How Did Anderson Silva Get So Good at Head Movement?

Segal trained him and he is a jedi, he is actually an under achiever
 
He drills head movement. A lot. He specifically drills reflexes. A lot. He works hard, therefore, he gets results.
 
Because he boxs a lot. Compared to the average pro boxer he is nothing special as far as head movement goes. That fact that he can do it in mma is something else though.
 
He probably got tired of getting punched in the face alot, so learned to dodge 'em instead.

Also, slip bag?
 
BallerBrawler27 said:
And dodging/counter punches. Seriously. He can't have just trained x times longer than other muay thai strikers. I wanna know the man's secret.
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u know anderson silva trains with me in dancing thats why he got not excellent but extremely good head movement:icon_chee
silva%20celebration.gif
 
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Because he's a well trained boxer. He was no world beater but even Freddie Roach was impressed with him. He said something to the effect of, "He likes to fight off the ropes, I tell him that can get him in trouble but he's really crafty from that position, he sucks you in".
 
If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a punch.
 
Reflexes, reaction time, and amazing range. Anderson almost seemed like he knew exactly what combo they were going to throw. He looked like a god vs rich
 
He stnds by a wall and has his coach throw a tennis ball at his face.

I'm not kidding btw, he actually does that.

I imagine that is one of many defensive drills he does.
 
Some expensive equipment/powerlifter workout.

Just a joke, probably a coupe hours a day drilling it with sparring partners throwing techniques at him.
 
Snubnoze707 said:
I was going to say dancing, as Anderson is a great dancer, however that ignores the source which is quite simply natural ability.
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Came in here to reply and found out I already did 5 years ago. I agree with this guy...
 
How did he get so good at it??? Probably by training for like 30 or more years and competing at a high level for most of that time.

<6>
 
One thing I didn't see mentioned yet:

MIND GAMES. Anderson Silva is a total counter puncher. He'll beat up someone with no skills, but against other elite strikers, he's almost afraid to initiate aggression.

He is almost always defensive. His mind is not thinking about attacking (but his opponent is). He'll throw some jabs and kicks to look offensive, but really, he's waiting to do his dodging slipping dance. He needs to make his opponent feel useless.

Once his opponent is "wtf I can't hit this guy, let's really open up" he catches them with some crazy counter, looking like a ninja.


People this didn't work against:
-Weidman. Weidman didn't throw single combinations, he just got in range and continued striking longer than Anderson is used to dodging.
-Nick Diaz. Nick ain't scared or surprised by his dodging, and Nick forced Anderson to come up with offense. People complained that Anderson didn't 'look like himself'.



SO BASICALLY:
-get into a fight, pretend you're fighting
-ignore the fighting, focus on defense and footwork
-convince opponent you're unbeatable, break their confidence
-beat their ass once they've lost faith in their offense

(of course his defense and technique were excellent, but the thread mentioned that plenty already)
 
poepstorm said:
People this didn't work against:
-Weidman. Weidman didn't throw single combinations, he just got in range and continued striking longer than Anderson is used to dodging.
-Nick Diaz. Nick ain't scared or surprised by his dodging, and Nick forced Anderson to come up with offense. People complained that Anderson didn't 'look like himself'.
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I would take that with a pinch of salt though.

Against Weidman Anderson took way too much risk by overdoing his 'mind game'. By that I mean trying to dodge punches with head movements and hands down like he normally does but this time taking it way too far, and even pretending to be rocked. Essentially that's what got him knocked out. I'm not saying he would have won otherwise, but he definitely got knocked out because of taking his dangerous 'mind game dodging' a step too far.

Against Nick Diaz he was a bit cage rusty, coming back after 2 serious losses (1 KO and 1 shin broken in half), and fighting for the first time again after breaking his leg. He had to fight careful and as you say mind games wouldn't really work with Nick Diaz anyway.
 
Tayski said:
Against Weidman Anderson took way too much risk by overdoing his 'mind game'. By that I mean trying to dodge punches with head movements and hands down like he normally does but this time taking it way too far, and even pretending to be rocked. Essentially that's what got him knocked out.

Against Nick Diaz he was a bit cage rusty, coming back after 2 serious losses (1 KO and 1 shin broken in half), and fighting for the first time again after breaking his leg. He had to fight careful and as you say mind games wouldn't really work with Nick Diaz anyway.
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EDIT: Whups, didn't mean to hijack this thread with Anderson-criticism. But the jist of what I'm saying is: His amazing head movement requires a conscious effort during a fight. He chooses to be defensive and evasive, rather than look for strikes and openings. The goal is to mess with his opponent's head until they get careless.
The downside being, careful and mentally strong opponents won't fall for it.

So, Spider head movement requires 1. consciously choosing to defend and dodge during a fight, 2. having an opponent who'd love to keep attacking and make you look good.

Yes, Anderson took the mind games too far. That's no explanation though. Writing it off to arrogance or carelessness doesn't make sense to me, he is a very calculating guy. His clowning wasn't a single mistake either, it was building up from the start of the fight, and he chose to keep doing it even though he was not winning or in control of the fight. If you're beating a guy senseless, sure clown around, but if you're very evenly matched, clowning is a risk you choose to take in order to get an edge.

What I remember from Anderson-Weidman 1 was, Anderson started with pretty crazy footwork and upper body feints to confuse Weidman. But Weidman matched him, did not get baited and kept the pressure on. He made no mistakes, did not lose any exchanges. Anderson tried more funky techniques but did not win any exchanges with them, and Weidman just kept upping the pressure. At this point, with none of his smoke and mirrors working, and not feeling technically dominant in the standup, Anderson decides to clown as hard as possible, hopefully throwing Weidman off.


As for cage rust against Nick Diaz: Sure, maybe it played a factor. But when the GOAT who finishes every mortal with a crazy ninja trick doesn't perform one night, it's almost never accredited to his (world-class) opponents. "He's having an off night". Sorry Nick, it wasn't your footwork, your counter mind games or your pressure.


Sorry, but it just doesn't add up for me.. When people can't properly explain your successes (oh it's his superhuman reflexes, superhuman skills), and people can't explain your poor performances (oh his ring rust, bad nights, weird ambience) then your success is probably dependent on some factor that the spectators can't see. I'm convinced it's his mind games and provocation.
 
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poepstorm said:
As for cage rust against Nick Diaz: Sure, maybe it played a factor. But when the GOAT who finishes every mortal with a crazy ninja trick doesn't perform one night, it's almost never accredited to his (world-class) opponents. "He's having an off night". Sorry Nick, it wasn't your footwork, your counter mind games or your pressure.
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Weidman did really well against Silva. However Diaz didn't do anything special and didn't win the fight. Silva was fighting very prudent and cautious and was not moving as much or being as tentative as he normally does. Compare how he fought against Diaz and how he fought against Bisping, it was not the same fighter. Even if he lost the decision vs. Bisping, he was moving a lot more, being a lot more tentative, and also landing a lot more crazy shots. Please don't tell me that Nick Diaz is as good or was fighting as good as Bisping...

You also have to accept that age plays a factor. Silva was already 38 when he fought Weidman, and he made a come back against Diaz after breaking his leg when he was already nearly 40.

poepstorm said:
Sorry, but it just doesn't add up for me.. When people can't properly explain your successes (oh it's his superhuman reflexes, superhuman skills), and people can't explain your poor performances (oh his ring rust, bad nights, weird ambience) then your success is probably dependent on some factor that the spectators can't see. I'm convinced it's his mind games and provocation.
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Do you really believe that age, ring rust, and breaking your leg in half are not factors to take into consideration with how a fighter is performing compared to when those factors aren't into play?

Ring rust is a real factor. GSP wasn't as good when he came back and fought vs. Carlos Condit after a nearly 2 year long lay off because of his knee injury. Jon Jones wasn't as good when he came back after his lay off and fought OSP. Hell even Khabib was not as good as he can be when he fought MJ after his 2 years break (especially in the first round).

I don't think I have to explain how age and coming back from a serious injury are also big factors.
 
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