Hit the Mat 4.20.09: Anderson Silva is the Worst Fighter Ever...

Posted by Matt McEwen on 04.20.2009

...and he'll never have a good fight again! It's possible that the title is a bit of hyperbole, but you'll have to read the article to find out.

Boring.

Awful.

Embarrassing.

Worst championship fight in recent memory.

Worst FIGHT in history.


All these comments - and worse - have been floating around the MMA internet world in the aftermath of Anderson Silva's less than scintillating performance against Thales Leites Saturday night in Montreal. It was certainly an inauspicious way to go about setting the all time record for consecutive wins inside the Octagon (he's 9-0 since he debuted) as well as tying Matt Hughes' all time consecutive defense record at 5.

But the fight was not any of the four things mentioned above, except maybe embarrassing for a few parties. What the fight really was was AGGRAVATING. Leites had a good first round once they started to engage finally and was able to score a fairly easy takedown, only to be stifled by Silva's underrated ground defense. From there, the disheartened Leites ate a few shots and tasted the champ's power, and we were left with a challenger just looking to survive and avoid too much damage. This is not the end of the world as a lot of fighters who get in there with someone that much better than them - often feeling that for the first time in their competitive lives - buckle under the pressure and go into pure survival mode. By the time Leites was dropping to his back as punches were just starting to come at him in hopes that Silva would follow him down, everyone knew any chance for any excitement at all was gone.

That was aggravating in it's own right, but what was really aggravating was watching Silva play it safe for the last three rounds. By the end of the second, the outcome was pretty clear. It would have been a small miracle for Leites to pull something out at that point, while Silva still looked fresh and was dancing.....and dancing....and dancing......and dancing. He was very creative with his striking, using some that are not often scene outside of self defense classes. In fact, he was so creative that it often looked like he was in a glorified, half hearted sparring session as opposed to a championship fight. It felt like he had turned it down a notch, but that if he really wanted to he could turn it back on and finish the fight at any moment. The words "felt" and "seems" are probably pretty accurate here as the blame for the lack excitement probably falls more on Leites' shoulders than on Silva's, but when you have been promoted as the best fighter in the world, have destroyed several fighters in a row and possess the skill set that Silva has, performances like this get laid at your feet, not those of the challenger.

To be fair, Silva probably was trying hard. But as the aggravation started to come through in his body language and the disdainful way he played around with Lietes at times, you could feel the aura that has surrounded him for the past 3 years start to slide away. Destroyers do not slap people's feet, they knock people out.

While two fights do not make a style, it seems certain that as long as Silva is taking on non-elite challengers - and with all due respect to Lietes and Patrick Cote, who are very good, they are not elite - his fights will go like this. A blueprint has been laid out for how a good but not great fighter can survive against Silva, which is the first step towards beating him. It will not make for good fights, but if your choices are to be James Irvin or Thales Lietes, which do you think most fighters would choose?

With all that in mind, one might expect that the future is bereft of good match ups for "The Spider". One would be wrong as there are a few new challengers out there for Silva, and at least two retreads as well.

Among the new middleweights some portions of the fan base are clamoring to see fight for the title, the obvious one right now is jiu jitsu ace Demian Maia. While the UFC promoted Lietes as the kind of guy custom made to beat Silva, Maia might more aptly fit that bill. While questions remain about Maia's ability to take a punch from someone like Silva - though you could say that about almost anyone who hasn't already taken a punch from Silva - there are none about his ability once a fight hits the ground. While Silva did a good job styming anything Lietes attempted in their one trip to the ground by utilizing a solid leg lockdown, it would be interesting to see if he is defensively proficient enough to deal with Maia. It has been mentioned before that these two are an intriguing match up as one's weakness is the other's strength, but at the same time, if Maia were unable to do much to Silva on the ground, we could very well end up with a replay of Saturday night's event, which no one really wants to see. It is this fact that might end up making Maia the big loser out of Saturday night, as he may have gone from assured title shot to back burner.

One challenger who would pretty much guarantee an exciting fight would Wanderlei Silva. At the very least, his style would force Anderson to fight. A mild war of words has broken out in the aftermath of Wanderlei's announced drop to 185lbs, and you would have to imagine that if he is able to best Rich Franklin, then he could very well get fast tracked into a fight. There is a built in story line as the two are former Chute Boxe teammates, and you would have to imagine the UFC would love to put Anderson into a fight with someone like Wanderlei - infinitely popular, marketable and with a style that guarantees excitement.

The only other new challenger on the immediate horizon at 185lbs is popular Brit Michael Bisping. If he is victorious over Dan Henderson at the culmination of this season of TUF, Bisping will have defeated an elite fighter for the first time and staked a claim to be a legit contender. This is something fans should fear happening. Bisping has displayed very little power in his showings at 185, but has shown an ability to game plan around that. His fight with Chris Leben might give us an unfortunate idea bout how he would handle someone with Silva's power - avoid it at all costs. Given the recent styles of both fighters, I see no reason to suspect that there would be even a modicum of excitement if they matched up.

Which means we should all hope for a Henderson win come July 11th. Hendo was able to win the first round over Silva in their match up before being choked out, but at least he has shown that he can close the distance, take a punch and force Silva to fight. He is still one of the best fighters in the world, and even though he is aging, his is a skill set that ages well since he has never relied too much on timing or slipping punches. He has however, relied on his clinch game - though that is probably something to avoid with Silva - and his wrestling, which is the weakest part of Silva's game. While his sprawl looked good in the second round against Lietes, he looked awkward trying to avoid the takedown in the first, and has shown to not have the best takedown defense in the sport. Wrestling is something that gives Henderson a definite shot against Silva, but there are no guarantees that we would not just see a repeat of their original fight.

Wrestling is also a good reason to think that the likes of Yushin Okami might have a shot against Silva, and you would have to imagine Silva would not mind avenging his last loss, but the UFC has been quite reluctant to give Okami the shot a lot of people think he may have already earned. If he defeats Jim Miller in their upcoming fight, it would be hard to say he does not deserve a shot, but then again, that is hard to say now.

The other rematch out there that looks promising would be Nate Marquardt. Moving forward from his disappointing loss to Silva where sometimes seemed in awe of the champion, Marquardt has improved his game in almost every facet, but particularly in his striking where he has became very dynamic. He has good power and in his recent destructions of Martin Kampmann and Wilson Gouviea - both good strikers themselves - he has looked nearly as destructive as Silva looked throughout 2006 and 2007. Marquardt has vowed he would not lose a rematch, going so far as to say Silva has not fought the Marquardt who exists now. Whether that is an attempt to bolster his ego or true confidence is a question I would love to see answered.

Outside of the division, there is the looming super fight with 170lb champion Georges St. Pierre. With Silva coming into the Lietes fight at 182lbs, a catchweight of 177lbs or so might not be so outlandish. The shine on that fight got dulled a lot on Saturday though, and it is likely that in addition to St. Pierre having to get through Thiago Alves at UFC 100, Silva will have to have an impressive win between now and that proposed fight.

So all is not lost for Silva. His last two fight could very well have sealed the deal with him ever becoming a top draw for the UFC, but the opponents on the horizon should at least give him an opportunity to get back in the discussion as the top fighter in the world, as well as the most exciting. He is as good as he ever was, but styles make fights, and his style might be harder to create exciting match ups with than we had expected.