Anderson Silva is undoubtedly a master of his craft, and has a style that many fighters can only dream of emulating, but it turns out that ‘The Spider’s’ talents also extend to being able to flawlessly mimic his fellow MMA stars.
The UFC superstar shows off his hilarious impressions in the outtakes for his ‘Anderson Silva: Striking Combos For MMA’ instructional DVD series.
Along the way he mimics the likes of Hall-Of-Famers like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Royce Gracie, former light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, and notorious brawlers like Kimbo Slice, Wanderlei Silva and Tank Abbott.
Pretty much all of them are instantly recognizable from Silva’s impressions, though arguably his two best are of his training partner Machida whose karate-based stance, rhythm and movement are captured perfectly, and a hilariously accurate take on UFC legend Royce Gracie’s striking.
Silva also takes great relish in mimicking Liddell’s famous victory celebration, (remembering to stick his belly out to get the full effect!), nails the stance and upper-body movement of Kimbo Slice and Randy Couture, and captures his namesake Wanderlei’s aggressive, hook-heavy approach to striking.
While Silva’s impressions make for a great party trick, it also shows that he’s a student of the game and gives some indication of how he’s able to read what his opponents are going to do so well when he competes.
It also makes him the perfect training partner in the gym, as being able to accurately mimic an upcoming opponent’s style and idiosyncrasies can prove to be invaluable for a fighter’s pre-fight preparation.
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Anderson Silva is of course one of the best mixed martial artists of all time, having at one stage ruled the UFC’s middleweight division with an iron fist, defending his belt a total of 10 times, while going undefeated in the Octagon for an all-time record 16 fights.
Now 40 years-old, Silva still continues to compete in the UFC, as he approaches his 19th year of fighting professionally, compiling an overall 33-7 (+1nc) record along the way.
