In retrospect, which aspects of Anderson's striking were overrated?

His ability (or lack thereof) to lead, mostly. He neglected learning how to lead with frequent success, mainly with his boxing, and to have it setup his counter punching. His combination punching was never fantastic either, and he specialized with throwing mostly single shot, straight punches almost exclusively. He also isn't real diverse when it comes to changing levels and targeting the body, he's very much a head hunter.

These are the main things that come to mind at the moment. He's always been a master of distance, timing and accuracy though.

Your spot on. He fought more offensively in Pride(like most Chute Boxe fighters) & he didn't do nearly as well. He would start backing his opponent up, then get taken down or eat a shot. I read this before & watched him & it definitely is accurate.

Ryo Chonan was actually out striking him for part of their fight. People make it seem like Chonan was getting hs ass kicked(he did definitely lose the 1st 5 mins), but he was winning the fight before the flying leg lock.

It probably helped him to train with Lyoto to get used to guys who didn't fight the way he wanted. Considering Lyoto was a counterfghter, it makes me wonder if how their match would go? Silva backing up & dancing around the whole fight trying to frustrate Lyoto into charging like Bader?
 
He had areas of his striking that weren't as good as others but nothing about his striking was ever overrated.
 
His ability (or lack thereof) to lead, mostly. He neglected learning how to lead with frequent success, mainly with his boxing, and to have it setup his counter punching. His combination punching was never fantastic either, and he specialized with throwing mostly single shot, straight punches almost exclusively. He also isn't real diverse when it comes to changing levels and targeting the body, he's very much a head hunter.

These are the main things that come to mind at the moment. He's always been a master of distance, timing and accuracy though.

Agreed.

IMO, Its no so much that Silva is an overrated Striker, so much as "MMA striking" being overrated as a whole. In 10 years, I guarantee you that we will not see Silva as all-time best striker. Perhaps best ever counterpuncher, but not striker. Already, i think guys like Anthony Pettis and TJ Dillashaw are pushing the boundaries way beyond what we've seen. Movement is improving. Greater variety of strikes. Combinations.

MMA Striking is probably the least evolved of the core skillsets (the others being submissions and grappling). A few years ago GSP added a solid jab to his arsenal, and together with his wrestling destroyed his division until Hendricks style nulified that one punch. Renan Barao was heralded as elite and was dismantled once someone stopped letting him plant his feet. Silva was goat until he fought someone who refused to engage him on his terms. Machida lost his lustre for similar reasons (still one of my favorites though)

At some point Shogun, Wanderlei, Belfort were all elite strikers too. Today, they look like relics. Not because of age, but because the sport has evolved passed them. (Arguably Vitor has been looking good)
 
Agreed.

IMO, Its no so much that Silva is an overrated Striker, so much as "MMA striking" being overrated as a whole. In 10 years, I guarantee you that we will not see Silva as all-time best striker. Perhaps best ever counterpuncher, but not striker. Already, i think guys like Anthony Pettis and TJ Dillashaw are pushing the boundaries way beyond what we've seen. Movement is improving. Greater variety of strikes. Combinations.

MMA Striking is probably the least evolved of the core skillsets (the others being submissions and grappling). A few years ago GSP added a solid jab to his arsenal, and together with his wrestling destroyed his division until Hendricks style nulified that one punch. Renan Barao was heralded as elite and was dismantled once someone stopped letting him plant his feet. Silva was goat until he fought someone who refused to engage him on his terms. Machida lost his lustre for similar reasons (still one of my favorites though)

At some point Shogun, Wanderlei, Belfort were all elite strikers too. Today, they look like relics. Not because of age, but because the sport has evolved passed them. (Arguably Vitor has been looking good)

That sounds great and all but we've had K1 Champions get routinely outstruck by MMA strikers. Werdum, a ground specialist, just knocked out a K1 Champ. Bob Sapp of all people knocked out K1 Champs. Boxers are still at another level with hands but offer absolutely no kicks.

What other strikers out there are so much better than MMA fighters?
 
Yeah, I don't think Silvas striking was overrated, but his overall ability. I feel reason was the division he fought in. UFC MW was...their weakest division for a long time.

Lyoto is smaller than Anderson, but he would have most likely beat all the guys Anderson fought(including Chael) pre-2012, before the guys from Strikeforce & Weidman came into the UFC MW.
 
That sounds great and all but we've had K1 Champions get routinely outstruck by MMA strikers. Werdum, a ground specialist, just knocked out a K1 Champ. Bob Sapp of all people knocked out K1 Champs. Boxers are still at another level with hands but offer absolutely no kicks.

What other strikers out there are so much better than MMA fighters?

Mark Hunt was/is a superior striker to most of the heavy weight division. He was handily destroying Werdum in the stand up that he was pulling guard and asking Hunt to jump in. Werdum pulled a hail mary knee and it ended up KOing Hunt. that does not make him a superior striker.

As far as Silva goes, it's already been said. the biggest asset to his game was his speed, reaction, and accuracy, which is sadly fading as he gets older. His biggest weakness to me has been fighting on the back foot or under pressure when he is not in control of the fight. He still has a few fights left in his gas tank, but I think they should be marquee fights to garner him money or that interest him.
 
He was/is very skilled. Even before breaking his leg his only weakness were his kicks. That doesn't mean his kicks were bad. It was if everything was a 9 his kicks were an 8.5.
 
His chin and head movement was a bit overrated. Everything else was great TDD was also not Machida level great but was functional.
 
He had pretty good all round striking, although his mind games made mostly every opponent of his freeze up.
 
If he punched you in the mouth.. would you still consider his striking overrated?
 
His Power.

Anderson got a lot of credit for his power that should have been more accurately attributed to his precision and timing. He was never a power hitter.
 
Until Weidman, who bested him on those.

I'd say father time had a little something to do with it. Do you honestly believe that in Anderson's prime those fights happen the same way? I sure don't.
 
His chin and head movement was a bit overrated. Everything else was great TDD was also not Machida level great but was functional.

What about his chin was overrated? Dude has been knocked out one time in 39 fights, at 39 years old. We're talking Dan Henderson levels of "chin" here, the only difference is Anderson didn't fight any heavyweights.

I would say Anderson's head movement was superb. It's amazing how a guy dominates almost every fighter he fights for seven years, clowns too much and gets clipped with a clean shot, and then people start saying his chin and head movement were overrated lol
 
I'd say father time had a little something to do with it. Do you honestly believe that in Anderson's prime those fights happen the same way? I sure don't.

Impossible to say, so it's rather pointless to speculate. I think Weidman today is a more complete MMA fighter than Anderson ever was, if that is what you are asking.
 
His Power.

Anderson got a lot of credit for his power that should have been more accurately attributed to his precision and timing. He was never a power hitter.

You're right there. Someone like Carwin had scary power but Anderson was able to get devastating ko's through his accuracy and timing more than brute force.
 
GSP was not the best striker or BJJ guy in his division. He was great at most but it was his ability to mix it up is what enhanced his striking. In pure striking matches I would favor many over him, same with BJJ. The threat of the take down is what helped

I did not mention BJJ, MMA is not BJJ, it's grappling, and he was the best mma grappler. He was also the best MMA striker. Just because he would not win a boxing match against someone else changes nothing.

If Silva has any knocks on his game it was his wrestling, which will impact his striking effectiveness against some opponents. Chael is not near as good a striker as Silva is, yet arguably outstruck him standing in the first fight.
 
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