Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen and the MMA Community

Coming out of each MMA event there will be a wide ranging variety of observations. Most people understand that it's easy to get caught up in the emotion of the show so whatever is said or written directly after an event should be taken with a grain of salt. Once a day goes by then you can start to take these things seriously. I'm a little bit shocked with much of what has been written about Anderson Silva and his apparent demise.

The ideas being presented range from Michael David Smith claiming Anderson is old:

Although he managed to pull out a submission victory in the fifth round of his fight with Chael Sonnen, Saturday night's fight was by far the worst of Silva's UFC career. When an athlete Silva's age offers up a sub-par performance, it's hard not to conclude that age was a factor.

To Michael Rome's belief that Silva is just a horrible wrestler:

 As Sonnen took Silva down again and again with shots he did not bother to set up, I was not surprised in the least.  Anderson Silva has never been difficult to take down.  It's been a long time since we've seen him on his back because he's been fighting a steady diet of men without wrestling credentials, but wrestlers have never had a hard time finding Anderson Silva in the cage.

While I don't think there is any question that Silva isn't the best wrestler you will see, he's certainly not the worst and there was much more to it than that.

The idea of Silva being too old is a bit odd to me. He is 35 years of age. As far as being a fighter goes, yeah he is older than most. He is the oldest champion in the UFC. But how on earth were so many suddenly convinced that now he is old and his skills are declining? The shot that started the fight from Sonnen, the straight left that put Silva off balance, came quick but not so fast that Silva should have been surprised by it. At least, that's the thought. Can we deduce that his reaction time is gone now? No. Not from one punch. If anyone thinks that Sonnen won another exchange in the fight, I urge you strongly to rewatch. Silva blasted him in the later rounds with an elbow that rocked Chael. Was he old then?

His performance in this fight was not his best but to me their are a few factors and this is my idea of why the fight went the way it did. Silva came out in the first and got surprised with the shot that Sonnen hit him with early. He had already stuffed a takedown at this point, by the way. After the shock quickly wore off he taunted Sonnen by leaving his hands down and letting Chael tag him. No effect. Gives up the takedown and rides out the round while taking a bit of damage but nothing unmanageable. The problem was that in the midst of letting Sonnen do what he wanted to prove whatever point he wanted to prove, whether that be that Sonnen couldn't hurt him or a tribute to Big Nog, he aggravated the rib injury he had coming in. This is evidenced by him pointing at his ribs and grimacing on his way to his corner at the end of the first round.

The entire complexion of the fight changed with this happening. Now Silva comes out in every subsequent round with an extreme sense of urgency. He really badly wanted to end the fight as soon as possible. That rib had to be bothering him and he wanted to get out of there. So he fought wildly. He was throwing kicks and punches that wouldn't be smart in any fight let alone against a wrestler as good as Sonnen. He repeatedly got taken down for his trouble. That's not his old age rearing it's ugly head. That's him fighting desperate because he is hurting.

I don't doubt that he wanted to win by submission going into the fight and that could very well be why he gave up the takedown so easy in the first and let Sonnen rock him. Tribute to Nog and how he's won so many fights in the past and another way to get back at Sonnen for his remarks about the Nogueira brothers. But once the rib was hurt he just wanted to win and the submission at the end of the fight was just something that found it's way there. Chael made the mistake of leaving his arm out there and Silva found a way to exploit it.

This doesn't mean that Anderson Silva is suddenly old or no longer a good fighter. There were just factors that came into play that greatly helped Sonnen put on the performance he did. Silva was throwing wild and leaving himself open to be taken down because of the rib injury, he had poor form on top when he was there and got reversed and he even slipped at one point which allowed Sonnen top position again. I loved this tweet from Jordan Breen regarding the fight:

So, Anderson Silva sucks because he needed a comeback to tap Sonnen. This means Minotauro Nogueira is the 61st best heavyweight ever, right?

Well put. I think we'll see a fall off from Sonnen going forward. His last two fights were oddities. The Marquardt fight was another situation where things that he has no control over went his way. Nate came in and wanted a spectacular knockout to help get him his rematch with Silva. So he threw wild head kicks and left himself off balance. He didn't fight a smart fight and admitted it later. Had he just been worried about winning I think it goes a lot different. He wanted a big knockout. The bell also saved Sonnen in that fight from passing out to a guillotine. Things have been going his way as of late but don't expect them to continue.

I believe that if a rematch was to occur with Marquardt or Silva, Sonnen would lose both fights. He is very good at what he does. When he is on top of you it's very difficult to get him off. He will be relentless in pushing forward against you. But sound technique while standing and even marginally good takedown defense will defeat him. Both Silva and Nate have this. I'm not saying that Sonnen sucks...I'm just saying that I think Marquardt and Silva are better right now.