UFC 134: 5 Reasons Why Yushin Okami Will Upset Anderson Silva

Every championship reign must eventually come to an end, and this Saturday night at UFC 134 in Rio de Janero, Brazil, it is that time for Anderson Silva, as he will be defeated by Yushin Okami.

Current betting odds put Okami as a massive underdog in this fight against the UFC's longest-reigning champion. But MMA fans should know by now that the phrase “anything can happen in the cage” has never been truer than it is today. No one should be counted out of any fight, especially a top-level fighter like Okami.

I took some heat from readers earlier in the week for making this bold prediction among the rest of my UFC 134 Fight Card Predictions, so I wanted to delve deeper into why I believe that there is a very good chance of Okami walking out of UFC 134 as the champion.

I have assembled a list of the top five reasons why I believe that “The Spider” is going to be squashed this weekend at UFC 134.

5. Negligible Size Difference

At 6-foot-2, Anderson Silva almost always has the height advantage against any opponent he fights within the middleweight division. His lanky physique has given him the opportunity to smack his shorter opponents around as they struggle to get in on him.

But Yushin Okami is a physical beast as well. Okami is one of the rare fighters who actually can stand eye to eye with the Brazilian, as he also checks in at 6-foot-2.

But perhaps the most important purely physical advantage that Silva tends to have over his opponents is his weight. True, both fighters weigh in right at or very close to 185 pounds the day before the fight; but the difference happens within the following 24 hours when Silva typically packs on a significant amount of weight more than his opponents do.  

This will not be the case on Saturday night, as Okami is every bit as big as Silva, and some would even say that he might be bigger. One of Anderson’s usual biggest advantages will be negated in this contest.

4. Working with “Uncle Chael”

If there is anyone who knows how to beat Anderson Silva, it has to be the man who nearly did it at UFC 117, Chael Sonnen.

Not only did Sonnen come within a half-round of becoming the new UFC middleweight champion, he did it almost completely unexpectedly as like Yushin Okami this weekend, he too was a major underdog coming into the bout.

But all of that didn’t bother Sonnen. He utilized an unbelievably effective wrestling game to control the champion and outstrike him by a number that many of us thought we would never see in an Silva fight. It wasn’t even close.

In fairness, Sonnen did eventually get submitted by Silva in the fifth round, but many believe that a rematch could actually go in favor of the “Gangster from Oregon,” who has gone out of his way to destroy the champion in the media since his loss.

Nevertheless, there isn’t a person outside of Black House group who should be trusted more with their game plan of how to beat arguably the most dominant fighter in MMA history.

3. Silva’s Jiu-Jitsu vs. Okami’s Wrestling

As was mentioned in the previous slide, Yushin Okami has been working daily with Chael Sonnen in preparation for this, the most important fight of his career. In addition to that, he has worked out and studied film with Olympic silver medal wrestler Matt Lindland.

If you had to guess, what do you think these guys are working on?

Hmm…

Though his wrestling is already among the best in the middleweight division, Okami knows that in order to defeat Anderson Silva, he is going to have to get even better. As Lindland said in a recent blog about Okami, true champions humbly seek out coaching.

Silva is typically known for his unbelievable striking ability, but he is also quietly a very skilled and crafty jiu-jitsu practitioner. He put that skill on display against Sonnen when he surprised the American with a triangle choke late in the fifth round to remain champion.

There really isn’t any denying that Silva could submit Okami just given the freakish things we see him do on a fight-by-fight basis. But the reality is that Okami has never been submitted in his entire MMA career, which spans 31 fights.

Not only that, but as we all know, MMA judges have typically favored wrestling over jiu-jitsu. Of course, the crowd in Brazil is going to be going crazy any time that Anderson does anything, which could affect the judging in some way. However, if this bout goes anything like the Sonnen-Silva one did, and it goes to the judges’ scorecards, there will be a new champion.

2. Okami’s Chin

There seems to be a consensus among the MMA community that Anderson Silva is simply going to keep this fight on the feet and completely destroy Yushin Okami with his unpredictable and devastating standup game.

But while Okami isn’t necessarily known for having great striking skill himself, he does have one thing that has helped carry him some very skilled strikers. He has the ability to take a punch like few others in the middleweight division.

He’ll need his chin to be at its best on Saturday night, though, because Silva will be almost certainly looking to win this fight by knockout to satisfy his Brazilian fans.

1. Is Anderson Silva Overlooking Yushin Okami?

For years, it seemed that no one was a real opponent for Anderson Silva, as he completely ran through the entire middleweight division within the UFC. It was so bad, in fact, that he even made a couple moves up to light heavyweight just to give himself some actual competition.

There have been times that Silva has completely humiliated his opponents by dropping his hands in Muhammed Ali fashion, or even dancing around the cage like someone who just doesn’t respect the man he’s standing in front of whatsoever. Other than a few obvious exceptions, there really hasn’t been much of a challenge at 185 pounds for “The Spider.”

It’s not hard to understand why he might be coming into this fight against Yushin Okami, assuming that it will go smoothly and without much hiccup. After all, he beat a guy who many believe to be a better version of Okami, in Chael Sonnen. He is also coming off one of the most impressive victories of his career against Vitor Belfort.

Silva has broken through the glass ceiling that has historically held MMA fighters down economically and is now sponsored by gigantic corporations like Nike and Burger King. His celebrity status has grown exponentially, particularly in Brazil where this event is happening, since defeating Belfort earlier this year at UFC 126.

With all of this circling over his head, there is a very real concern that Silva is simply overlooking Okami. He practically even said so in a pre-fight interview with MMA Fighting.

“This fight is not about avenging a loss,” Silva told Ariel Helwani. “This is just another fight.”

This has to be music to Okami’s ears as he knows that this is not just another fight. It is his time to shine and shock the world by knocking off the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.