Let's talk about Anderson Silva's strange... moving guard?

[General_Speckz]

I made some GIFS from watching the Silva vs Adesanya fight since I can't find any gifs of his for lack of a better term... "moving guard" and he used it a lot in this fight so I made a bunch of them..

What are your opinions on Silva's crazy moving hands guard (that seems to be like some feinting / boxing eyebrow guard / Wing Chun blocks / Head Kick blocking / Philly Shell amalgamation ??)

Since he's the only fighter I've seen do it, I'm interested to hear if anyone has any insightful comments on it, or opinions in general. Maybe it's as simple as his brain reacting to what he thinks the follow up strikes will be and blocking them proactively? Can you describe each hand movement to yourself in each GIF for what it is, specifically? I wonder how he came up with it.

How effective do you think it is? Would you consider doing it in a fight?

 

[j123]

I'm not a fan of a shifting guard, when I see that its a sign they're too focused upstairs and I'll begin to to leg smash. The last gif shows that, he does have good read on distance, so Stylebender only hit with his instep and not the full brut of the shin.

As for what it is, it's basically a form of parrying. Pushing the cross to your inside is good, but with parrying it don't really do much if you're not countering back, its just wasted energy and movement at that point if you're parrying, then stepping out or waiting.

 

[trendnick]

He is playing with his hands..... Making it in advance more difficult for his opponent to plan something....



...something common in (amateur) boxing. According to my trainer (as i have learned to move/play your lead hand/jab alot)

 

[AndyMaBobs]

It's largely bullshit that Anderson pulls whenever he meets an opponent who feints him or forces him to lead. It creates the illusion of doing something in the eyes of his fans when really all that's happening is that he's getting slapped up.

 

[JohnPJones]

seems like an attempted distraction technique.

if i'm not mistaken lyoto machida did/does something similar to distract his opponent from what his feet are doing.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

It looked cool against vitor

 

[thugpoet]

Anderson doesn't use his has for defense. He is a positioning guy. His hands are there for the jucking and jiving.

 

[General_Speckz]

Alright here's my thoughts.

I definitely can see an imaginary floating question mark above Israel's head when Andy does it, and I could see the value of that in disrupting your opponent's plan.

But, then Israel seemed to counter it handily with pulled rear kick combination switch left straight:

And, of course the leg kicks in a couple of the gifs. But, Andy did parry some punches in there.

Can't deny it uses energy, though. It's reminicent of some Lyte Burly drills I saw. I can see when crossing your arms it has more balance than just moving one across. Pretty interesting stuff to me. Definitely has Wing Chun influence. Risky for sure, but doesn't it egg your opponent on to attack so you might find his patterns, while showing him a random pattern in exchange? Shuckin' and jivin' indeed. I think it's pretty cool, like watching other arrogant knockout fighters like Prince Naseem or Ali, but ultimately has a counter like everything else.

 

[SandisLL]

in last gifs 1:50? Didn't looked like innocent mesh.

 

[General_Speckz]

in last gifs 1:50? Didn't looked like innocent mesh.

Can you say that in different words? I don't understand your meaning.

 

[SandisLL]

He looks like almost managed to get his hand in position, when one arm he had on opponent's forearm level but another on elbow level after striking attempt.
Look video.

In other gif he simulated low level down orieted X type block for kick, but there's not enough distance and not that ideal legs angle for this. Usually it is done when opponent kicks with step forward ( fe groin kick ), defender steps forward too and applies this block with intent to take down with block.

What there is emulated from chun, I can't tell, don't know chun.

 

[General_Speckz]

He looks like almost managed to get his hand in position, when one arm he had on opponent's forearm level but another on elbow level after striking attempt.
Look video.

In other gif he simulated low level down orieted X type block for kick, but there's not enough distance and not that ideal legs angle for this. Usually it is done when opponent kicks with step forward ( fe groin kick ), defender steps forward too and applies this block with intent to take down with block.

What there is emulated from chun, I can't tell, don't know chun.

I agree he was close to blocking the punch, but as they say, "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

I see some Wu Sau or Pak Sau. (Actually, its been so long since I did Chun I thought the outer parry was Tan Sau instead of Wu Sau.)

This funny video is the closest thing I could find to the way I was taught and it's hella old:
(timestamped)



Just pay attention to his left hand and you get the idea. Weird that the pak sau and the wu sau are basically the same thing depending which direction you do it. Yeah I don't know, Chuns a weird art.

I will say I'm glad I learned it as it teaches you how to have those long arm outside parries with an open hand, and I don't think boxing traditionally teaches that. (I could be wrong.) Even during practice drills for WC I remember the whole centerline stuff, or blocking specifically with the hand, went out the window so it doesn't look like it does in these prepared drills.

You see a lot of bong sau in boxing (flared upward elbow blocks/parries) too, but I don't think Andy does any here that I can see.

 

[General_Speckz]

Oh, I just noticed that this exchange is the setup for the other exchange:

Now, Israel does the same kick threat and goes straight to the rear left:

Good on Israel for finding a way through.

 

[franklinstower]

Its wing chun

 

[SandisLL]

Stuff that I mentioned is in other arts. Maybe in chun too. Another stuff that I didn't commented, can't tell. Maybe chun ( I don't know chun ).

 

[TheBystander5]

I think he just doesn't know what to do with his hands.

 

[ironkhan57]

I feel like his punching defense has gotten better even though hes on his way out. But those defensive mechs are all mix of muay thai, wing chun, karate, and just boxing head movement shits and blocks in general. Anderson silva and israel adesanya are probably the 2 most complete mma fighters in that middleweight division. Robert whittaker nor yoel and kelvin are as well rounded as them right now.

 

[shincheckin]

IMO, its his own thing, hes reading and blocking and hand trapping as he goes, hes got good head movement, good rhythm, its his own style. Similar to how there are guys like Prince Naseem or Emanuel Augustus for example, fought their own way, their own style, that no one has been able to duplicate cause they aint them, just my thoughts.

 

[panamaican]

Looking at it, I see elements of karate blocking/parrying. There's a number of "parry-pass" style blocks in karate that are supposed to provide significant defense against unexpected attacks because they cover the entire upper body with their path of movement.

The way I've seen it described in Goju Ryu (mawashi uke) is that one hand moves in a half circle from high to low while the other hand moves in the opposite direction. Essentially, they cross each other in an X-style pattern. The intent being that either hand can intercept an attack and push it to the off hand. Combined with movement, it's supposed to provide a lot of defense against the unknown.

It looks like he's employing similar movements to cover for not knowing what's coming. A proactive defense. It stands out particularly after the lower X block to defend a kick and he immediately moves into a crossing arm defense in anticipation of some kind of upper body attack.

Even in the gif where he gets hit with the straight left, Silva's already moving his hands to intercept the straight. He doesn't catch it early but he does get his hands on it to push it off somewhat. He actually gets both hands on the straight left which could have been useful if he had secured a grip.

I'd guess he's dealing with the realization that he's not fast enough to just slip some of these guys anymore and is looking for a hedge against his dropping reaction speed.

 

[SandisLL]

if he had secured a grip.

Yup.