Arachnophobia In The Octagon

Most spiders are completely harmless. However, the anyone in the UFC's middleweight devision (and occasionally light heavyweight devision) better fear the octagon's resident spider. He's six feet-two, one hundred and eighty-five pounds, and considered by most to be the top pound for pound fighter in modern mixed martial arts. He is none other than Anderson "The Spider" Silva.

With an impressive professional record of 27-4-0, Silva has proven to be an incredibly well rounded fighter with a more diverse martial arts background than many of his competitors. Having studied Tae Kwon Do, Muy Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and boxing, there aren't many areas of the fight game that will make "The Spider" uncomfortable. In fact, his competitors are still searching for them. After setting a record for both wins without losses and tittle defenses, nobody is sure of what it is that makes Anderson Silva so good. Many people have attempted explaining it but the answers are surface observations: "he's fast" or "he's just so well rounded". What is it that makes this man so much more dangerous than the other top fighters in the octagon? It's hard not to notice, as Forest Griffin observed before his bout with Silva, "he makes really good fighters just look bad". Forest would later find out how right he was.

Although there is much to discuss concerning the competence and skill of Anderson Silva, his largest strategic advantage can be described in single word form: "distancing". To land any kind of offensive, one must be properly distanced, able to cover that distance, and then clear it to avoid being hit themselves. Silva doesn't have the best penetration and clearing in the octagon, that prize goes to Frankie "The Answer" Edgar, but he is the best when it comes to taking advantage of his opponents lack of this same ability. Silva, nine times out of ten, is an elusive "cat and mouse" type fighter, someone who prefers to lead his opponent into a trap. He hangs back, just outside of his opponent's critical distance line and causes fighters to lunge at him. This adds too much hang time at the end of his opponent's technique and leaves them vulnerable to Silva's counter strikes. Notice that Silva rarely ever blocks techniques. He doesn't have to, he is always a few inches out of range when his opponents execute. After gaging the distance and timing of his opponent, causing them to include additional hang time and compromise balance by lunging, Silva will switch from leaning out of techniques to slipping inside them and executing his own. This is a tactic utilized by many outside zone fighters of various fighting styles. Because of this, no one has been able to effectively hit Silva on his terms.

Anderson Silva gets into trouble in two places, usually against wrestlers: against the cage where his distancing abilities are compromised and when he tries to stop a wrestler's take down in their tracks instead of hitting the head or shoulder to the side and using circular footwork. Both of these mistakes are mistakes in distancing and that's where Silva is most vulnerable. Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, and Travis Lutter all forced Silva to the cage or coaxed Silva to stand toe to toe with them. It's not that Silva has a bad ground game. Every fighter who has managed taking Anderson to the ground regretted it and tapped out, including all three of the previously mentioned fighters. It's simply that his most impressive asset and consequently what makes Silva look so good, which is his distancing, is compromised against the cage and on the ground.

Of course their are many more assets used by "The Spider" to eliminate his adversaries, including speed, basic angular attack, intimidation, and incredible mental and physical toughness. But I believe I can say with certainty that distancing and timing are the very misunderstood answers people have been searching for. Silva wishes to retire soon and may very well be the first fighter/champion in the UFC to retire undefeated. Until he does, he poses a very real threat to anyone after the twelve pounds of gold around his waist. He rules the cage which, incidentally, is shaped just like a spider's web.