The Blueprint: Squashing the Spider

Welcome to the 2nd edition of 411Mania.com’s newest MMA column, The Blueprint! Here we break down the keys to victory against the best fighters in the world, the men who can best exploit them, and the odds of just who can pull of the seeming miracle of defeating one of our subjects.

Last time we looked at UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida and his vulnerabilities that could potentially be exploited for a victory. This week we’re dropping a division and heading to 185 pounds, our subject this week being UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva.

1) Safety First: As of late Anderson Silva can care less about finishing fights or creating highlight reel stoppages. The main thing on his mind is keeping his middleweight championship and continuing on in his winning ways. While this seems like more of an advantage for him, it can also have a major impact on him in a negative way.

Instead of having a seemingly afraid to engage Thales Leites imagine if he had an aggressive guy in there against his new safety first style like a Michael Bisping or a Yushin Okami. While they likely wouldn’t be able to finish him or engage him enough to force him to exchange strikes in rapid fire mode, aggressiveness is very favorable in the eyes of the judges scoring rounds. If Anderson gets gun shy and allows his opponent to dictate the pace because he’s more worried about not losing than winning, he could very well be beaten due to fear of taking a risk and stepping outside of his comfort zone.

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