Perhaps one of the most deadliest creatures on earth comes from a little place in South America known as Brazil. The Wandering Spider is noted by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most venomous spider in 2007 and is responsible for the most human deaths by any other spider, including the popular Black Widow.
This, however, is not the spider I wish to discuss. The spider I am referring to stands in at 6'2" and weights in around 185.
Anderson "The Spider" Silva (a fitting nickname) stands alone atop of the UFC's middleweight division. Since joining the UFC in June 2006, he has become one of the top fighters in the world.
In his first UFC fight, the UFC did what they normally do with top prospects, threw him right into a pit with one of their most credible and dominating dogs. While many people dislike Chris Leben because of his stint on the first TUF, it's hard to argue with a record like his (15-1 at the time of their fight).
It looked as though Silva was being fed to a man who was working his way to a title shot. Silva made short work of the TUF alum, beating him within a minute of the first round. He then moved on to face then Champ Rich Franklin (20-1, 1 no contest at the time of there fight), and it was predicted that Franklin would rip threw Silva like he had been doing to most of the 185 division; Silva stepped into the fight and three minutes later had UFC gold around his waist.
Silva went on to defend the title an impressive three times; it would have been four, but Travis Lutter failed to make weight.
Silva has dominated the division so badly that UFC execs actually asked Rich Franklin, who stands at 24-3 and one no contest, to move up to the stacked Light-Heavyweight division, because, due to the domination Silva has done to him, and rightfully so, why have someone pick apart the up-and-coming 185er's like Franklin can, just to get his face rearranged by the likes of Anderson Silva.
Since Anderson Silva won the title back in 2006, there's been one question: Who is going to beat him?
Many thought perhaps Rich Franklin was having a bad day. When they met for a second time, however, Anderson gave Rich a much worse day to remember. I believe we have all seen the pictures of Franklin's nose doing a 80-degree turn in the middle.
Enter Travis Lutter. You can say what you want about him not making weight; the fact is, he weighted in at 187 for his first weigh in. ONE POUND OVER WHAT HE HAS TO WEIGH IN AT!!! Then, two hours later, and this you can get down his throat for, he weighted in at 186.5, when he has to weight at maximum 186 pounds.
Lutter is the only man in years that can claim to winning one round. In the first round of Lutter vs. Silva, they came out and traded some punches, and then Silva slipped up and ended up on his back. The round was Lutter's.
This was the first moment I noticed something wrong with Silva's game. His wrestling game. He is excellent in the scramble; he's excellent at standing back up, using his Jiu-Jitsu to stand back up, and is probably the best striker in MMA in terms of a whole game, not just punches or kicks.
Silva came out in the second round and clearly was the dominating force, but for Lutter to last two rounds, no once since pretty much Silva's Pride days can claim that, until Lutter stepped into the equation.
Next, look at the triangle Silva used to finish him off, to me it didn't look too tight, I honestly believe Lutter tapped due to strikes, not a choke, he was clearly pushing his shoulder in there, using his arm to create some space so the blood could still flow to his head and he could think.
This is what made me question Silva's Jiu-Jitsu; it also shows his ground game is much weaker than his stand up. In fact, if we look at his current record, which stands at an impressive 22-4, he has 13 knockouts and just four submissions, which becomes more interesting when you look at his loss record where two of his losses came from submission, one from a decision, and one for a DQ for an illegal kick.
His current test this month is Patrick Cote. Some people claim Cote is going to shock the world; that he's going to knock the Spider out of its nest. I honestly think these people need to get their heads examined.
Patrick Cote has a decent record, standing at 14-4. I ask why someone like that would need to be on TUF Four, which was all about comebacks, if he's such a knockout artist, as people claim him to be.
Lutter made short work of Cote, and Silva, I'm convinced will make even shorter work of him at UFC 90. I wish him the best of luck; I think he has a shot—he can rock Silva—but I don't feel this is likely at all.
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