the transition from ring to octagon can affect a fighter's style & gameplan...in anderson's case , it seems to me like ufc's rules, platform...have a huge impact on his fighting style. I see a guy who's bored but at the same time scared shitless (maybe i'm wrong)...to have a chonan/Takase type situation again....Dana White feeds the guy mediocre submission artists or wannabe strikers & very few elite grappler. (they don't have much of a choice anyway)...Maia happens to be a legit bjj artist (i can think of better bjj artists out there such as Werdum , Einemo , Jacare , Roger to name a few..) still , it was an interesting match up because it's not often that we get to see anderson confronted to a guy like this...Only problem , Demian maia doesn't have much to offer in the striking department. Which brings me to the octagon vs ring & rules comparison. Anderson can be a very entertaining and let's say..."active" fighter under the right conditions. Some argue...Anderson is so good , so untouchable that he's bored to no end...which explains all the showboating etc... Personally ? I think this argument is bull**** because if he'd be "untouchable" and extremely "bored"...He'd make a quick work of all his opponents either in a matter of seconds or in the first or 2nd round every ****ing time. But it doesn't happen. Why ? Notice that each time Anderson starts to do this...(prolonged the fight).."showboats" , it's against a specific type of fighter. Demian Maia = 66.67% submissions http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Demian-Maia-14637 Thales Leites = 62.5 submissions http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Thales-Leites-8593 (a lot of people also bitched about his fight against Leites...a fight which he also finished by UD). As a matter of fact..His fight against Leites pissed the fans so much that he had to explain himself and promise his fans that he'd offer them more action in his next fight. (which was against Griffin). Maybe i'm full of ****...but i'm personally convinced that Anderson is extremely cautious against dangerous sub artists...so much so that he'd rather avoid contact as much as possible to minimise the danger. Two of his most embarrassing losses happened in japan against the likes of Chonan & Takase...As a matter of fact Chonan's victory was so spectacular (probably the most impressive submission in mma history) , that it still has an impact in the mind's of all mma fans , including anderson silva. I'm not in the guy's brain , but several months ago , i heard him say that if he was gonna lose in the future....it would be by "submission". Which is why i'm concluding that all the "showboating" is also a way to "play it safe". Anyone remember what happened in his fight against Travis Lutter ? ( Lutter = 70% submissions. ) Lutter had Silva in full mount right in the first round , even went for an armbar (but a sloppy one)...Missed his opportunity to submit Silva , then he escaped and the rest was history... Silva finished Lutter in the 2nd round.. Still , i bet that fight gave him a "takase" flashback...it was a warning , a reminder (that still haunts him to this day)... Not surprisingly , each time Anderson is confronted against a guy he (more or less) knows , will try to beat him at his own game...(and when he knows that his bjj is way superior than his opponent).... There's no more "showboating". And even when there is , he'll mock his opponent but still be aggressive and engage in the fight. (like he did against Griffin , ridiculed the guy , but made a quick work out of him).. Henderson = 4% submissions Griffin = 41.18% submissions Cote = 23.08% submissions Irvin = 14.29% submissions Franklin = 36% submissions Marquardt = 51.72% submissions Leben = 21.05% submissions He finished all these guys by KO or TKO (with the exception of Henderson which he submited) He was much more sure of himself and aggressive in these fights....is it just a coincidence ? am i reading too much into this ? ... Anyway , since Anderson is ultra weary of another "takaze/chonan" type situation...he's playing it "safe" each time he's confronted to solid bjj artists. The problem is that since the octagon is huge...and since there's no yellow cards...the dynamic of the entire fight is affected. In pride , you couldn't do this **** because the ref would distribute yellow cards each time someone was stalling the fight. (meaning , money is deducted from your paycheck)...It may seem unfair , but that system encourages the fighters to be more active. Also , in pride fc , the ring used to be much smaller than the octagon. If Anderson would be fighting in a much smaller cage/octagon or in a ring , there wouldn't be situations like these imo.. Zuffa should adopt the yellow card system asap in order to avoid ridiculous fights such as this one in the future.
Good post. I agree about the yellow cards too. Jacare could take Anderson down. But they are friends, so that would never happen.
The Cote fight kinda throws a spanner in your works. Silva didn't finish him, Cote hurt himself and that fight was a bit of a stinker from what I can remember. Cote hurting himself saved us all really from what was going to be another Maia or Leites and Cote like you said has a low submission percentage. Apart from that, that was a good post with good points. However I seriously doubt that Silva is 'scared' of any fighter. Of course we don't know that for sure. There is no doubt that Maia was seriously overmatched in there. Maybe Silva is just bored.:conf If that is the case he needs to be put in with harder opponents sharpish. Maybe a drop down to 170 to fight GSP would be good for him. (and for everyone else)
True i remember the Cote fight too. But that's an exception. (so far in anderson's ufc run)...I'm talking in general. That's why i didn't bother extrapolating on this one... Ok...but i never said that. I said: "I see a guy who's bored but at the same time scared shitless (maybe i'm wrong)...to have a chonan/Takase type situation again" I doubt he was scared of the likes of Takaze or Chonan or anybody...As a matter of fact , i think 90% if not 95% of participants aren't genuinely "scared" of their opponents...It's a sport not a deathmatch , and they're more worried about their career as fighters...scared of losing maybe...scared of the individual ? probably not...or rarely. That's why i said: chonan/tataze type situation. He wasn't scared of Maia. Just playing it safe.
Ahh. I see. I misread that. Well of course no body wants to lose. By Takase/Chonan situation do you mean just getting caught in a hail mary submission or just being on the ground?
Besides the Griffin fight Silva's has looked like he is really afraid to get hit, how pathetic is that when the ref has to warn him because he is running from Damien Maia. Even Maia was rasing his arms and saying "come on".
Silva's bjj is good enough to deal with anyone (in the ufc)...But i think he's still extra cautious each time his opponent is better than average on the ground. Always expecting the unexpected , (no wonder , i mean when something like the chonan fight happens...it leaves a mark for the rest of your entire career)... And you know what ? i think What happened to Crocop in his fight against Randleman also left a mark...he learned his lesson...but at the years went by...he became less paranoid about it then Gonzaga happened... Anderson's wake up call was Lutter...Unfortunately for Mirko..it was Gonzaga and it ****ed his mental even more than ever before...Now he's fighting scared...Against Dos santos , he fought not to lose...just to survive and avoid the ko...not to win. it was pathetic... You can see the same **** against Kongo, Overeem & even Hong man Choi... difference is...crocop is past his prime. (and should retire) interestingly , anderson is not really young either...he's 34..only has 1 year of difference with crocop. But anderson's mental is not as weak as crocop's. One has a total lack of confidence...the other just keeps his distance against the rare "solid" grapplers he's confronted to.