Would Anderson Silva win the MW Grand Prix Tournament of Mixed Martial Arts?

I did and so I went in search of the best way to start this process. I think everyone likes the idea of a Grand Prix tournament and it seemed prudent to start with one competitive division. Subsequent articles can look at other divisions. I think the top 16 fighters in a division should suffice for a GP tournament. The top 8 UFC fighters vs. the top 8 non- UFC fighters.

I also needed a place that would objectively rank enough fighters to make a quality tournament. My search took me to the bloody elbow website. They do a great job of condensing every single websites rankings on the Internet into one meta-ranking. If you haven’t been to their site check it out and let me know what your thoughts are!

So which division makes the most sense to start with? Well the heavyweight division could be fun except they only rank the top 16 heavyweights (7 outside the UFC is not enough to create a tournament). The division just doesn’t have enough quality fighters although the top of the division is quite stacked!

The light heavyweight division is a great division yet 18 out of 25 fighters ranked call the UFC home. Not enough non-UFC competition. The welterweight division is just a little better with 16 out of the 25 fighters under contract to the UFC. That does however give non-UFC 9 potential fighters, meeting the minimum requirement of 8.

This leaves the Middleweight and Lightweight division which are both highly competitive. UFC actually is actually at a numerical disadvantage in both divisions yet they have 10 out of the top 25 fighters in each so enough to field a competitive team.

After much deliberation I decided to start with the Middleweight division. Perhaps someone else would like to do it for the Lightweight division. I debated over whether to have Rick Franklin in the tournament or not. I think most would agree that he is leaving the division yet he is only one fight removed. In the end I left them out. It seemed more authentic and made it a bit more competitive for the non-UFC fighters.

Leaving out Franklin allowed Demian Maia in, who is by no means a slouch! The first round is the only round where it kept UFC vs. non-UFC. After that it’s whoever is left standing from either division. It is seeded NCAA tournament style.

The Tournament would go as follows according to the bloody elbow meta-rankings. The two rounds of fights have summarized commentary.

First Round

1. Anderson Silva                    

16. Ronaldo Souza                  

8. Kazuo Misaki                        

9. Thales Leites

4. Robbie Lawler                                                         

13. Michael Bisping                 

5. Dan Henderson                   

12. Gerald Mousasi                 

3. Yushin Okami

14. Yoshihiro Akiyama

6. Matt Linland            

11. Patrick Cote                                              

7. Nate Marquardt                                                                                

10. Frank Trigg                                               

2. Paul Filho                              

15. Demian Maia

Round One Commentary

In the first round I picked two upsets. Gerard Mousasi over Dan Henderson may seem like a shock to most people. However if you watched Mousasi rack up 4 wins in a row in the Dream Middleweight Tournament you may think twice. He has also won 11 fights in a row over the last 2 years. He is also a young stud at only 23 years of age! I have the utmost respect for Hendo, who is a legend but something tells me the kid pulls out the win in this intriguing war. The fight ends up on the ground and Mousasi gets the triangle choke.

The other upset was Yushin Okami losing to Yoshihiro Akiyama. Akiyama didn’t sign with Dream in time to make it into the tournament but fought on the last two cards. He is stud who is 12-1 and his fights have never gone to a decision. He either TKO’s you or submits you. And he has never seen a fight go into the 3 round! I have a lot of respect for the veteran Okami. He has twice the fights that Akiyama has and is 6 years younger. He is 6-1 in the UFC (lone loss to Rick Franklin) yet all six of his wins have gone to decision. This fight doesn’t last that long; Akiyama by TKO.

The other hard fight to call in this round was Misaki vs. Leites. This one could have gone either way. Here I think experience wins out. Marquardt vs. Trigg is a battle of brute strength with Marquardt winning out. If you look at their career records Marquardt wins by rear naked choke and Trigg loses by it. Enough said. Filho vs. Maia was surprisingly good. Does Filho win by armbar or Maia by a choke? Neither, Filho guts the decision.  

In the remaining 3 fights: Matt Linland gets Patrick Cote to the ground and chokes him out, Robbie Lawler TKO’s Michael Bisping, and Anderson Silva is his dominant self (pick how you want him to win).

Without even realizing it I gave the non-UFC fighters a 6-2 edge. You could easily go back and give Hendo, Yuskin, and Thales victories though and the UFC would be up 5-3.

Second Round

1. Anderson Silva

8. Kazuo Misaki

4. Robbie Lawler

12. Gerard Mousasi     

14. Yoshihiro Akiyama

6. Matt Linland  

7. Nate Marquardt

2. Paul Filho

Round Two Commentary

In this round I may have a lot of explaining to do. Again, I think Anderson Silva is self explanatory. He is the superior fighter in all aspects although Kazuo Misaki probably put up some sort of fight. Obviously you can tell I am a fan of Gerard Mousasi. The guy just looks that good. And three of Robbie Lawler’s fourth career losses are via submission/choke. Mousasi trades strikes with the Ruthless One for awhile until he finds his opening and take the fight to the ground. You pick how Lawler taps out.

I can’t really tell you why I think Yoshihiro Akiyama will win, I just have that feeling. Matt Linland is a warrior and beat some very good competition. He has also done battle with and lost to Fedor Emelianenko and Rampage Jackson. Someone convince me that logically Matt Lindland should and would win. Akiyama just seems like he is vicious and ready to peak.

This is the one I will probably take the most heat for (2^nd probably to one of the first round upset predictions). Has Nate Marquardt really gotten that good or does Paul Filho have that many mental flaws (i.e., drug problems, depression, lack of urgency in last fight, etc.). And he is probably worried about having to face Anderson Silva in the finals. I don’t think Filho can stand with Nate so he either wins by getting him in a submission or wins a judges decision. I think Marquardt is surging right now. He is on top of his game, especially mentally. He did lose to one of the best BJJ artists, Ricardo Almeida via Submission (Guillotine Choke) back in 2003. But he can submit with the best of them. Regardless, I think this one is a result of mind over matter. Marquardt upsets Filho.

Semi-Finals

 1. Anderson Silva

12. Gerard Mousasi

14. Yoshihiro Akiyama

7. Nate Marquardt

So we are down to our semi-final and the UFC has evened things up with 2 fighters from their respective camps. I think I will leave the results of the semis for aother article and get some feedback from all the MMA fans out there. This felt like and ambitious article and I may be in over my head!