UFC 134 Fight Card: Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami, Early Head-to-Toe Breakdown

Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami will square off at UFC 134, with the middleweight championship on the line.

The two have fought before, with Okami walking away the victor. It wasn't a victory most fighters would be happy with, however. Yushin won via disqualification when Silva hit him with an illegal up-kick late in the first round.

This fight has very high stakes for the champion, as Okami is the last man to defeat him, and the event also takes place in Silva's homeland, Brazil.

Let's see how these two stack up...

Experience

Anderson is easily the more experienced fighter.

He has more fights than Yushin and has faced the more dangerous competition.

Silva has also dealt with the pressure of being in the main event many more times than Okami, as well as the pressure of being a UFC champ.

Edge: Anderson Silva

Cardio

Okami has proven on many occasions that he can go all three rounds in a fight without gassing. This, however, is Yushin's first five-round fight.

There's no way to know for certain how Okami will handle a five-round fight, if it goes that long, but I suspect he will be able to handle it. High-level grapplers tend to have very good cardio.

Anderson is a man with somewhat underrated cardio. Silva's cardio looked questionable in his fight with Demian Maia. His breathing was labored in the later rounds, and he seemed to avoid contact with Maia as a result of his fatigue.

Other than in that fight, however, Silva's cardio has seemed fine. He went nearly all five rounds with Chael Sonnen and looked totally fresh going into the fifth round, after carrying Chael's weight for four rounds.

I don't think either of these guys will have trouble making it all five rounds, if it is required of them.

Edge: Anderson Silva

Striking

Writing anything here almost seems pointless; we all know Anderson has a HUGE advantage when it comes to striking.

Over the years, Okami has developed some pretty solid striking skills, but his strength has always been the ground game.

Silva is the best striker in MMA history and has 17 career knockouts to back that up.

His striking has been described as "video-game like" and his head movement is baffling.

Yushin absolutely needs to get this fight to the ground, or he will lose. Guaranteed.

Edge: Anderson Silva

Chin

This one is very close, but I think Anderson has a slight advantage.

Silva has never been knocked out in his mixed martial arts career. He took some brutal ground and pound in his fight with Chael Sonnen and seemed, at the most, mildly annoyed by it.

Okami also has a very good chin and has only been TKO'd once in his career, and it was all the way back in 2003.

They both have good chins, but Okami has been finished by strikes and Silva has not. So, I'm going with Anderson.

Edge: Anderson Silva

Grappling

This is where Okami's best (and maybe his only) chance for victory sits.

When Silva fought Sonnen, we saw that the champion's Achilles heel is wrestling. This was always sort of a known fact, but no one had ever been able to exploit it like Sonnen did.

Yushin happens to be a very good wrestler. He's probably the second best in the middleweight division, behind Chael.

Okami is also a black belt in judo, so he is skilled at achieving takedowns from the clinch (though he probably won't want to be clinching with Anderson).

The first time Yushin fought Anderson, Okami was overwhelmed by Silva's striking in the early going. Yushin shot for many takedowns early on and was chiefly unsuccessful.

However, he eventually got a takedown and once he did, he was able to hold Silva in place fairly well.

If Okami can get this fight to the ground consistently, he can win it.

Edge: Yushin Okami

Submissions

Yushin has only one legitimate submission victory in his career. He is primarily a ground fighter, but he is much more about control and ground and pound.

Silva's submission skills are a touch overrated; many of them have come due to strikes, but he still has a very crafty guard and is good off of his back in general.

Anderson definitely has the better all-around submission skills, but I don't think he will be able to submit Okami, unless he sets it up with strikes first.

Yushin might not be much for submitting people, but he's not one for being submitted either, having never lost by submission in his mixed martial arts career.

Edge: Anderson Silva

Winner?

I think Okami stands a better chance in this fight than people are giving him credit for, but I'm still going with Anderson.

Okami doesn't have the same kind of explosive takedowns that Chael Sonnen has, and so I think he will have a much tougher time getting Silva on his back.

Meanwhile, Anderson will thoroughly outclass Okami on the feet.

Yushin will be resilient; he'll probably last a few rounds. He might even score a few takedowns.

However, this one of those "it's just a matter of time" fights, similar to Anderson's fight with Chael, and I don't think Okami will do as well as Sonnen did.

Okami will take a lot of punishment from Silva and something catch him and put him in serious trouble.

From there, Silva will finish him off with either a submission or punches. Probably punches.

Winner: Anderson Silva via Third Round TKO