Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: Following Up on Anderson Silva; Thoughts on the UFC on FOX 1 Headliner
Sep 7, 2011 - 7:30:03 AM HYDEN BLOG: Following Up on Anderson Silva; Thoughts on the UFC on FOX 1 Headliner

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Last week I wrote that Anderson Silva is the greatest fighter of all-time. That's not news, a lot of people are saying that. However, I also wrote that I believe that Silva would defeat anyone in the history of MMA, regardless of the weight class. That generated a lot of opinion, as I knew it would. There's still far too many people out there who think that size is everything. They don't give enough credit to technique and skill. Strength and power are great things to have, but they do not ensure victory in and of themselves. Superior technique and skill will beat strength and power. I don't care if Brock Lesnar is 80 pounds heavier than Anderson Silva, he would get knocked out by Silva.

Being strong, and being able to translate that strength into punching power are different things. If you don't know the proper way to throw a punch effectively, it doesn't matter how strong you are. I suppose I've made the mistake of assuming that everyone is familiar with Bruce Lee. Lee was someone who could easily beat guys twice his size. The power that Bruce could generate with his punches is legendary, but it's not as though he's the only person who is capable of such feats.

Many of us know about Bruce Lee's One-Inch Punch, but there are many others who can do the same thing. It's usually assumed to be a part of the Wing Chun system of Kung Fu, but there's many other styles that use the move as well. My point is that technique and skill are what wins fights, not strength alone. Size is an advantage, there's no doubt about that. However, to just assume that someone will win because they're bigger is fallacy.

If you know how to use your size, that certainly helps. I'm not saying that just anyone could beat fighters larger than themselves. It's likely that only a small percentage of fighters would enjoy victories over larger opponents, and it would be restricted to guys who are only 20-30 pounds heavier.

I'm not just talking about any fighter, though, I'm talking about Anderson Silva. He's on another plane, another universe than most every other fighter. A lot of fans assume that the UFC middleweight division is weak, and is full of bums and tomato cans. That's not true at all. There's actually a pretty good amount of talent in the division, they just look bad when they fight Silva. It's a testament to Silva's ability that he makes good fighters look like chumps.

I really respect Georges St-Pierre as a fighter, the guy's fantastic. But I have never said, nor will I ever say, that GSP could beat any fighter regardless of size. I do think there are plenty of fighters in other weight divisions that GSP would beat. There's only one man that I say would beat any other fighter in history at any weight class. That man is Anderson Silva. I think GSP could beat Jon Jones or Dan Henderson, but I'm not super confident in that. However, I would bet large sums of money on Silva beating either Jones or Henderson. I would bet a large sum of money on Silva beating Cain Velasquez or Junior dos Santos.

My blog last week generated the most e-mail response from people out of anything I've ever written. I was a little surprised that so many people wrote in saying that Brock Lesnar would crush Anderson Silva. I find it odd that more people had a problem with that than with me saying that Silva would beat Velasquez or dos Santos. I would take Velasquez or dos Santos to beat Brock everytime. Cain just crushed Brock in his last fight, though that was a year ago, but it's not as though that victory doesn't count.

I just wish we could get a definitive answer to this. I'd love to see the UFC book Anderson Silva vs. any of the guys I've named. I'm confident that my faith in Silva would be rewarded with a victory. Most of these fights will likely never happen, but we can dream, can't we?

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Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos for the UFC Heavyweight Title is the headliner for UFC On FOX 1. I think that's a good main event as you're almost guaranteed a good to great fight. This should be an exciting fight and a good capper to the UFC's debut on FOX. This move sends a strong message that the UFC is serious about sending a great first impression to the new viewers that they'll attract now. They could have easily given us a non-title fight between 2 good names and called it a day, but to headline the show with a title fight is to be commended.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com