Every Anderson Silva fight for me is a special event!!!! He is in my opinion too old to take out the elite compeition at the weight class but still a serious danger for anyone with out clean hands and ready to mix it up a bit before shooting for takedowns.
No he isnt going to make it out of 2 rounds vs Yoel Romero or Luke Rockhold but he still makes for some great fights
last night was one such match-up, Derek Brunson is a solid top 10’ish level opponent that many thought would take anderson out but as we can see below the crafty spider used a good mix of boxing, BJJ and muay thai tactics to pull out a decision win.
heres a highlight of the match followed by my quick takeaways that jumped out to me right away
Quick Take-Aways from this fight “just my opinion :)|
1- Anderson is a big guy
There was some talk of a Prime GSP vs Anderson fight a few years back and i was on the fence thinking ok Georges gotta go up in weight but much better take-downs so could go either way.. in hindsight that wasn’t really cool as Anderson is a BIG guy at 185, Brunson is not small for the weight class and was noticeably smaller last night in the octagon. BJJ mma or any other combat sport size plays a factor so that extra mass helped with taking shots and takedown defence as well to Andersons advantage.
2- The 2 hand “thai clinch” isnt the end of the world
i remember a time past about 10 years ago if a chute-box guy got a hold of your head it was game over people had no idea of what to do in the “thai clinch ” usually ended up eating knees to a quick KO..
let take a look at Wanderlei’s highlight for illustrative purposes.
“not my choice of music but a great video to highlight the effect of the clinch when not defended right”
This is a really good clip to watch for EVERY BJJ student intrested in self defence. It is often taught in various BJJ/Gracie Jiu-Jitsu self defence curriculums that the defense for neck clinches is to duck out under them which is at best what id call a bad idea .
Instead look at using your upper body clinch work to get a body lock or implement a take-down from that position.
Anderson’s fixation on the position gave Brunson his best punches of the entire fight and vs someone well versed in upper body wrestling like Yoel Romero , Chris Weidman or event a Jacare Souza this is a gift of a takedown. There are many other upper body strike based clinches that can be used to solid effect in MMA and self defense so always going to the same position regardless of he opponents reaction is not the best idea.
Id take a look at quality muay thai and greco roman clinch work for cleaner answers.
3- Close fight & Judging in the UFC is always a guessing game
I loved the decision and was personally happy to see Anderson come out on top of a high level fight this late in his MMA career but at the same time, using the judging criteria applied ot other decisions ive seen in the past i and many other on lookers thought Brunson had the win in the bag. LOL You can never tell with the UFC until there is a set criteria people can look at and base strategy around i guess it is like Dana white so honestly said you are taking your chances if you go to the judges…”Dont leave it to the judges!!”
4- even at age 41 Anderson a threat
Father time is undefeated in the fight game !!! But well past his prime and coming back from a serious injury Anderson is still a super skilled and spectacular fighter, iconic in the modern MMA era.
The old lion is having fun in there and I honestly hope he stops fighting before going out on his shield like so many other champions who stick around too long.
Take a look at Anderson in his best and a overall pretty decent plan on the part of Sonnen closing the distance and looking for takedowns (just a bit on the desperate side better if mixed with striking)
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cp