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...Anderson Silva's striking seems to have declined. Has anyone else noticed this in recent years? I think the fight where this was most obvious was the Sonnen rematch.
Check out the awful technique on show when Anderson leans way forward and just wings really sloppy punches and doesn't even seem to be focusing on his position at all, around 9mins 20secs of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3yKUXpL9o4
And this wasn't even a tired Anderson, it was only round 2.
And check the pointless, weak little kick up the middle he does immediately after those punches. What was that meant to achieve exactly, other than giving Sonnen an opportunity to go for a takedown!?
He uses a similarly weak and sloppy kick again at 9mins 52secs, where it's as if Anderson has forgotten his technique and is just angrily lobbing any old strikes at Sonnen in the way that a low-level brawler would do.
Anderson Silva in his physical prime was a composed sniper, who waited for opportunities then unleashed accurate, vicious strikes with very good technique. I don't know if age has dulled his physical abilities or whether success/hubris has meant he doesn't bother training technique as much anymore, but I do think these weird moments of rash sloppiness mean something.
My own best guess on it is that Anderson is, like everyone else who has human physiology (ie, every clean athlete ever), no longer the same fighting machine at pushing 39 as he was earlier in his career.
I know people will bring up Bernard Hopkins still being a world champion at 48 or whatever to suggest that a fighter can still be prime at 38, but serious B-Hop fans (like me) know that Bernard in his early 30s who demolished Glen Johnson and Antwun Echols in the late 1990s was a vastly superior fighter to the current tired, toothless, sly old spoiler we know today. There have been MMA fighters who have excelled into their 40s such as Hendo and Randy, but I think it's reasonable enough to say that there is some justified dubiety about how exactly these guys were performing in that fashion. But that's a story for another thread I guess.
If I look at the fights with Weidman, Bonnar, Sonnen II, Okami II... to me Anderson just does not look quite as polished and sharp and explosive as he did in the years that I consider to be his absolute peak as a fighter, 06-09 (think Leben, Franklin I+II, Hendo, Forrest). This is nothing unique to Anderson Silva though, I think all fighters have their zeniths, brief windows where everything came together and they had just the right blend of physicality, experience, and motivation. For me, the GSP who fought Condit, Diaz and Hendricks was patently not as good an all-round fighter as the GSP of 07-09 who dominated the bejesus out of Serra and Fitch and Penn and Alves. You can find similar peaks and descents for all long-running fighters, Fedor, Chuck, etc etc.
I think that it's more likely that Chris Weidman wins the rematch. Weidman is in his prime, is a truly brilliant grappler and just an excellent fighter all-round. I'd love it if Anderson could do it because I am a big fan of the Spider, but I just don't think he is quite the fighter he once was. This is Penn-Edgar all over again for me!
I will say though, I think the Silva critics on this site should calm down a little, regarding the theory that Weidman becomes the MW GOAT on December 28th with a win, or that he will have definitively proved to be a greater fighter than Anderson if he is victorious again.
Jermain Taylor beat Bernard Hopkins twice. Ricardo Mayorga beat Vernon Forrest twice. Junior Jones beat Marco Antonio Barrera twice. And you'd need to be a lunatic to use that in itself to suggest that Taylor as a fighter was greater than B-Hop, that Mayorga was greater than Forrest, or that Jones was greater than Barrera. A young, hungry guy like Weidman getting the better of a 38 year old fighter like Anderson does not automatically mean he is better, not at all.
It means he is the better fighter NOW. That is exactly what it means. Nothing more.
As I've said, I think Weidman is pretty amazing. I watched his performances in the ADCC in '09, and was extremely impressed by how he handled Munoz last year. I love his power-wrestling style. But, let's be sensible about this everyone, please. Weidman MAY become the MW GOAT and MAY prove to be a greater fighter than Anderson... but let's wait and see first. MMA fans are so quick to proclaim every new thing the greatest thing in history, it's just so rash and short-sighted. Jon Jones was the invincible man whose talents and resume made a mockery of Anderson and Fedor and GSP with ease... then he fought someone his own size who was also a really talented fighter, and lo and behold, he was mortal all the time after all.
Right now, people may THINK that Weidman could take on a very good version of Dan Henderson and finish him like Anderson did, they may THINK that Weidman could knock Vitor Belfort out in a striking match, they may THINK that Weidman could beat Chael Sonnen when his testosterone ratio was an insane 16.9/1, they may THINK that Weidman could move up to 205lbs and obliterate Forrest Griffin one fight after he was the UFC lhw champ, they may THINK that Weidman could go 16-0 in the Octagon and break records for title defences and finishes...
...But let's wait and see him DO these things first. A short-notice decision win over Demian Maia before Maia went down to ww and a thrashing of Mark Munoz do not a MW GOAT make.
I'll say Weidman by RNC in the 3rd or 4th round. But I really hope I am wrong. Cheers for reading
Check out the awful technique on show when Anderson leans way forward and just wings really sloppy punches and doesn't even seem to be focusing on his position at all, around 9mins 20secs of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3yKUXpL9o4
And this wasn't even a tired Anderson, it was only round 2.
And check the pointless, weak little kick up the middle he does immediately after those punches. What was that meant to achieve exactly, other than giving Sonnen an opportunity to go for a takedown!?
He uses a similarly weak and sloppy kick again at 9mins 52secs, where it's as if Anderson has forgotten his technique and is just angrily lobbing any old strikes at Sonnen in the way that a low-level brawler would do.
Anderson Silva in his physical prime was a composed sniper, who waited for opportunities then unleashed accurate, vicious strikes with very good technique. I don't know if age has dulled his physical abilities or whether success/hubris has meant he doesn't bother training technique as much anymore, but I do think these weird moments of rash sloppiness mean something.
My own best guess on it is that Anderson is, like everyone else who has human physiology (ie, every clean athlete ever), no longer the same fighting machine at pushing 39 as he was earlier in his career.
I know people will bring up Bernard Hopkins still being a world champion at 48 or whatever to suggest that a fighter can still be prime at 38, but serious B-Hop fans (like me) know that Bernard in his early 30s who demolished Glen Johnson and Antwun Echols in the late 1990s was a vastly superior fighter to the current tired, toothless, sly old spoiler we know today. There have been MMA fighters who have excelled into their 40s such as Hendo and Randy, but I think it's reasonable enough to say that there is some justified dubiety about how exactly these guys were performing in that fashion. But that's a story for another thread I guess.
If I look at the fights with Weidman, Bonnar, Sonnen II, Okami II... to me Anderson just does not look quite as polished and sharp and explosive as he did in the years that I consider to be his absolute peak as a fighter, 06-09 (think Leben, Franklin I+II, Hendo, Forrest). This is nothing unique to Anderson Silva though, I think all fighters have their zeniths, brief windows where everything came together and they had just the right blend of physicality, experience, and motivation. For me, the GSP who fought Condit, Diaz and Hendricks was patently not as good an all-round fighter as the GSP of 07-09 who dominated the bejesus out of Serra and Fitch and Penn and Alves. You can find similar peaks and descents for all long-running fighters, Fedor, Chuck, etc etc.
I think that it's more likely that Chris Weidman wins the rematch. Weidman is in his prime, is a truly brilliant grappler and just an excellent fighter all-round. I'd love it if Anderson could do it because I am a big fan of the Spider, but I just don't think he is quite the fighter he once was. This is Penn-Edgar all over again for me!
I will say though, I think the Silva critics on this site should calm down a little, regarding the theory that Weidman becomes the MW GOAT on December 28th with a win, or that he will have definitively proved to be a greater fighter than Anderson if he is victorious again.
Jermain Taylor beat Bernard Hopkins twice. Ricardo Mayorga beat Vernon Forrest twice. Junior Jones beat Marco Antonio Barrera twice. And you'd need to be a lunatic to use that in itself to suggest that Taylor as a fighter was greater than B-Hop, that Mayorga was greater than Forrest, or that Jones was greater than Barrera. A young, hungry guy like Weidman getting the better of a 38 year old fighter like Anderson does not automatically mean he is better, not at all.
It means he is the better fighter NOW. That is exactly what it means. Nothing more.
As I've said, I think Weidman is pretty amazing. I watched his performances in the ADCC in '09, and was extremely impressed by how he handled Munoz last year. I love his power-wrestling style. But, let's be sensible about this everyone, please. Weidman MAY become the MW GOAT and MAY prove to be a greater fighter than Anderson... but let's wait and see first. MMA fans are so quick to proclaim every new thing the greatest thing in history, it's just so rash and short-sighted. Jon Jones was the invincible man whose talents and resume made a mockery of Anderson and Fedor and GSP with ease... then he fought someone his own size who was also a really talented fighter, and lo and behold, he was mortal all the time after all.
Right now, people may THINK that Weidman could take on a very good version of Dan Henderson and finish him like Anderson did, they may THINK that Weidman could knock Vitor Belfort out in a striking match, they may THINK that Weidman could beat Chael Sonnen when his testosterone ratio was an insane 16.9/1, they may THINK that Weidman could move up to 205lbs and obliterate Forrest Griffin one fight after he was the UFC lhw champ, they may THINK that Weidman could go 16-0 in the Octagon and break records for title defences and finishes...
...But let's wait and see him DO these things first. A short-notice decision win over Demian Maia before Maia went down to ww and a thrashing of Mark Munoz do not a MW GOAT make.
I'll say Weidman by RNC in the 3rd or 4th round. But I really hope I am wrong. Cheers for reading
