Strikeforce Fedor Vs. Silva Fight Card: What Antonio Silva Must Do To Beat Fedor

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament begins Saturday night at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva. Along with a quarterfinals bout between Andrei Arlovski and Sergei Kharitonov, the main event this very important fight card will feature Antonio Silva vs. the heavily favored Fedor Emelianenko.

As a four-to-one underdog, few expect that Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva will stand much of a chance against the very well-rounded, former No. 1 ranked Emelianenko.

Fedor’s overall game is just so strong, and he has made so many larger men look foolish in the past that it’s hard to imagine him losing two fights in a row. That said, Silva is going to do his best to make it happen.

During today’s weigh-ins, Silva spoke out about how important this fight is for him and his career as a mixed martial artist.

"I'm so happy for this fight. For me, Fedor is the number one in the world and I've been training for months,” he smiled. “I'm ready for this fight. I'm going to show my ground and pound, for sure."

This will unquestionably be the biggest fight of Silva’s career, and it could go down as one of the biggest of Fedor’s as well. So what does “Bigfoot” have to do to become just the second man to (legitimately) defeat the greatest heavyweight of all-time?

Here are my five keys to victory for Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

5. Avoid the Early Knockout

This one seems obvious, but it’s easier said than done.

Though Silva outweighed his opponent by nearly 35-pounds and will likely step into the cage with an even bigger advantage, it’s Fedor who possesses the best chance of finishing this fight by knockout.

Emelianenko has defeated excellent strikers in the past—many of them by knockout—so Silva would be wise not to stand and exchange punches in this one.

Fedor’s record claims that he only has eight knockouts, but those numbers are somewhat skewed. While many fighters go for the TKO victory with their fists, Fedor generally opts to go for submissions instead. 

If Silva can make it out of the first round, Fedor has proven to be significantly less effective in finishing fights in the second or third rounds. In fact, in his career, Fedor has only finished one fight via knockout past the first round, when he did so against Brett Rogers in Nov. 2009.

4. Pace Himself

With Fedor’s low-hands stance, the temptation will likely be there for Silva to throw everything he has in an attempt to end the fight early.

Fedor makes a living on fighters who do this.

As he showed in his fight with Andrei Arlovski, Fedor is very capable of suckering his opponent in and giving them a false sense of security before smashing their face in with his powerful right hand. 

If Antonio Silva wants to win this fight, he needs to stay calm and not get too excited, even if things are looking good for him. He has to play it smooth and take as few risks as he can while still staying decently aggressive and not allowing Fedor to get too comfortable.

As mentioned before, when Fedor gets out of the first round, he typically falters in the later rounds. His fights usually end up going to a decision, especially if his opponents make it out of the first round.

If Silva can pace himself and still leave a bit of energy for rounds two and three, he will have a chance of winning a judge’s decision. But if he runs out of gas and looks sluggish after round one, he’ll be very unlikely to make it to the end.

3. Ground and Pound

As Silva himself said at today’s weigh-ins, ground and pound is likely to be his best opportunity to defeat the former heavyweight champion.

With at least a 34-pound weight advantage, Silva is perhaps the most-skilled big-man that Fedor has ever faced. What's more, he looked to be in excellent shape as he stepped on the scale—better than I can ever remember him looking in the past.

Silva has won 10 fights in his career by knockout, many of which have come by way of ground-and-pound. If he can position himself in a way that utilizes his height advantage on the ground, it could be tough for Fedor to do much from his back, other than eat punches.

2. Avoid the Arm Bar

Though Fedor got caught in a submission by Fabricio Werdum in his last fight, no one should look past the fact that Emelianenko himself is one of the heavyweight division’s best submission artists. He doesn’t always make it look pretty but Fedor has submitted some of the best fighters in the world over the course of his career.

It can be tough for smaller fighters to submit larger competition, but Fedor has done that as well. As evidenced by his arm bars on Hong Man Choi and Mark Hunt, it doesn’t really matter how big or strong his opponent is—Fedor can still submit them.

Though “Bigfoot” is significantly more talented than most of the other “giants” Fedor has fought before, he still has to watch out for the submissions and the arm bar in particular.

If Silva does bring Fedor to the ground and begin to work his ground-and-pound, expect Fedor to look for the arm bar in an attempt to finish the fight from his back.

1. Fight Mistake-Free

As with any of the elite fighters in the world, the difference between staying competitive and getting humiliated is often whether or not the underdog makes any big mistakes.

Fedor is like a cheetah, just waiting to pounce on his prey if and when they see an opening to do so. If you go back and read through the slideshow I created titled, “Fedor Emelianenko's 10 Fastest Career MMA Victories (With Video),” you’ll see that fighting mistake-free is going to be the biggest key in Antonio Silva’s attempt to win this Saturday night.

The former No. 1 ranked heavyweight has looked like he was in trouble many times throughout his illustrious career, but it’s almost as if he’s luring his opponent in at times, just begging them to get over-anxious and make a dumb mistake that he can exploit.

If Silva is going to win this fight, he’s going to need to stay calm whether things are going well or poorly for him early in the fight.

If he panics and gives Fedor even a second to capitalize, he’s going to be staring up at the lights and asking himself what happened, just like so many fighters before him.

As a four-to-one underdog, Silva has his work cut out for him, but if he can stick to his game plan and follow these five steps, he may very well be victorious over Emelianenko in the quarterfinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

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