[adinserter block=”1″]Anderson Silva is an interesting guy. Not only is he the greatest MMA fighter of our lifetime, he is certainly one of the most quotable. Silva has an interesting way of looking at things so his take on Chris Weidman KO’ing him shouldn’t be a big surprise.
Silva was stopped for the first time in his UFC career back at UFC 162 against the underdog Chris Weidman. Silva started clowning around and Weidman clocked him for the knockout while his hands were done, dethroning the middleweight champion. Silva though sees things differently.
Silva told Sport.TV that it was his footwork and not his hands being down which cost him the fight.
“My mistakes in that fight, and that’s the first time I’m saying this, were basic mistakes,” Silva told Sportv. “I did everything I had to do except hit him. I didn’t counterattack. When I stopped with my feet parallel, I should have hit him and walked one step behind. I didn’t do that. I saw my mistakes and I’m working on that to train for this next fight.”
Silva blames his feet here which is already causing a bit of outrage from MMA hardcore fans who believe Silva is just making excuses. One thing he does point out which I agree with his lack of counterattack. I am glad he is taking accountability here because his lack of counterattack was the difference here. Sure he goofs around in other fights but he always counters or at least tries. Here he just acted like a goof and instead of getting in Weidman’s head, he was out cold.
What this does tell me is that the second fight is going to be much different than the first. The biggest question coming out of 162 was whether it was a fluke or not. A win is a win whether it was fluky or not in my opinion. The general vibe I get from reading MMA social media content is that if you thought Weidman was going to win going in, it wasn’t a fluke. If you thought Silva was going to win, it was a fluke. I expect a much different Silva at 168. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if he clowns around. I would be surprised if he isn’t more aggressive.
One thing that is bound to get you pumped is the trash talking coming from The Spider. I have only heard it a few times and it generally seems to work.
[adinserter block=”2″]”It’s going to be a tough fight,” he said, “and it won’t last too long if it stays standing.”
I can’t wait!
[amazon_link id=”B00ER0QMLA” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]UFC Ultimate Fight Collection 2013 DVD[/amazon_link]
UFC shirts and videos on Amazon.com
Cheal P Sonnen has given every fighter the blueprint for beating Anderson Silva.
1. Come forward and be aggressive but not wild with your striking.
2. Take him down and control him on the ground.
3. Don’t get caught in an armbar or triangle once you have the fight won.
Weidman got a little lucky but he also won round 1. I think Father Time is catching up to Silva and although he could still clown 98% of the fighters in the world he can’t do that against the top 2%. If he comes into this fight like he did against Rich Franklin, Chris Weidman could be in trouble. But if he thinks he can shuck and jive and fool around he is getting put to sleep again.
That blueprint didn't work so well at UFC 148