovering from surgery, his health is questionable at best. He's a legitimate striker, but as his performances had been unimpressive even before the Couture loss, it doesn't make sense to throw him right in the mix.

Brandon Vera: he will fight Sylvia at UFC 77 in a match that will show whether Sylvia is really back or if Vera is the next generation of UFC champion. Still, I don't believe that Vera is big enough, versatile enough or smart enough when it comes to fight planning to be a really solid heavyweight contender, and he has yet to really bet a solid top contender.

Cheick Kongo: while he beat Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic a little while ago, his ground game is still lacking and his loss to Carmello Marerro was not so long ago that it can't be taken into consideration. He doesn't match up well with wrestlers, and that's a fairly common breed of fighter in the UFC. I don't see how he can be considered eligible until he really proves his ground game.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: with only one fight in the UFC, it's hard to just let Nogueira have a go at the heavyweight belt. Even with his previous accomplishments, I have a hard time getting passed his passable performance against Heath Herring. I'd like to see him fight a few more times and really start to show some dominance before we put him up for a title shot.

Andrei Arlovski: he's definitely a top contender, but as he didn't finish Fabricio Werdum, who's standup isn't great, I don't think his form is quite up to where it was during his first reign as champion.

So where does that leave us?

I'd like to see a tournament because it will give these guys a chance to really prove they deserve the title and, if the matchups are done right, we'll get to see their games really tested on every level. It would also give some no name guys an opportunity to fight for the belt, and when that sort of motivation is on the line, the fights get a hell of a lot better.

Dominance: A Look at the Top Fighters of their Day

Every generation has top fighters, and so this is my tribute to those guys, giving a brief look at their period of dominance in their weightclass and the sport at large.

Royce Gracie: November, 1993 to January 1995 (loss to Kazushi Sakuraba)

While competing in the United States, Royce Gracie ruled the Ultimate Fighting Championship, dominating martial arts stylists from all over the world and of all sizes. His early fights set the standard for submission fighting in American MMA, but as soon as Royce went to the upcoming PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan, he lost to up-and-comer Kazushi Sakuraba, who would acquire the monoquer of "the Gracie Hunter."

Rickson Gracie: November, 1980 to April, 2000 (retirement)

Over the course of his professional vale tudo/MMA career, Rickson went 11-0-0 in high profile matchups, though there is alot of speculation about how many wins he compiled all together. Over his 20 year career, he strung together one of the most dominant displays in any sport, beating opponents bigger than him on a regular basis and competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission grappling competitions with the same level of dominance.

Frank Shamrock: October, 1997 to March, 2006 (contreversial DQ loss to Renzo Gracie)

While Shamrock has been in and out of retirement over the last few years, he has dominated his opponents like no one else. He is the longest defending title holder to leave the UFC without losing (he won 5 UFC fights total, including a win over fellow 6 time champion Tito Ortiz). His list of wins includes Phil Baroni, Jeremy Horn, Elvis Sinosic and Cesar Gracie.

Mark Kerr: January, 1997 to January 2000

Kerr earned the monoquer of "the smashing machine" destroying his opponents with his world class wrestling skills and freakish strength. While other facets of his game were lacking, his ability to control opponents on the ground was unrivaled, as was his ability to get them there, and his dominance in both the UFC and PRIDE FC set the standard for pure wrestlers.

Wanderlei Silva: August, 2000 to December 2004 (loss to Mark Hunt)

They don't call him "the Axe-Murderer" for no reason. His brutal knees and open range standup led him to be undefeated in PRIDE Fighting Championships for 4 years until losing to K-1 veteran Mark Hunt. Silva held the PRIDE title at 2005 from it's forming after the grand prix until losing to Dan Henderson in February of this year. Wanderlei is still one of the most feared strikers in the sport, but has announced that he is nearing his retirement.

Matt Hughes: March, 2001 to January, 2004 and June, 2004 to November, 2006

Hughes is my own lower weight class fighter on this list, and is really the only one I consider dominant in the short existence of lighter weight class fighting. Hughes has more title fights than any other fighter except Randy Couture and will be fighting for the 170 pound title again soon. His dominant power and ability to slam his way out of submissions and control opponents on the ground has made him an exciting and impressive force in his weight class for a long time.

Fedor Emelianenko: April, 2001 to Present

There is no dispute about any of Fedor's losses. His dominance as both a grappler and a striker has left many opponents at a loss for a way to attack him, and even when they land an attack, it doesn't seem to phase him. While contractual troubles embroil him off of the mat, in competition Fedor has beaten more top 10 heavyweights than any other fighter ever and has won 23 consecutive fights.