UFC 139 Fight Card: What Must Go Right for a Wanderlei Silva Win

Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva will throwdown with Cung Le at UFC 139, but to come out victorious he needs to have changed up his game plan.

The stare we love, the inhuman like ferocity we adore but most of all what the Silva fans clamour for more than anything is a compos mentis Silva winning emphatically converse to a comatose one losing badly.

For Silva to triumph, the following suggestions have to be executed.

Cautious

Most fighters and the public at large know what’s going to transpire in a Silva bout even before he does.

Cung Le will as well.

He’ll expect Silva to come out as has always been the case with The Axe Murderer—throwing bombs in succession, just hoping one of his axe-wielding fists detonates on impact.

Silva has slowed down, he's not punch drunk yet but he’ll get there if he’s not careful.

It’s essential that he plays the game, the survival game, and this time think of himself and only himself.

The fans will still love him forever and a day.

One cat and mouse fight doesn’t make an entertaining fighter boring over night.

A circumspect fight mightn’t be Silva’s signature style per se, but he could still eke out a victory that way.

If anything, longevity in the sport should be the utmost on his mind.

Mindset

Nobody needs to convey to Silva that his record in the UFC is unbecoming of someone once regarded as one of the baddest dudes on the MMA planet, what am I talking about? Planet period.

In his prime he was a runaway wrecking machine.

However, that was then and this is now.

I know he wants a win badly, he also wants to prove to himself, the fans and the UFC hierarchy that he’s still worthy to throwdown with the upper-echelon middleweights.

Needless to say, if he goes into the fight with that frame of mind, it could be over in a blink of an eye.

He needs to be calm and focused, and if the opportunity presents itself, then he should do what he does best—decimate.

Muay Thai/Kickboxing

Another surplus to requirements that Silva has failed or decided not to implement in his game plan for a while is the Muay Thai skill set

He’s used it with great efficacy during his career with devastating results—Quinton “Rampage” Jackson can testify to that.

That and his Thai clinch.

It would make for great viewing to see both Silva and Le go at it all Muay Thai style.

The point is, it’s in his arsenal, so he needs to employ it.

Jiu-Jitsu

Cung Le is an accomplished grappler with AAU and Greco-Roman wrestling credential and a jiu-jitsu blue to boot.

Silva mightn’t be adept at takedowns, but if for some reason Cung Le decides to take the fight to the ground, that would be the perfect opportunity to showcase his until now superfluous jiu-jitsu skills (he’s a black belt for crying out loud. If you’ve got, use it).

Erratic Punching

Silva has to control his natural inclination to commence throwing acerbic bombs from the outset.

Striking with wild left-right salvos appearing from a variety of directions is a recipe for his early demise, it’s crucial that his punches are thrown with precision and accuracy.

He’s got three rounds of five minutes each.

Silva needs to take several minutes to feel out Cung Le—see what he’s got in his arsenal and then, and only then, should he proceed to stand and bang (sensibly, though).

Defense

Offense void of defense can only succeed for so long.

Against a mercurial light footed kickboxer in the mould of Le, his defense needs to be on high alert—defense at all times.

His defense will be a major factor in the outcome of this fight—it’s paramount to whether he succeeds or fails.