Anderson Silva is MMA’s new Hero

Posted on | March 2, 2008 | 2 Comments

By: Jack Bratcher

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With 2007 being a year of upsets and disappointments for me in MMA, 2008 has been good to me as a fan. Especially tonight for UFC 82. I was nervous for this fight between Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson. First it was Lutter, then Marquardt, and now Henderson were all supposed to be THE ONE to really test his game; to be the one to expose the hole in his game and defeat him. And NONE of them have done it. Ju-Jitsu Black Belts have not exposed him, Olympic Wrestling Champions have not exposed him, and I dare say there’s a stand-up striker alive who will ever expose him.

I will say this, I bet I scared my next door neighbors I was screaming so loud tonight at the end of the second round when Anderson Silva choked out and submitted the Olympic medalist, Dan Henderson. In the first round my worst fears were coming true when Dan Henderson controlled most of the round with alot of lay and pray but at the same time he was covering Silva’s mouth to corrupt his breathing pattern. And he was also delivering some good hammerfists to Silva in the first round. Although, Silva landed a good shot on Henderson, Henderson was able to get the takedown and control the position for the rest of the round.

But if we have learned anything about Anderson Silva by now it is this, the man is patient in the best way possible. He allowed Dan to control that position in the first round and he kept Dan from delivering much damage at all. In a five round fight, one round does not mean a whole lot when you are an opponent of Anderson Silva. Because at the beginning of each round you will have to start standing across that octagon from him and you may even be tempted to try to trade a few strikes with him and sooner or later apparently if you trade strikes with Anderson Silva, bad things happen to you. Like the knee that hurt Henderson in the second round which put him on the ground and then allowed Silva to end up having Dan’s back with Silva’s legs triangled around his waist. With 13 seconds left in the second round, Silva sinks in a rear naked choke and with just a few seconds left in the round, Dan Henderson taps out.

In my opinion there is not a more entertaining fighter to watch in all of mixed martial-arts. I don’t even think he knows the meaning of lay and pray. Joe Rogan said it best when he called one of his performances “a ballet of violence.” That’s it perfectly. It is poetry in motion when he fights. Not only will this guy out strike probably any man in MMA, but he just submitted a freaking Olympic Medalist. MMA has a new genuine hero. 2007 was a bad year to have heroes….all of mine fell. But I really took notice of Silva when he beat Franklin the first time for the title and I really began to appreciate his fighting style. Silva even got submission of the night which means an extra 40 to 60 thousand bucks for the guy. It’s a big deal. The UFC currently has no one on their middlewight roster who could realistically give Anderson Silva a real challenge so it will be interesting to see who they bring in next to face him. My thoughts would be Matt LIndland or Frank Trigg would be the best middlweights out there right now who could give Silva at least a potential challenge. Not has one fighter generated so much respect and appreciation in MMA since Fedor Emelianenko. Anderson Silva is the new face of Mixed Martial-Arts. Get used to it because I expect it to be there for a long time to come.

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