Anderson "The Spider" Silva

 

Fighting out of	Curitiba, Brazil
Age	33
Height	6' 2" (188 cm)
Weight	185 lbs. (84 kg)
Overall MMA Record (W-L-D)	22-4-0
Strengths	Very Well Rounded - Phenomenal Striker

 

Being quite the journey man early on in his career, Silva found success in Vale Tudo fighting in Brazil before finding early success in Pride Fighting Championship, winning his first three fights including a win over former UFC Welterweight champion Carlos Newton. After that Silva was scheduled to face little fancied 4-7 Daiju Takase, who suprisingly subbmitted Silva by triangle choke late in the first round. After this loss, Silva fought in other promotions, including a win against UFC veteran Jeremy Horn in South Korea and capturing the Cage Rage Middleweight Championship in London, England. In Dec 04, Silva returned to the Pride ring to face another underdog Ryo Chonan and with the fight going Silva’s way, Chonan pulled out a spectacular flying heel hook to defeat Silva with time running out.

After the recent set back, he returned to England where he would win his next two fights, before losing in Hawaii by disqualification to Yushin Okami for an illegal up kick. A spectacular reverse elbow knockout of Tony Fryklund folowing back in England early in 06, securing Silva a multi fight contract with MMA’s biggest organisation, the UFC. Silva made his debut against popular Ultimate Fighter contestant Chris Leben, someone known for his heart, duribility and hard hitting style. Little was known about “The Spider” in the US but after a 49 second win, demonstrating his pin point striking style, the fans were left in no doubt there was a major contender in the 185lb division. The UFC quickly tallied a poll, asking fans to vote on Silva’s next opponent, the majority of which chose long time champion Rich Franklin.

The match was schedualled for Oct 06 and Silva didn’t dissapoint, looking, if possible, even better as he destroyed the previously indestrutable Franklin in three minutes with a barage of knees from a Muay Thai-clinch to win the Middlewight belt. He went onto defend the belt against highly touted Travis Lutter and Nate Marquardt before granting Franklin a rematch at the end of 07 in Franklins home town of Cincinnati but with the same result. This set up a unification bout with Pride 183lb champion Dan Henderson, a man who many believed to be one of a few that posed a serious threat to Silva, in March 08. Although being taken down and controlled for much of the first round, Silva raised his game in the second with a flurry of strikes to down his opponent before finishing his with a rear naked choke.