Everyone talks about the UFC jitters, but no one mentions the SILVA jitters. I submit the latter is far more detrimental to a fighter’s performance than the former.
Chris Weidman is trying to channel as much positive vibes as he can right now, and who can blame him? The worst thing he could do at this point is look at his situation honestly.
He’s about to fight for Anderson Silva’s belt. That should make any man take a step back and question every single God-given strength or attribute before stepping in to that particular cage.
When Weidman watches Silva crawl in to the cage on all fours in their main event bout at UFC 162, here’s 5 reservations he may be fighting to suppress before fighting the champ.
~ #1 Anderson Silva embarrasses his opponents ~
If fighters have learned of any consistencies in Silva’s fight game, they’ve realized the strong potential to wind up getting absolutely thrown off their game and absolutely embarrassed on the world’s biggest stage in MMA. Silva mocks his opponents with every ounce of his body language.
This usually involves him dropping his hands and walking nonchalantly towards his opponents at times. Of course these actions are anything but nonchalant and usually lead in to his opponents absorbing devastating strikes.
Forrest Griffin talked about how Silva looked incredulously at Forrest as he threw one inadequate punch after another as Silva dodged and returned fire in his usual fashion. Weidman has talked about how he’s brought in fighters to emulate Silva’s style as much as possible. A task that is best described as impossible.
~ #2 Considering Silva’s record, Weidman will most likely lose ~
The mental game is almost won every time Silva steps in to the cage against his awaiting opponents. The entire fight may hinge on Weidman’s ability to silence his inner demons as Silva walks to the cage.
That’s a tall order to fill when considering Silva has finished 15 of his last 17 opponents since he began his murderous win streak in 2006.
Watching Silva’s highlights may have helped him understand Silva a little better, but it also creates horrible nightmares of phantom knockouts from every angle possible that will haunt Weidman’s dreams until game day.
For him to win this Saturday at UFC 162, he has to channel as much ignorant confidence as possible. Of course he will probably fight as capable as he can, and whether it’s enough or not, he will find out the hard way.
~ #3 What if Weidman can’t take Silva down? ~
Most of the world believes Anderson Silva’s greatest weakness is rooted firmly in his wrestling game or lack thereof. Yet he’s the second best at stopping takedowns (fightmetric.com). At some point during the fight, Silva will start to implement his devastating striking attack, and Weidman will shoot in for a takedown.
This will be a very telling moment in the fight. Weidman needs to impose his will with the skill set he has. Therefore he has got to be wondering if his wrestling is better than all the heavily accomplished wrestler who Silva has walked through over the years.
~ #4 Can Weidman keep up with Silva in to the championship rounds? ~
Where Weidman’s 9 fights were all non-championship bouts of three, five minute rounds, Silva has fought five-rounders’ in 15 of his last 17 bouts.
If Weidman can stay calm, avoid the Silva jitters, make it through three rounds with the champ, and still come out the gate in the fourth with a deadly intent, he will have won a battle none of Silva’s past opponents could accomplish.
~#5 Can wrestling based Weidman defend the elite submission game of Silva? ~
Weidman uses his wrestling to set up his strikes with the intent on delivering a very serious brand of ground-n-pound. This has been an effective strategy for the undefeated #1 contender, but it’s not an evolved approach unfortunately.
So if Weidman gets Silva down, can he stop the champ from tying him up and breaking something off? Most likely he won’t be able to implement his vicious elbows while attempting to defend Silva’s complicated and highly evolved submission attack.
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