Archive for the 'Anderson Silva' Category

Pictured: Demian Maia being Knocked Out by Nate Marquardt at UFC 102.

Demian Maia is a world-class grappler. That needs to be said before I start to point out his flaws, and the flaws in his gaining of a title shot at UFC 112 next month in Abu Dhabi. His MMA record of 12-1 suggests a fantastic competitor – and he is – but he is far from the finished article, and far from the real deal. So let’s take a little look at Demian’s MMA journey, before we look at why he shouldn’t be next in line for the UFC Middleweight Title.

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Anderson Silva destroys Chris Leben

Anderson Silva was originally brought into the UFC to bolster the middleweight division and to give it some depth.  Fast forward three and a half years later, and while he’s been a certified killer inside the cage, he may have succeeded in killing the division as a whole.

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Anderson Silva has quickly found out that the fans (which then turns into the media — CREDENTIAL LUKE THOMAS ALREADY~!) do not love you if you do not give them what they want. They do not care about your health your well-being, they do not care about your reputation, how you feel, they do not care about your artistry or your values. No, not at all. They want you to go out, put on a show, be entertaining and win at all costs.

This is the reality that must sink in for him right now; that people are going to hate him unless he clowns everybody like he did RIch Franklin. I keep seeing the word “pretention” in relation to him from fans, when anybody that knows him always talks about how down to earth and modest he is. Does it translate into his fighting style? Not always. When Silva is fighting and becomes bored he starts doing whatever he wants. It has happened twice in a row for him now, with the second sub par opponent in a row. This is what happens when you are exceptional, it happens in every walk of life; you claw your way to the top and then realize there are no more challenges for you in your current path. Do you accept and revel in mediocrity or do you rise above and seek out new challenges?

Thales Leites was never going to defeat Anderson Silva. He just wasn’t, just like Patrick Cote wasn’t. Sure, anything can happen, but outside of the off chance, it wasn’t going down that way. Even then, these guys are no slouches, it is just that nobody at 185lbs can challenge Anderson Silva. Leites continually dropped to the ground any time Anderson was getting into his groove or even threw a decent strike. We will, rightfully so, hear talk about how there should have been a penalty for essentially avoiding fighting, but don’t blame Silva for that. Silva’s only other options were to engage on the ground, which he waited to do until he worked over the leg of Leites enough to nullify his guard or ability to use submissions.

The fans only love you when you excite them, and exciting them means taking risks and turning into Chuck Liddell eventually, who suffered ths third brutal knockout within the past few years, each one scary in their own right. The big difference is Chuck is Chuck, a dude that likes to have fun and just hang out, Silva is a martial artist and does the things he does for respect and honor, not for the cheers and love of the fans. He needs to remember that, because the path he has chosen is not the one of the Chuck Liddell’s of the world who are big money draws and make tons of money.

What was the deal with Silva at UFC 90?

The fallout over Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote continues on. There is debate pretty much everywhere, with fans and journalists alike taking their sides and sticking to it. I’ve made my voice heard in the matter, as have an Irate Kevin Iole, an embarassed Fightlinker, and, well, just look for yourself, it is endless.

Everybody has an opinion on if Anderson Silva embarassed himself, shamed his family, has forced Dana White’s hand, if he was disrespecting Patrick Cote, if he was afraid of Patrick Cote. Is Anderson Silva simply a prima-donna and looking to move his career on to greener pastures? While I do not think this will be settled until we see Anderson Silva in the ring again, duking it out (hopefully soon?), we can have a look at the numbers for this fight and see what they tell us.

For what was throw in this fight, and who was leading who, it is clear that Anderson Silva was unchallenged. Question the method all that you want, but stats are telling the story that we all saw. I have to wonder, if Silva scored  a leg kick right before Cote buckled, or even a nasty kick that ended the fight, would any of this backlash exist? Probably not.

Update: Good article on this subject posted by Mike Chiappetta of NBC Sports — Is Silva worthy of criticism for Cote fight?

Also how about some Compustrike stats?

I am in disbelief right now. I am in absolute disbelief at the discrepancy between what I saw last night and what I am reading and hearing today. I was hearing the rumblings of it last night, but I decided to sleep on it before writing on it; maybe people would have a more clear mind in the morning. Maybe. I want to start this off saying that martial arts was something that intensely interested me as a child. Watching Bruce Lee movies, Jackie Chan movies, those goofy Shanghai guys-on-wires films excited me enough to get into Kenpo. The ideals of martial arts, the idea of not wanting to brutally assault and harm somebody, and being subtle, has always enamored me.

When the concept of UFC first started up, the idea was enthralling to me. Here was chance for this to become a reality; martial artists from all walks of life descending upon a closed atmosphere, with no rules except for some basic gentleman’s rules, and go at it. It was great to see the street fighters get picked apart, the brawlers meet the calmness and serenity of Royce Gracie’s jiu-jitsu. The sport has changed, drastically. I am not saying in a bad direction, but simply in a different direction. It is no longer about martial arts as much as it is about fighting, as it is winning and getting paid your backstage, unreported bonus. Anderson Silva has transcended all of this. Last night, Anderson Silva was not in any way a MMA fighter, he was a martial artist completely on top of his game.

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Fedor Emelianenko and Anderson Silva reminded fight fans why they are widely regarded as the two best pound for pound fighters in the world as each scored impressive (and lightning quick) wins.

Before his fight with former UFC champion Tim Sylvia, many questioned Fedor’s ability to come back strong after a long layoff. He had been fighting creampuffs and inexperienced fighters in Japan and middleweights in BoDog Fight. Would he be able to overcome Sylvia’s size and reach advantage? The answer was a definitive yes.

Sylvia’s vaunted jab was never an issue. Fedor closed the distance so quickly that Sylvia never had a chance to throw it and his punching power dropped the big man to his knees.

“He got off first and then I had so much going through my mind,” Sylvia said. “He got off first, landed the big punch, jumped on me, and got the submission.”
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ZUFFA’s most recent PPV outing has met with, at best, lukewarm support.  I believe the word “crap” has popped up more than once.  In keeping with the Total-MMA commitment to balanced journalism (a commitment which I, in fact, just made up), it falls to me to present a slightly different view.  St. Pierre-Serra 2 was not a complete waste of your time and money.  No fewer than ten quality things came from that broadcast.  To wit:

10.  Rich Franklin’s sweet armbar escape.

For a guy who isn’t supposed to have much in the way of ground skills, that was a sweet little move.  I, for one, missed the Joe Rogan Experience and had to exclaim “That’s high level jujitsu!” to myself.  But it had nothing on…

9.  GSP’s Superman punch/leg kick combo.

As has already been said on our forums, that’s some wacky video game shit right there.  You might be forgiven for missing it in light of the complete beatdown being administered, but, seriously, damn.  This is why I stopped watching pro wrestling entirely - MMA has progressed to the point that I can see borderline impossible techniques performed under competitve circumstances.

8.  Someone besides me is talking about getting Nate Quarry out of fighting and into announcing.

Granted, that person is Nate Quarry.  Still, dudes with severe spinal injuries should probably not be involved in combat sports.  Quarry seems like a good guy, and I’d rather not see him paralyzed.  Can’t he do a Fight Night or something?  Please?

7. We should never see Kalib Starnes on PPV again.

Seriously, what was that all about?  Starnes has never impressed in previous outings, and this should be the final nail in his coffin as a PPV performer.

6.  Or Travis Lutter.

Don’t make weight once, shame on you.  Don’t get in shape twice, see ya later.

5.  Michael Bisping is that much closer to a middleweight title shot.

Wherein Anderson Silva will kill him dead.  But with two-time Silva victim Franklin and boring non-English speaking Okami the closest things to top middleweights available on the ZUFFA roster, you take what you can get.  The fight could be a decent semi-main, or main event in London and draw a decent house.

4.  I don’t really have a #4.

Maybe just nine good things happened.  Oops.

3.  The 170lb title has now been defended in five countries, more than any other major title.

Pat Miletich defended the then-lightweight belt in Brazil (vs. Mikey Burnett) and Japan (vs Kenichi Yamamoto), in addition to his US title defenses.  Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton added Great Britain to the list.  No other major MMA belt has as great a claim to being a true “world” title.

2.  Matt Serra’s presumptive return to the 155lb ranks where he belongs.

I don’t have strong feelings about Serra as a person one way or the other, but I like him as a fighter.  As a lightweight fighter.  Hey, if you’re a professional fighter and you get a shot at a world title, you take it.  Serra hit the fadeaway grandslam hail mary Rocky mixed sports metaphor jackpot in the first GSP fight and got to hold the belt for a few months, and good on him.  Now let him go fight Frankie Edgar, Kenny Florian, Roger Huerta, and other guys his own size. 

1.  The best man finally holds the welterweight title.   

This is a biggie.  Anyone committed to MMA’s credibility wants the best fighter in a division recognized as “world champion” by the sport’s premier company.  No one doubts GSP is that man.  Without meaning to denigrate Matt Serra as a fighter, he was a fluke champion and we all knew it.  Let’s start lining up challengers for the real champ now. 

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