The Countdown: Anderson Silva's Ten Greatest Moments

UFC Middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva is considered by many as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the entire world. Silva possesses some of the world’s deadliest Muay Thai striking ability and is also a high level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt under the Noguiera brothers.

The Spider has been dominating the middleweight division for years and has made it look easy. He holds the record for most consecutive UFC victories with nine straight wins and is tied with former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes for most consecutive title defenses with five in a row.

On August 8th Silva will move up in weight to take on former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion and the very first Ultimate Fighter winner Forrest Griffin in the co-main event of UFC 101.

Let’s take a look at the ten greatest moments in the career of one of the sport’s greatest fighters.

10. A Wake Up Call In The Form of  A Flying Scissor Heel Hook (Dec. 31,2004)

At PRIDE-Shockwave 2004 Silva took on seasoned veteran Ryo Chonan and the end result saw one of the most shocking finishes in MMA history.

Silva wasn’t exactly dominating the fight but he was winning and appeared to be well on his way to earning a decision victory. Then suddenly out of nowhere towards the end of the final round Chonan pulls off a flying scissor heel hook—a move that rarely ever works in MMA and forces Silva into submission.

This wasn’t one of Silva’s best moments but what most people fail to realize is that it was a turning point in his career. This was long before Silva was known as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and after losing this fight he returned home to Brazil with a newfound focus.

With the loss it proved that Silva wasn’t as untouchable as he had originally thought he was. Silva believed he could do anything in the ring but he definitely never imagined himself being forced to tap out from such a crazy submission.

It wasn’t his first time on the losing end of a battle but it was the most significant loss of his career. Silva hasn’t lost since that fight—unless you count the disqualification loss he suffered to Yushin Okami which some consider controversial.


9.  Knocking Out The Sandman (7.19,2008)

After defending his title successfully three times without being faced with a real challenge Silva had decided that he would move up in weight and take his shot against the big dogs of the light-heavyweight division.

For his first fight at 205 pounds he was matched up against heavy handed striker James “The Sandman” Irvin on the main event of UFC Fight Night 14 on Spike TV.

Irvin made a rookie mistake and threw a lazy leg kick at Silva which Silva caught with ease before following up with strikes knocking The Sandman out cold just one minute into the first round. Irvin isn’t exactly a top-ten light-heavyweight fighter but the manner in which Silva defeated him was pretty impressive.

At the time Silva wasn’t as popular to casual fans as he was to hardcore MMA fans. After destroying Irvin on Spike TV with millions of fans watching at home people started to realize what all the hype was about.


8. Finishing Newton (March 16, 2003)

At PRIDE FC 25 Silva took on former UFC Welterweight champion Carlos Newton. Coming into the fight Silva was relatively unknown even to most hardcore fans. Newton was just eight months removed from his second loss to Matt Hughes and was returning to PRIDE for the first time in over a year.

In Silva’s pre-fight interview he claimed he was the “Roy Jones of MMA” due to his superior technique and timing on his feet and on the ground.

About five minutes into the fight Newton found this out the hard way. Newton dropped down looking for a takedown and Silva timed him perfectly with a beautiful flying knee knocking the former UFC champion out.

It was an exciting finish to what turned out to be a classic fight.


7. Dominating Nate The Great (7/7/2007)

For Silva’s first official title defense he took on seven-time King of Pancrase Nate “The Great” Marquardt. Marquardt—like Silva—was unbeaten in the UFC and was riding on a six fight winning streak.
Silva finished Marquardt off with a first round TKO to successfully defend his championship.

Marquardt is one of the most talented fighters in the middleweight division but in the fight with Silva he looked like a complete amateur. That just goes to show you how talented Silva is, he has the ability to make a great fighter look mediocre.

6. Reverse Elbow Knockout (April 22, 2006)

At Cage Rage 16 in London, England Silva took on UFC veteran Tony Fryklund in the main event.

Previous to the fight Silva drilled a reverse elbow strike technique when training in hopes of utilizing it in the fight. His trainers would constantly tell him that the technique wouldn’t work but Silva continued to practice the strike over and over again.

Well sure enough two minutes into the fight Silva knocks Fryklund out with a reverse elbow proving just how versatile he truly is. “That’s something you would see in a movie” said one of the announcers for the event.

 “I don’t think I’m better than anyone” said Silva in the post-fight interview “I just like to prove to myself that things I imagine can be done. Expect the unexpected.”


5. Submitting Lutter (Feb. 3, 2007)  

When Silva took on high-level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Travis Lutter at UFC 67 it was supposed to be Silva’s first middleweight title defense. However Lutter failed to make weight so the fight took place without the title being on the line.

For the first time in Silva’s UFC career fans saw him lose a round. Lutter was able to get Silva to the ground and maintain a dominant position for most of the first round. In fact Lutter came very close to finishing the fight while reigning down strikes from the mount position.

When the second round began Lutter took Silva down again with a double leg takedown. Silva then locked in a triangle choke from his guard. Wanting to prove how thick Lutter’s head really is Silva began reigning down elbows to his forehead forcing Lutter to tap out.

Everyone knew how dangerous Silva’s striking was but they would also forget that he’s a very legit Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. For him to choke out arguably one of the best middleweight Jiu-Jitsu fighters in Lutter sends a huge message to the middleweight division.

That message being you can’t beat Silva on the feet or on the ground.  You’ll have to hope that one day the sanctioned MMA rules will be changed to allow fighters to bring machine guns into the Octagon with them and that might not even be enough to defeat Silva.


4. Decimating The Crippler (6.28,2006)

At UFC Fight Night 5 Silva made his UFC debut against knockout artist Chris “The Crippler” Leben.

Silva had been fighting for the PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan prior to coming over to the UFC. He was a relative unknown to the casual fan that only watched UFC events and had never even heard of PRIDE before.

Leben at the time was on a six fight winning streak and was thought to be one fight away from earning a shot at Rich Franklin’s Middleweight title.

When the fight began Leben rushed forward like the typical brawler he is looking for the early knockout. Silva easily countered his strikes and began to hand Leben his most brutal defeat of his career. Silva made Leben look like a school yard bully who lost his way.  

On that night UFC fans were introduced to a new type of striker and little did they know he would soon begin a reign of dominance that has continued to this day.


3. The Spider Era Begins (10.14,2006)

After his decimation of Leben, Silva was granted a title shot against then middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin at UFC 64.

At the time Franklin was tearing through everyone in the middleweight division and was the clear cut favorite heading into this fight. His only loss heading into the fight with Silva was to current UFC Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and it was early in Franklin’s career.

You’re talking about a guy who knocked Nate Quarry out with a single punch, destroyed the late great Evan Tanner and has pretty much dominated all of his previous UFC opponents.

Silva shocked the world by completely destroying Franklin three minutes into the first round. The Spider was dominant in the Muay Thai clinch breaking Franklin’s nose with a vicious knee before finishing him off moments later to claim the UFC Middleweight championship.

The era of the spider had begun.

Silva’s fight with Franklin was later used as part of an instructional DVD on how to effectively use the Muay Thai clinch.


2. Dominating Ace Not Once But Twice (10.20,2007)

The second time Silva fought Franklin the fight was a little bit more competitive but the result was exactly the same. Franklin would move forward to attack Silva and Silva would counter attack with a flurry of punches, kicks, and knees.

At one point during the fight Franklin would try to hit Silva and Silva would just bob and weave in a circular fashion avoiding every strike Franklin would throw.

Just like the first fight the deciding factor was Silva’s Thai clinch. Silva’s clinch is insanely strong and Franklin found that out the hard way on both occasions that he fought him. Silva would get Franklin in the clinch and land brutal knees to finish the former champion off.

With the victory Silva proved that the first fight wasn’t a fluke and he truly is a better fighter than “Ace”.

1. 3/1/2008- Choking Out Henderson

 Silva was coming off his second dismantling of former champ Franklin. His UFC record now stood at 5-0. What else could he possibly pull off inside the octagon to further prove just how dominant he was – how about submitting an MMA legend and the only man to hold PRIDE titles in two weight classes simultaneously in Dan Henderson?

Certain people believed that Henderson would be able to defeat Silva due to his Olympic wrestling pedigree, powerful right hand and iron chin. Those people were proved wrong at UFC 82 when Silva choked out Henderson in the second round with a rear naked choke to unify the UFC and PRIDE Middleweight championships.

Henderson is not an easy guy to finish and has gone the distance in wars with some of the toughest men on the planet. He had only ever been submitted twice previously to both of the Noguiera brothers—the very same fighters who awarded Silva his black belt.

Not only that, but Henderson was coming off his war of attrition to Rampage Jackson. If it took Rampage Jackson all five rounds to beat Dan Henderson, and Anderson Silva ended him in a round and half, just how good does that make Silva?

The method of victory was especially important for Silva because most fans thought of him simply as a phenomenal striker. If Silva could submit a man like Dan Henderson, was there anything this fighter couldn’t accomplish?