UFC 126 Preview: Power Ranking Anderson Silva's Octagon Performances

Anderson Silva is a genius in the fight game and he finds ways to win.  He has shown an indomitable will and a confidence born from technical mastery. 

Many fights entertain by being gritty displays of sweat and fortitude.   Silva entertains by being a tactician and technician who systematically deconstructs his opponents.

Every fight is different and every fight is beautiful in its own way.

The UFC middleweight champion is 12-0 since joining the organization in 2006 and is so far the most successful fighter in the organization's history.

The crazy thing is that a number of these performances could be career defining highlights for some, but for Anderson Silva, their just another notch on his championship belt.

12. UFC 112: Demian Maia

Out of all of Silva's fights, this is the fight where he engaged his opponent the least.  

President Dana White was publicly critical of Silva's performance for his dancing and taunting, although Silva did control the majority of the fight.

Early in the fight there were flashes of the brilliance we expect from Silva, but in the latter rounds Maia was the one pushing the pace and even landing some good shots.

If it were not for what looked like poor sportsmanship and a lazy final two rounds, this fight could have been a great overall performance.

11. UFC 97: Thales Leites

At UFC 97, Anderson Silva fought to a decision for the first time in his UFC career.  

Both fighters were hesitant to engage in the first couple rounds, with Leites proving his threat by finding occasional success in strikes and takedowns.  

By the latter rounds, the pace had degraded to the point where Leites was literally flopping to the ground simply out of an unwillingness to engage.

The behavior of Thales Leites was curious and exasperating.  It was clear Leites had no more interest in engaging in a fight, however, many felt Silva could have gone in for the finish on his timid opponent. 

10. UFC 90: Patrick Côté

This was Anderson's 8th fight in the UFC and it marked the first time he went to the 3rd round.  

Anderson started out slow, but controlled the action against his fellow striker with a noted advantage in speed, precision, and diversity of strikes.  

The fight ended anticlimactically when Côté suffered a freak knee injury and was forced to concede early in the 3rd round.  

Silva later stated that because Côté is such a tough guy, his plan was to really start going for the finish in the 3rd or 4th rounds.  

Had Côté not suffered that unfortunate injury, audiences might have been treated to another of Silva's comprehensive beat downs.

9. UFC 117: Chael Sonnen

In his most recent fight, Anderson Silva went to war in one of the UFC's greatest fights, and fought through more adversity than we thought possible.

Coming into the fight with a rib injury, Anderson was going to have to dig deep to beat the unanimously agreed #2 middleweight in the world and elite wrestler, Chael Sonnen.

Anderson was able to land some dangerous strikes, but Sonnen controlled most of the action.  

For the better part of four and a half rounds, Sonnen ground and pounded the champion.  He landed more strikes on Silva than Silva had received in all his previous UFC fights combined.

Never giving in to the pain and the brutal pounding he was receiving, Anderson Silva slapped on a triangle/armbar submission with only a couple minutes remaining.  

The submission victory earned Anderson Silva one of the most miraculous finishes in UFC history.

8. UFC 67: Travis Lutter

Anderson Silva was set to make his first title defense against impressive grappler, Travis Lutter, at UFC 67.  Lutter ended up not making the required weight, and the bout was changed to a non-title affair.

Lutter came out strong in the 1st round.  Silva threatened with a flying knee, but Lutter was able to control Silva on the ground for most of the round.  

Despite being grounded by a superior grappler, Silva showed his Brazilian jiu-jitsu skill by threatening from his guard and baiting Lutter with a submission in order to escape the mounted position.

In the second round, Lutter got Silva to his back again, but could not maintain the onslaught.  Silva rocked Lutter with an up-kick and then swiftly trapped his falling opponent into a triangle choke.

Anderson kept the choke secured, as Lutter struggled, and fired some elbows to his fading opponent for good measure.  

Before the half way point of the second round, Silva had forced the grappling ace to submit, in an incredible finish that no one could have predicted at the time.

7. UFC 73: Nate Marquardt

At UFC 73, Anderson defended his title against veteran and dangerous all-around fighter, Nate Marquardt.  

When Nate Marquardt fights aggressively, he is one of the best middleweights to ever compete in MMA.

Nate came out and showed Anderson some versatility.  After a few minutes, it became clear that Anderson's will would not bend.  

Silva landed some good shots on Nate and then reversed him when when going for a takedown.  Silva continued to deliver punishment and Marquardt eventually wilted under the onslaught.

With Marquardt turtling up, Silva pounded out the TKO victory at the end of the first round, the only man to ever defeat Nate Marquardt by way of TKO/KO.

6. UFC 82: Dan Henderson

Leading up to this bout, Anderson Silva was looking like an unstoppable force.  By taking on the fellow legend in Dan Henderson, Silva proved to the world that he was the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport.

In the first round, Henderson realized that he did not like standing in front of Silva very much.  Henderson was able to take Silva down and control him for the second half of the round.

Though not taking much damage, Silva was visibly frustrated and came out for the second round on fire.

After hurting Henderson badly with strikes, Silva eventually followed his hurt opponent to the ground.  Once on the ground Silva used an impressive display of technical Brazilian jiu-jitsu to control his opponent while pouring on more abuse.

Henderson submitted to a rear-naked choke with ten seconds left in the second round.  The achievement was humongous.  

Only the third person to submit Henderson and the first to choke him out.  Anderson Silva's legacy would not be denied.

5. UFC Fight Night 14: James Irvin

In order to test the waters of the 205lbs division, Silva was matched up against power-punching light heavyweight James Irvin.

Always a threat with his power, Irvin was clearly outmatched by the middleweight champion.

After catching a body kick from Irvin, Silva dropped his opponent with a straight right hand.

A few more punches to his fallen opponent sealed and deal as Silva walked away with a flawless victory at just one minute of the first round.

It was brutal and quick and beautiful.  Silva's performance was an explosion of violence, unmanageable for James Irvin.

4. UFC 64: Rich Franklin

Anderson won the middleweight title by destroying then-champion Rich Franklin.  

Although a respected adversary, not many thought Silva could step up to the big stage and topple a durable champion like Rich Franklin.

Not only did Silva rise to the occasion, he outclassed Franklin and made him look helpless in the muay thai clinch.

By clasping his hands behind Franklin's neck, Silva delivered knee after knee to Franklin's body.  Getting hurt badly Franklin tried to escape, but Silva was able to reclaim the clinch.

Once he targeted Franklin's head, the fight was soon over.  With a few crushing knees to the head and face, Franklin was left in a heap on the ground with a horribly broken nose.

Anderson Silva took the belt from Franklin in just 3 minutes of the first round.

3. UFC 77: Rich Franklin

After their first encounter, Rich Franklin re-grouped and fought his way back up the ranks to challenge Anderson Silva.

This time the former champion would be much better prepared.  With a sharper focus and knowledge of his opponent's skill set, Franklin still could not find any success against Anderson Silva.

Compared to their first encounter, Silva issued a similar, but more comprehensive, beatdown of Rich Franklin.

After the fight people wondered, if a fully prepared top shelf fighter like Rich Franklin can come in and still be thoroughly destroyed, who can legitimately challenge Anderson at middleweight?

 The case is still open.

2. UFC Fight Night 5: Chris Leben

For Silva's octagon debut, Chris Leben served as the welcoming committee.

With a granite chin and impressive winning streak, Leben was supposedly a tough fight for anybody in the division.

Silva buzzsawed through Leben in 49 seconds with a true virtuoso performance.

On that day, we knew we were witnessing something special.  The broadcast cut to audience reactions as Josh Koshcheck summed up the collective sentiment with a gasp in shock and disbelief.

Chris still has a reputation for being able to take inhuman amounts of punishment, but Silva made him wilt quicker than a daisy in a furnace.  

1. UFC 101: Forrest Griffin

After the Côté and Leites fights, fans were pushing for Anderson Silva to be matched against someone he would be forced to engage.

What Anderson got was a bump back up to 205lbs to fight the fan-favorite, former champion, Forrest Griffin.

Some felt that Griffin had a fighting style that would compliment Silva, but no one could have predicted the mind-bending beatdown that Griffin received.

By mind-bending, I mean Silva's reactions and movements were so quick and efficient, that you wouldn't have thought Circ De Soleil could have choreographed something so precise.

A performance that defies assumptions about the fight game, the Griffin fight stands atop Silva's sterling record as the crown jewel.

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*An embarrassing defeat for Griffin.  Listen to the above clip to hear his hilarious recount of the fight a year later.