UFC 153: Anderson Silva Is The Best Ever
DALLAS (105.3 THE FAN) - Anderson "The Spider" Silva (32-4 MMA, 15-0 UFC) is the greatest Mixed Martial Artist of all time.
He is able to do things inside the octagon that we have never seen before and he has done it with consistency and relative ease throughout his UFC career (see Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort or Silva vs. Forrest Griffin for examples). Silva looks to add another Matrix-esque knockout to his highlight reel on Saturday night when he moves up to Light Heavyweight for the third time in his career to face Stephan Bonnar (15-7 MMA, 8-6 UFC) at UFC 153 in Brazil.
What makes Silva so great?
Anderson Silva is everything that you want a fighter to be.
He is a well-rounded fighter with a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu to go with the best stand up in all of MMA. He has proven that he will fight anyone at any time. He proved this back in 2008 when he was asked to move up to 205lbs. to fight James Irvin while the Middleweight division figured out an opponent that he hadn't walked through. He has really proved the fact that he will fight anyone at any time over the past couple of months.
Everyone knows that Jon Jones turned down a fight with Chael Sonnen that resulted in the cancellation of UFC 151. A part of the story that you may not know is that Anderson Silva called Dana White about an hour after the card had been cancelled asking if he could fill in and fight any light heavyweight so that the card could go on. That call ended up being an hour too late to save the card.
When UFC 153 was in jeopardy after injuries to Jose Aldo (main event) and Rampage Jackson (co-main event) Silva made that same call to the UFC and said that he was willing to fight any light heavyweight so that the card in his home country could go on.
Silva wants to be known as the greatest of all time and it is obvious when you hear him talk about a possible fight with UFC Welterweight Champion George St-Pierre. Silva knows that to truly solidify himself as the greatest he will need to defeat the other great fighter of his time.
To get this chance Silva is going to need to avoid the biggest upset in MMA history on Saturday night against a very tough Stephan "The American Psycho" Bonnar with nothing to lose.
Can Bonnar pull it off?
If Stephan Bonnar is going to defeat Anderson Silva he is going to have to avoid fighting like the fighter that we all know and love him for.
If Bonnar decides to go toe to toe with Silva to test his manhood he will not make it out of the 1st round.
He has never been knocked out or submitted in his MMA career with his only 2 non decision losses coming via cuts (stoppage) which could be a very bad thing that can easily lead to over-confidence when attempting to trade punches with "The Spider".
Bonnar is an accomplished grappler with a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlson Gracie. He has used his grappling to his advantage in his last two victories over Kyle Kingsbury and Igor Pokrajac. He will be fighting a 37 year old Silva who has not fought more than 2 times in a year since 2008 and will be competing for a third time this year.
Bonnar will be the bigger fighter, the younger fighter (35 to 37-hah) and he is the more accomplished grappler. Silva has had very few issues inside the UFC but all of them have had to do with a superior grappler being able to put him on his back.
Travis Lutter was able to mount Silva and Chael Sonnen has been able to smother Silva for about 30 minutes of the 35 that they have fought (both victories for Anderson) and Dan Henderson held him down for the first round of their fight before Silva was able to finish him off in the second round.
If there is a game plan to defeating Anderson Silva it starts and ends with trying to out-grapple him.
How it is going to play out
I think that a smart game plan from Stephan Bonnar will make for a very exciting Main Event on Saturday night.
Bonnar is going to need to get inside on Silva as much as possible and try to push "The Spider" up against the cage in an attempt to wear him down. Silva will have his hands full if Bonnar is able to get a hold of him and that had to be the focus of his mini training camp heading into the fight.
Silva has shown that although he can be taken down it is not easy to mount an offensive attack while in top control of him. His active guard has led to triangle choke victories over Lutter and Sonnen and he will definitely be looking for the finish from his back if Bonnar takes him down.
I don't feel that Bonnar is on the same level as the grapplers that Silva has struggled with in the past and I predict that he will survive a takedown or two before he hands Stephan Bonnar his first knockout loss of his career.
I have Anderson Silva winning via 2nd round KO.
Will we get Anderson Silva vs. GSP in Dallas?
If Silva can win as expected on Saturday night we will be just one more fight away from our DFW MMA fan dream fight. George St-Pierre will be facing Carlos Condit on November 17th and if St-Pierre can emerge victorious that should set up an early 2013 meeting between the two champions and according to Dana White it will happen at Cowboys Stadium.
Check out the UFC 153 Post Fight Show with myself and Richard Hunter as soon as the main event is over on 105.3 THE FAN.
You can follow me on twitter @mmamiked and you can follow Richard @RichardHunter
Enjoy The Fights!
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