Can Vitor Win?

I am an admitted Anderson Silva fanboy. I love watching him fight. His phenomenal destruction of Forrest Griffin was one of my favorite fights ever to watch. Like most everyone, I’ve been a little frustrated at the up-and-down nature of his seeming interest in his fights. He SAYS he’s happy, ready to fight, and trained for Vitor tonight. I have to believe him, although he said roughly the same thing prior to the Demian Maia fight… while I’m sure he was properly trained, he definitely wasn’t happy about it, and we all know how that went.

So I’ve been pondering the fight tonight. Assuming the REAL Anderson Silva shows up, does Vitor stand a chance? How can he win this fight?

Let’s look at this objectively… what are Vitor’s strengths?

Swarming: In terms of standup, he’s got some crazy swarming attacks. He’s calmed down a little in his old age, but especially early on, he looked like a prime Wanderlei (and even beat Wanderlei at his own game).



Anderson Silva hasn’t really had to deal with this style since maybe Chris Leben, but Leben was psyched out before he even stepped in the cage. Forrest Griffin tried some combos, but that stopped once he got punched in the face by a Matrix-esque Silva.



More importantly, Vitor knows WHEN to turn it on. He’s got that killer instinct to finish a fight when his opponent is wounded. He did it with Wanderlei, with Lindland, with Terry Martin. If he wobbles Anderson, he'll be able to finish him, something Chael Sonnen could have learned from.

Boxing technique: While in my opinion Vitor’s strength is more Chute Boxe than Duke Roufus (I know he didn’t train with CB, but it’s that style), he’s got solid boxing technique. However: Anderson Silva is no Josemario Neves.



Silva’s boxing is just as good as Vitor’s, if not better, and I just can’t see accuracy being Vitor’s golden egg in this one. That’s not how he rolls.

Hard punches: Vitor hits hard. Just ask Tank Abbott. And Marvin Eastman. And dear God, ask Matt Lindland, who I don’t think has woken up yet from Vitor’s 39-second ass-kicking in 2009.



On the other hand, Dan Henderson hits way harder than Vitor. Forrest Griffin hits pretty hard. Patrick Cote hits hard. Granted, none of those guys is known for any degree of accuracy with that power, like Vitor is. But if hitting really hard is a variable, none of those guys even touched Anderson Silva. You have to pin Silva up against something before that hard-hitting can work.

Good (but not world class) wrestling: Vitor typically uses his wrestling defensively, but if he gets close, he’s got the ability to clinch and take people to the ground. But while he couldn’t keep a Greco-Roman superhero like Randy Couture from taking him down, he’s kept mid-level wrestlers like Tito from doing anything he didn’t want to do. But let’s be fair – we’re not in danger of seeing Anderson try to take Vitor down. Will Vitor try to take down Anderson? Possibly – but he won’t do it by shooting, it’ll be from a clinch; Vitor likes to move to one side and use an outside trip, which is how Dan Henderson got Silva to the mat as well.

Jits: Vitor’s got his black belt from Carlson Gracie. In BJJ terms that’s a step higher than the Nogueiras, which is where Silva got his. However, Vitor hasn’t tended to display what I’d call wizardry on the mat. Not to say he doesn't have the ability, but he's no Demian Maia, Shinya Aoki, or Roger Gracie. On the other hand, neither has Anderson shown that level of jits, although both of them have shown that they’ve got the chops to take advantage of a situation. Just ask Chael Sonnen and Joe Charles. I just don’t think we’ll end up seeing a flying scissor heel hook.



Ground-and-Pound: If you combine strong punches with pinning Anderson on the floor, you've got a real problem for Silva. Belfort may not have the best wrestling or even the best jiu jitsu, but all he needs is to be able to hold Silva down for a couple seconds. This is where I think he's got the best chance to win the fight. Can Silva recover? Yeah, Dan Henderson beat him up on the ground but Silva defended well enough to get it stood back up. If he can do that against Belfort, that neutralizes what I think is Belfort's only real advantage.

My prediction? If it stays standing, Silva’s got the edge by a lot. If Belfort can close and take down Silva, then I think he’s got a slight edge with G-n-P. I hope Anderson trained to stay away from a swarming Vitor, since that’s the only way I see him getting close. When I first thought about this fight, I really wanted to believe that Vitor didn’t stand a chance. But with a little analysis, I think it’s a lot closer than I initially believed. We’ll see, won’t we?

Vitor Highlight Reel (turn off the sound, it’s better)



Anderson Silva Highlight Reel (turn off the sound, it’s better)

Food for thought - Philosophy of Fighting

This post is based on some earlier ramblings that I had written down in the wake of the Silva/Leites bought which, I'm sure we all remember (unless you were able to supress it with alcohol and punches to head). The debate which occured on the internet was "Is Silva justified in winning a fight when commits less than all of his skills but stays within the rules?", or words to that effect. I hope one day to expand these and try to form what would, if written in a book, form at least the introduction. These were my thoughts:

I think there are two issues at contention here:

1: Whether it is the duty of the UFC to provide what is generally perceived as as entertainment, in that it consists of fast, exciting actions, trading on the feet and on the ground, or a dominant showing by one competitor who pushed the pace constantly (whether on the feet or on the ground) and actively looks to finish the fight. Whilst at the same time present a sport in which the nuances of the fighters and fights have to be taken into account as well as the ability to 'win within the rules', in this case meaning 'to win without a perceived dominant showing'.

2: Whether it is a mixed martial artists duty to and obligation to do all they can to finish fights, even if they put themselves at more risk than necessarily required (for example giving up top control for a leg lock).

For this post I will not discuss number one. I believe number two comes down to what it means to be a mixed martial artist and by extension, a fighter. I do not think it wrong of us to label mixed martial artists as fighters because they have to fight to finish and win, not just put on a display of aesthetically pleasing technical displays that have no intention of hurting the opponent (such as this). The key to fighting, whether it be in a cage, ring, or full-scale war, is to defeat the opponent. As Clausewitz puts it 'War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale. If we would conceive as a unit the countless number of duels which make up a War, we shall do so best by supposing to ourselves two wrestlers. Each strives by physical force to compel the other to submit to his will: each endeavours to throw his adversary, and thus render him incapable of further resistance.'

Silva and Thales are those two wrestlers. I conceed that Silva did enough to win the fight within the rules, yet he failed to not only submit Thales to his will (sure, he didn't fight him on the ground, but then didn't inflict significant damage upon Thales for me to consider it imposing his will). Furthermore, Silva did not render Thales incapable of further resistance. The proof of this? It went to decision. A TKO win would have displayed Thales incapable of resistance.

As such, since Silva was able to win despite not doing the two things required to win a duel, I lay the fault at the unified rules. By changing the rules, introducing details such as yellow cards, and expanding the rules to allow for a greater arsenal of attacks will help to prevent fights of timidity and limitation. Ultimately I am contending that fighters will more often than not look to take the easier route when winning a fight, especially when fighting for a championship belt. Allowing the referee to force the action with yellow cards and the like should ensure for more fights with finishes.


Excuse me if these still appear rambling and perhaps without point, they are more here to inspire debate as well as potentially some helpful and constructive feedback. My next post lined up is to take a closer look at the UK MMA scene, focusing on lesser well known MMA stars who are currently making waves.