Anderson Silva

MMAstatsbox
name=Anderson Silva


nick=The Spider
height=height|ft=6|in=2 [Anderson Silva's UFC profile [http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=fighter.detail&pid=440] ]
weight=convert|185|lb|kg|abbr=on
nationality=Brazilian
birthdate=birth date and age|mf=yes|year=1975|month=04|day=14
fightingfrom=Curitiba, Brazil
hometown=Curitiba, Brazil
fightteam= Team Nogueira MMA Academy
fightstyle=Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
wins=22
losses=4
ko=13
submissions=4
decision=5|

Anderson "The Spider" Silva (born April 14, 1975) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and mixed martial artist. Since October 14, 2006 he has been the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion. [cite web
url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=5883
title="Ace" is Up: Silva Takes UFC Belt in Full House
last=Sloan
first=Mike
date=October 15, 2006
publisher=Sherdog] He has also competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, Shooto, and Rumble on the Rock.

Once a member of Chute Boxe Academy, he left to form the Muay Thai Dream Team. In late November 2006, he joined a new team called Black House with Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Assuerio Silva, and the Nogueira brothers. On May 16, 2008, Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira opened the Team Nogueira MMA Academy in Miami, Florida. [cite web
url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/sfl-flsprobbmmacolly04sbmay04,0,2732324.column
title=UFC champions Nogueira, Silva partnering on fight academy in downtown Miami
last=Robb
first=Sharon
date=2008-05-04
accessdate=2008-06-14
publisher=South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com] [cite web
url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=12817
title=Anderson Silva's 'Mother' Passes
date=2008-05-20
accessdate=2008-06-14
publisher=Sherdog] [cite web
url=http://www.nogueirasilvamma.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=36&Itemid=54
title=Instructors
date=2008-05-06
publisher=Team Nogueira MMA
accessdate=2008-07-10]

MMAWeekly, Sherdog and Nokaut currently rank Anderson Silva as the number one middleweight in the world, cite web
url=http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/topten.asp?articleid=14&zoneid=15
title=MMA's Top Ten
date=August 8, 2007
publisher= [http://www.mmaweekly.com MMAWeekly] ] cite web
url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=8577&my_page=4
title=Sherdog's Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings
publisher=Sherdog] cite web
url=http://www.nokaut.com/?id=54&lang=e&cur=eur
title=Nokaut's TOP 10 Fighter Rankings
date=August 18, 2007
publisher= [http://www.nokaut.com Nokaut] ] while both Sherdog and Yahoo! Sports rank Silva as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. [cite web
url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=9658
title="The Spider" Tops Fedor in Sherdog P4P Rankings
publisher=Sherdog] cite web
url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/leaguepage/dd-mmarankings040408;_ylt=AnyZoKr_paOm6JsnL2PPPUs9Eo14?prov=yhoo&type=lgns
title=Why some fighters get no rankings love
publisher= [http://sports.yahoo.com Yahoo! Sports] ]

Silva will coach alongside Lyoto Machida for Team Nogueira in "".cite web
url=http://www.tatame.com.br/2008/06/05/Lyoto-e-Anderson-Silva-no-TUF
title=Lyoto e Anderson Silva no TUF
last=Cruz
first=Guilherme
date=2008-06-05
accessdate=2008-06-14
publisher=TATAME
language=Português]

Biography

Although known primarily for his skills in Muay Thai, Silva is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he earned in 2006 from Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. [cite web
url=http://www.subfighter.com/article2563.html
title=Anderson Silva Gets His Black Belt
last=Alonso
first=Marcelo
date=August 11, 2006
accessdate=2007-07-06
publisher=Tatame
format=Reprint]

Early mixed martial arts

Silva initially fought in the Mecca organization in Brazil. Silva lost his first fight to Luiz Azeredo by decision. After that fight, he went on a nine-fight winning streak, winning six of those fights by either submission or TKO. After winning his first match in Japan he was put up against Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai. Silva beat Sakurai in a 3 round unanimous decision,and became the new Shooto middleweight (167 lb) champion on August 26, 2001 in Japan

PRIDE Fighting Championships and Cage Rage

In 2002, Silva began fighting in PRIDE. In his first fight with the promotion, he stopped Alex Steibling with a cut resulting from a high kick. In his next match, he won via decision against the "Diet Butcher" Alexander Otsuka. At "PRIDE 25", Silva faced former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton. Newton tried to shoot in on Silva, but was hit with a flying knee. Newton collapsed and Silva finished the fight with strikes, winning by technical knockout.

At "PRIDE 26", Silva faced Daiju Takase. Considering his record at the time – with only four wins to seven losses – Takase was a strong underdog. Surprisingly, Takase submitted Silva with a triangle choke late in the first round. [http://www.spidersilva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=11]

After his loss to Takase, Silva fought in other promotions around the world. On June 27, 2004, Silva fought Jeremy Horn and earned a decision victory. Three months later, Silva made his debut in the Cage Rage promotion in England. At "Cage Rage 8" Silva fought and defeated noted striker Lee Murray by decision.

That year, Silva returned to PRIDE on December 31 to face Ryo Chonan. Silva was in control with a take down and body triangle in the first round. Chonan was able to counter Silva's knees from the clinch, with knees, and takedowns. Despite being the underdog, Chonan ended the fight in the third round with a flying scissor heel hook, forcing Silva to submit.

After the loss to Chonan, Silva continued fighting in the Cage Rage promotion, as well as other promotions around the world. Silva defended his Cage Rage title against Curtis Stout before fighting in Hawaii's Rumble on the Rock promotion, where he fought Yushin Okami in the first round of the 175 lb tournament. Although he was labeled as the favorite to win the tournament, Silva lost his fight when he kicked Okami in the face from the guard position. Okami's knees were on the ground at the time, making the attack an illegal strike to the head of a downed opponent. [http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=5818&zoneid=13] Silva was disqualified, and remains bitter about the incident. "I feel it was a cheap, cowardly way of winning. [http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=3289555] . Silva went further and said that "People that were there saw that he was in the condition to come back and keep fighting, and he didn't." [http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=3289555]

Although he was slated to fight Matt Lindland at "Cage Rage 16", Lindland's decision to fight Mike Van Arsdale at "Raze Fight Night" put an end to the highly-anticipated match up. Instead, Silva defended his championship against Tony Fryklund, winning the fight with a reverse elbow, knocking out Fryklund early in the first round. [http://www.boxinginlasvegas.com/UFC/ufc67_by_kritzer.htm]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Although speculation ran rampant about where Silva would sign next, the UFC announced in late April 2006 that they had signed him to a multi-fight contract, one of these fights believed to be for the middleweight title. It was not long before the UFC started promoting Silva, releasing an interview segment almost immediately after announcing his arrival. [cite web
url=http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=2521&pid=440
title=Anderson Silva: A New Contender Arrives in the UFC
last=Gerbasi
first=Thomas
publisher=UFC
date=May 3, 2006
accessdate=2007-07-06]

Silva made his anticipated debut at "Ultimate Fight Night 5" on June 28, 2006. His opponent was Chris Leben, a contestant from "The Ultimate Fighter 1" reality show who had since gone undefeated in the UFC with five consecutive victories. A relatively unknown fighter in the United States, Silva made an emphatic debut when he knocked out Leben with a flurry of strikes, followed by a final knee strike at 49 seconds into the first round. In response to the victory, the UFC quickly tallied a poll on their main page, asking viewers to select Silva's next opponent; the majority of voters selected UFC middleweight champion, Rich Franklin.

Although it is unknown whether the UFC voters had any bearing on the situation, Silva was given his chance at the title at "UFC 64" on October 14, 2006. [cite web
url=http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2548
title=UFC 64 To Feature Franklin-Silva & Sherk-Florian
accessdate=2007-07-06
publisher=MMA Weekly
date=August 28, 2006
last=Martin
first=Damon] Silva defeated Franklin by TKO (strikes) at 2:59 in the first round. Silva hit Franklin with knees to the body in the Muay Thai-clinch, then badly broke Franklin's nose with a knee to the face. Unable to strike back, Franklin dodged the last of Silva's strikes before falling to the ground, where referee "Big" John McCarthy ended the fight. Silva was then crowned the new UFC middleweight champion. Anderson Silva joined Black House-teammate Lyoto Machida as the only men to have beaten Franklin.

On February 3, 2007, Silva defeated "The Ultimate Fighter 4" winner Travis Lutter by submission in the second round via triangle choke at "UFC 67". What was to be Silva's first title defense since defeating Franklin in October 2006 was quickly changed to a non-title bout following Lutter's unsuccessful attempt to make the 185 pound weight limit for the title contest. [cite web
url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6675
title=UFC 67: Silva, "Rampage" and "Cro Cop" Triumphant
last=Sloan
first=Mike
publisher=Sherdog
date=February 4, 2007
accessdate=2007-07-06]

Silva successfully defended his title against Nate Marquardt on July 7, 2007 in Sacramento, California on the "UFC 73" card, winning by TKO at 4:50 in the first round.

On October 20, 2007 at "UFC 77", Silva defeated Franklin in a rematch by TKO in the 2nd round. The fight was in Franklin's home town of Cincinnati, Ohio and took place at the U.S. Bank Arenacite web
url=http://www.nokaut.com/index.php?id=12&solo_news=987&lang=e&cur=eur
title=UFC 77 Comes Together
last=Bolduc
first=Justin
date=August 12, 2007
pubilsher= [http://www.nokaut.com Nokaut] ]

Silva defended his UFC Middleweight Championship against Pride FC Welterweight champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on March 1, 2008 in a title unification bout, winning by submission via rear naked choke in the second round.

Silva won his UFC Light Heavyweight debut against James Irvin on July 19, 2008 at via KO due to strikes in 1:01 of the first round. It has been announced that he will face Patrick Côté at UFC 90 on October 25, 2008 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois who replaced an injured Yushin Okami.

Silva is undefeated in the UFC, having won all of his fights in two rounds or less.

Roy Jones Jr.

Following his win over Dan Henderson, in an interview with MMA Weekly, Anderson Silva's manager stated that "Anderson would love to fight Roy Jones in a boxing match under boxing rules to prove that MMA fighters are technical, too.":cite web
url=http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=5868&zoneid=2
title=Anderson Silva Does Want to Box Roy Jones, Jr.|last=Pishna|first=Ken|publisher=MMA Weekly|date=2008-03-11|accessdate=2008-03-12] UFC president, Dana White, later expressed that he would use his veto power to stop such a match from taking place. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=mmajunkie-White_wont_permit_Silva-Jones&prov=mmajunkie&type=lgns Dana White won't permit Silva-Jones Jr. fight - MMA - Yahoo! Sports ] ]

Retirement

In a recent interview with Brazilian SporTV, Anderson Silva has stated that he has already given it his all and has decided to retire in 2009. [http://www.fightticker.com/story_0921081938_anderson_silva_to_retire_in_2009] [http://mma-live.com/anderson-silva-will-retire-within-the-year/] However his manager has stated that Anderson Silva still has 6 fights left on his contract and will not retire before then. And that Anderson Silva plans to retire when he is 35 and he is still 18 months away from that age. [http://mmajunkie.com/news/5351/manager-no-truth-to-recent-anderson-silva-retirement-talk.mma]

Championships

* Current UFC Middleweight Champion
* Current Cage Rage Middleweight Champion
* Shooto Middleweight Championship in 2001

Mixed martial arts record

MMArecordbox
wins=22
losses=4
ko-wins=13
ko-losses=0
sub-wins=4
sub-losses=2
dec-wins=5
dec-losses=1

References

External links

*sherdog|id=1356
* [http://www.spidersilva.com/ Official site]