The Rear Naked Column 08.12.09: The Pound for Pound King

Posted by Samer Kadi on 08.12.2009

Anderson Silva’s stunning victory over Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 solidified his image in many people’s eyes as the sport’s undisputed pound for pound king. In this week’s edition of “The Rear Naked Column”, Samer Kadi discusses The Spider’s latest breathtaking performance, his legacy and his status as the best fighter in the world.

After a two week hiatus due to a family emergency, "The Rear Naked Column" returns to discuss the greatness that was Anderson Silva's performance last Saturday against Forrest Griffin. Now before we get to that, I would like to share a few thoughts on the BJ Penn-Kenny Florian title fight.

Thoughts on Penn-Florian:

411's Jeremy Lambert basically summed up my exact thoughts on the fight, but I had written an entire paragraph about it so I'll go ahead anyway.

When asked about what he learned about Penn from training with UFC Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (the man who defeated Penn in February), Kenny Florian said, and I'm paraphrasing here: "I'm not Georges St. Pierre, I'm Kenny Florian. I learned a lot because Georges is a great training partner, but I will have my own game plan".

Unfortunately Kenny seemed to have forgotten about that in the fight, as he decided to take an identical approach to GSP by clinching up with Penn and forcing him against the fence in an attempt to wear him down and take the fight to the ground. The only problem is, Kenny Florian as he put it in his own words, is NOT Georges St. Pierre. He doesn't have the same size, the same explosiveness, the same wrestling ability or even the same cardio to take the same route. It ended up backfiring, as Kenny wore himself out. Banking on your opponent not being in good shape is risky. Randy Couture wears his opponents down, as does GSP, but these guys are fantastic wrestlers who know how to muscle people around. To be fair to Kenny, I think he had another strategy which his corner kept pushing him to implement. And that's circling around BJ and utilizing his kicks. But as Mike Tyson once said: "everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the face", which is exactly what happened to Kenny. The moment he threw his first kick, BJ caught it and dropped him with a right hand. I think Kenny felt Penn's power and decided to switch to plan B, which just delayed the inevitable. I thought that was the strategy Sean Sherk should have used against BJ in their fight. Credit to Kenny though, he hung in there and made a fight out of it, it was hardly a blowout.

With that said, this fight was more about BJ than it was about Kenny. Simply put, Penn won the fight, Florian didn't lose it. He won it by simply being a better fighter. Let's face it, Kenny was just outclassed. Penn's excellent takedown defense kept him right where he wanted, he got the better of most of the striking exchanges, was clearly the more powerful fighter and really roughed Kenny up in the clinch, which I thought discouraged Kenny as he probably looked to take advantage of that position so he could utilize his Muay Thai skills and possibly cut Penn with trademark sharp elbows. Instead, BJ was the more imposing fighter in that area, and always separated with stiff uppercuts or elbows. I think Penn getting the better of the stand up made Kenny run out of ideas and started getting a little desperate. BJ is usually a very instinctive fighter, who relies on his own talent and does whatever comes natural to him in the Octagon. But this was a fight where he had a good game plan and stuck to it. He knew once he takes it to the ground, the fight was done. But he didn't push too hard for the takedown in order not to tire himself out. He was patient, defended Florian's takedowns, dominated him in the stand up, he took away Kenny's kicks, and forced the fight to the ground at the right moment. BJ probably possesses the best top game in all of MMA, and once he has you mounted, it's all she wrote. BJ took a lot of flack after the GSP fight and rightfully so (after all, a cage fighter having his mother defend him in court will hardly win you any fans), but people seem to have forgotten that he's still, by a mile, the best lightweight in the world. I never was a huge BJ fan but when motivated the guy is just a delight to watch. I was worried about his mental state after the GSP fight (he mentioned it would have been his last had he won), but I'm pleased to see him back on track again and looking forward to his next fight (he seemed excited when asked about fighting Diego Sanchez). The problem with BJ is that you almost feel like he considered himself above the lightweight division, which is a shame because it's a very deep division, both inside and outside of the UFC. Fights against Diego Sanchez and even Gray Maynard (a guy who can give BJ some problems with his size and wrestling) are very intriguing, while there's a dose of lightweight talent outside of the UFC who could all make for a classic battle with the world's top 155'er. I hope BJ decides to stick around for a while longer and fight at his natural weight class where he could continue to build his legacy and go down as one of the greatest fighters ever.



I would like to add that Florian mentioned something about a judge giving him the first three rounds. I would really love to know what that judge, as well as MMA Live analyst Stephan Bonnar (who believed the same thing), have been smoking. BJ rocked Kenny twice in the first round and won it comfortably. He also won the third round with ease. If I want to be generous, I would give Kenny the second round but that's about it. I love Kenny and I was rooting for him, and as I mentioned he did fairly well to take the fight into the championship rounds and pretty much held his own, but there's no way he was winning the fight until that rear naked choke.

And finally, a note to Joe Rogan who I usually enjoy listening to: Talking about Penn's improved cardio one second, then saying Penn is breathing heavily a second later, especially when the fight is still in its first round, confuses the hell out of viewers. Rogan was praising Penn's new strength and conditioning regime, and then talked about Florian wearing him down and BJ looking tired literally seconds later. This wasn't the first time he did that, as in BJ's fight with GSP, Goldberg mentioned how Penn might be tiring from all the clinching during that first round, and Rogan said: "First of all BJ doesn't look even a little bit tired", only to mention how BJ was looking exhausted the moment GSP got the takedown in the second round. I know Joe is the color commentator and he just reacts to whatever he's seeing, but a little consistency during a fight would be welcomed. Fact is, BJ's cardio will never be as bad as many think it is, but it will never be as good as most hope it would become. I'm pretty sure he was in shape for the GSP fight, but St. Pierre will make anyone tire. He was breathing heavily after the third round in the Kenny fight, as evidenced by him lying on the mat for a while after securing the choke and getting the win. BJ is just a fighter who will never be a cardio freak, but nowadays will show up in good enough shape to deal with most fighters.

So with that out of the way, let's take a look at the fighter I believe is the best in the world at the moment, Anderson "The Spider" Silva.

The Undisputed Pound for Pound King:

When I wrote my three part "Trinity" column, discussing MMA's consensus top three fighters (GSP, Fedor, Anderson), I mentioned the fact that I hated the pound for pound debate, and that the three of them had a good case for being the top fighter in the world. I stand by that statement, as I believe those three are the undisputed cream of the crop, and whichever fighter you think deserves the top spot is fine by me. I honestly don't understand why people get so worked up about this issue, as it is mostly subjective. "How can you rank Fedor at #1?", "Silva at #1 is a joke", "GSP lost to freaking Matt Serra". These are all statements I often bump into in the comments' section. And frankly, they're all ridiculous. Fedor Emelianenko hasn't lost a fight in years, and his only loss has been a controversial one, he's beaten every fighter he's ever faced (he avenged his only defeat), and has been the top heavyweight for what seems like an eternity. Georges St. Pierre has probably faced the toughest competition of any fighter, period. Looking at his last six fights, it's unbelievable what this guy has done. He basically dominated every second of those fights, didn't lose a round (aside from that one drunk judge who gave Koscheck the first round in their fight), and did all of that against first class opposition. Add to that the fact that he's in my opinion, the most well rounded fighter in the world. As off February 2nd (after the BJ Penn fight), GSP was my pick for the best pound for pound fighter in the world. But after last Saturday, that had to change.

What Anderson Silva did against Forrest Griffin was quite simply breathtaking. I've never seen a fighter make a top class opponent (say what you will about Griffin, he's a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion) look like an amateur the way Silva did (A close second would be Machida's destruction of Rashad Evans).

To get one thing out of the way, many criticized Forrest for his game plan. And while I do think that criticism is warranted, it's not as simple as many believe. You can't just rush in for a takedown. People tried it against Chuck Liddell for years and got knocked out. You do it against Anderson Silva, and you're in for a worse outcome. Takedowns need to be set up with the striking (something GSP does perfectly). Randy Couture even mentioned on MMA live that it was too soon for Forrest to go for a takedown in the fight. When the fight was first made, the first thing Forrest mentioned was: "I'm not gonna rush". And while he certainly rushed, it only happened after the first knockdown. Forrest was trying to feel Anderson out at first, which is the way to go against most fighters. Silva just happens to be so lethal, that he knocks you out before you ever get a chance of getting a hold of his timing. You can't throw feelers, he'll punish you. Look at the way he caught Forrest's first leg kick (similar to the James Irvin one), Griffin would have gotten away with it against most fighters. If you look at the first knockdown, it was actually Anderson who did the chasing. He chased Forrest around, ducked under a punch and floored him with a right hook. After that Forrest got desperate. Fighters tend to do that after getting knocked down, as they always feel they need to catch up. And that's when Forrest started rushing in, which is just a recipe for disaster against MMA's premier striker.



So why is Anderson the best fighter in the world in my book? Well, you can make the case for GSP and Fedor being slightly more well rounded (I believe they are), but Anderson is just so far ahead of everyone when it comes to striking that every thing else matters very little the moment he takes the center of the Octagon. His takedown defense, while not as non existent as many believe (he managed to stuff two in the second round against Henderson), is mediocre. But his ground game is severely underrated. He has a very good defensive guard (completely neutralized both Hendo and Leites), and a dangerous offensive guard. His striking however, is just out of this world (For the record, I'm not saying Anderson is the best fighter in the world JUST because he's the best striker). Contrary to what many believe, striking isn't limited to punching and kicking. What makes Anderson so deadly is his footwork, movement, and precision. I've never seen a fighter so efficient, accurate and fluid with his striking. His striking defense is arguably more impressive than his offense. The head movement is almost on professional boxing levels of good (boxing fans, I said almost). He sees punches coming miles away, avoids them, counters with lethal precision, and makes it look easy in the process. Forrest Griffin may not be known for his knockout power, but dropping your hands in front of a 220 pound professional fighter and actually getting away with it? Not only does that take confidence, it takes an insane amount of skill and fighting instinct. The second knockdown is just godly, the way he avoided those two jabs by moving his head backwards (Ali style), then ducking the moment Forrest throws the overhand right is mind blowing.



He makes his opponent's moves look so slow and telegraphed. Anderson's striking is just on a totally different level than anyone in MMA right now. A few years ago, Mirko Cro Cop was considered the best striker in MMA. Looking at Anderson now, it's not up for debate. In a K-1 ring? Maybe. In MMA? Not even close. Anderson's movement and diversity alone is head and shoulders above Cro Cop's.

Offensively, Silva's striking is just a symphony of destruction. Joe Rogan once described it as a ballet of violence. He makes it look so artistic, yet so brutal. His boxing is one of the best in MMA, his kicks are lethal and his Muay Thai clinch is legendary. Even when he's bored, he manages to be creative (check out the Leites fight, or maybe not, you wouldn't want to do that to yourself). He creates angles that most fighters wouldn't even think of. His power, dare I say, is almost underrated. He knocked Griffin out with a right jab (his supposedly weaker side) while moving backwards. Not only that, but his hands were at waist level when he threw the punch, which makes producing that kind of power almost impossible. It's Anderson's accuracy that allows him to generate it. Someone like Rampage Jackson probably packs up a bigger punch, but Silva will just hit you square on the button so you have nowhere to go but down. His timing is just uncanny.



Silva just moved to the light heavyweight division, took on a guy who held the belt just 9 months ago, and flat out embarrassed him. Now Griffin may not be an elite striker, but his stand up was more than enough against Mauricio Shogun and Quinton Jackson (arguably the best strikers in the division not name Lyoto Machida). Fans will always look for an excuse to degrade a win. Fedor haters will tell try to diminish his wins over Sylvia and Arlovski because of their losses to Mercer and Rogers, despite the fact that they took place AFTER their fights with Emelianenko. GSP haters will claim that Penn was a lightweight, Fitch was overrated, Serra was a fluke champion, Hughes was past his prime (both times, despite being the champion the first time around), etc. Silva just beat a top 5 light heavyweight (remember, he's the Middleweight champion), and people claim Forrest was tailor made for Anderson. The fact of the matter is, if you think hard enough, you can reduce the importance of any win. It doesn't take anything away from the actual feat. Anderson Silva is just a world class fighter, who wins fight and does so with ease. I was his biggest critic after the Leites fight, and I stand by that, but he could have finished Leites any time he wanted (that doesn't make that performance any less of a disappointment). A guy with a lesser chin than Coté would have gone to sleep after that flying knee and high kick.

If you still consider Fedor or GSP the best p4p fighter in the world, you're entitled to your opinion, and I don't even disagree with it. But for me personally, after last Saturday, there's just no doubt anymore. Silva moved to a higher weight class and put on a virtuoso performance to knockout a former champion in just over three minutes. His skills are just miles ahead of most. He's reached a level which few will ever match in their entire careers. He's a BJJ black belt, and his striking is just too developed for any fighter in the world to deal with. 10-0 in his UFC career, holding the middleweight belt and both his light heavyweight fights lasting at a combined 4 minutes, Silva is simply the best fighter in the world.



After the fight Silva had the following to say: "God forgive me for saying this, but we're years ahead of some fighters". God forgive me for saying this, I totally agree.