Hey guys,
I know the fight is imminent, but I managed to get a piece out on the Silva Weidman match up at Fightland.
Being a Fightland piece it has tons of gifs, but I've left them out and just included the links in this part.
Hope you don't mind clicking the link and as always all feedback is very much welcomed!
Cheers,
Jack
Tomorrow night at UFC 168 Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman will meet for a second time to decide who the best middleweight in the world is. No match this year has taken on quite so much significance to quite so many people and for quite so many different reasons. To some the rematch is a chance for Silva to prove that Weidman got lucky when he knocked him out in their first fight, or that Silva threw away the first fight with a reckless strategy. To others it's a chance for Weidman to prove he’s the real deal.
Without meaning to sound preachy, a fight, like anything, is more complex than it appears on the surface. There is so much entering the arena withtwo fighters that it can never be reduced entirely to the simplicity of the physical, the mental, or the technical. But what we will do today is just that: review the first bout and the stylistic match-up between the two men.
“That Backfist” and the Pull
I received a good deal of attention after the first Silva-Weidman fight because I had written a piece the week before the fight titled Killing the King: Anderson Silva in which I described Silva's habit of rolling with punches and pulling away from punches, both of which are reactionary movements and can be stifled with feints and double ups. I argued the importance for Weidman of doubling up on punches from one side and creating a situation where it would not be safe for Silva to simply react to expected punches. Sure enough, in the fight's crucial moment, it was Weidman's doubled right hand that had Silva leaning back with nowhere to go before that left hook sailed in and knocked out the middleweight great.
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I enjoyed the attention, but to pretend that the doubling up of Weidman's right hand alone won him the fight would be daft. Yes, Silva pulled his head back in anticipation of the jab/right straight/left hook combination that every MMA fighter has thrown at him for the last 10 years. But there was a whole lot more going on leading up to that moment. Even in the moments immediately preceding the knockout, Silva got hit with a left while he was switching stances in range of Weidman (generally a taboo). He then brought his feet level to play off the punch, acting out as he so often does.
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Why Silva Acts Out
Mike Tyson said it best when he remarked that tough guys don't last long in combat sports; smart guys do. Anderson Silva is not, as he is made out to be, a man who lacks intelligence or mental discipline. He is instead a man who acts out (or plays around) to create openings, to steal rounds, or to hide inactivity. And he does this by dancing, moving his head, dropping his hands, and daring his opponents to attack.
The most famous examples of this came during his fights against Forrest Griffin, Thales Leites, and Demian Maia. Against Griffin and Leites Silva was simply attempting to draw them out without committing himself. It worked like a treat against Griffin because Griffin was willing to engage the Brazilian, but Leites was not keen on doing anything.
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Against Chris Weidman, Silva had lost the first round fairly convincingly. He had been taken down, attacked with submissions, and hit with a few hard punches. Silva's antics--his dancing, his shouting, his clowing--were an attempt to put himself over to the judges and to draw Weidman out of his shell, not proof of him underestimating his challenger.
Which means Weidman's knockout of Silva was the product of circumstance. Were Silva not acting as he did, there is little question that Weidman would have struggled to catch Silva so far out of position. Weidman had, however, shut Silva's counter game down well throughout the fight. He did this by first creating uncertainty with his attacks and then correcting the distance between himself and Silva between engagements.
Against Chris Weidman, Silva had lost the first round fairly convincingly. He had been taken down, attacked with submissions, and hit with a few hard punches. Silva's antics--his dancing, his shouting, his clowing--were an attempt to put himself over to the judges and to draw Weidman out of his shell, not proof of him underestimating his challenger.
Which means Weidman's knockout of Silva was the product of circumstance. Were Silva not acting as he did, there is little question that Weidman would have struggled to catch Silva so far out of position. Weidman had, however, shut Silva's counter game down well throughout the fight.He did this by first creating uncertainty with his attacks and then correcting the distance between himself and Silva between engagements.
Uncertainty in the Fight Game
The importance of hiding one’s intentions in a fight is no secret, yet when confronted with a dynamite counter puncher (and Silva is among the best in MMA) even experienced fighters can get drawn out. They become reluctant to lead, which kills a fighter's chances. When you go on the offensive only two or three times during a round, you have to go all in on each attack to make them count, and that isexactlywhat a counter striker wants.
We spoke last weekabout Silva's ability to draw his opponents in to be countered. Whether it was Forrest Griffin, Chris Leben, or Dan Henderson, they all bum rushed the Spider at some point becuase the Spider seduced them into it. .
With many of Silva's opponents one can almost sense them bolstering their courage for a big push just before they step in and Silva douses their lights. It doesn't matter what fighting discipline you come from, or indeed what sport you are competing in, smoke and mirrors is the name of the game. If every time you step in you throw yourself into a committed attack, a good counter fighter will be able to tell what you're going to do before you even do it.
Take a look at poor old Yushin Okami. When he fought Silva in 2011, every single time his front foot moved, he threw a jab. Not only that; he didn't have a left hand or a right hook for variety, just the jab. He never feinted or faked; he just came forward, throwing fully committed jabs. If you attack every time you move, you make a counter striker like Silva's life very easy indeed. Silva could have closed his eyes as soon as he saw Okami's lead foot move, and his counter would have worked just the same.
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Continues at: http://fightland.vice.com/blog/jack-slack-reflections-on-silva-weidman-i
