Silva vs. Marquardt - Keys to Victory
UFC.com contributor Michael DiSanto has written a nice little piece breaking down the UFC 73 Title Match between Anderson Silva and Nate Marquardt. The complete article covers more ground, but here are his key points:
Keys for a Silva Victory - Hold off on the clinch
It isn’t a stretch to think that Silva’s game plan for UFC 73 involves clasping his hands around Marquardt’s neck and unloading knee strike after knee strike until the fight is over. Nevertheless, that is not the best approach to beating a guy like Marquardt, not early in the fight anyway.
Marquardt may be the most technically sound ground fighter in the UFC 185-pound division. Before folks begin running around their respective computer screens screaming bloody murder at the preceding statement, take a look at his January bout against Dean Lister.
Lister, who is universally recognized as a master submission grappler, was outclassed in every facet of the fight, including grappling. Marquardt always appeared to be thinking at least two moves ahead of Lister. He easily defended anything the former Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Champion threw at him, and then put Lister in bad position after bad position seemingly with ease. For fight savants, that is about as good as it gets in terms of praising a fighter’s ground skills.
So, what does that have to do with Silva’s keys to victory? Everything and nothing.
It means everything because Silva, who holds a black belt in jiu-jitsu, does not want to put his ground skills to the test against a guy like Marquardt. Sure, they looked great in a non-title bout against Travis Lutter at UFC 67. But Lutter was a shell of himself that night after failing to make weight, and those excellent ground skills were basically nonexistent in his two of his four career losses, both of which occurred in Japan via submission.
Regardless, Marquardt’s exquisite ground skills mean nothing if the Greg Jackson-trained fighter cannot take the fight to the canvas. And that should be Silva’s focus on Saturday night, which means striking from a safe distance early in the fight to avoid the takedown.
As a result, Silva would be well served to eschew the clinch until he has softened up Marquardt with punches and kicks from a distance. There is little doubt that Silva will dominate that position. Yet, if he isn’t careful when moving in to secure the back of Marquardt’s head, the Brazilian could find himself scrambling on the canvas after a takedown, and that would be disastrous for his chances at victory.
Keys for a Marquardt Victory - Get to the ground and take your time
If Nate “The Great” is successful in getting the Spider to the canvas, that is when the chess game begins, and Marquardt should look at it as a game of chess, not some sort of mad sprint. He should work to pass the guard and secure side mount without worrying about passing to mount.
Marquardt should capitalize on that hole in Silva’s game to at least soften him up with short elbows from the side mount while working for a Kimura or an arm triangle. Silva will become frustrated as the fight wears on if he is stuck on his back for long periods of time, and that frustration is likely to lead to a mistake that Marquardt can take advantage of en route to a submission victory.
But, alas, a game plan for ground fighting is wholly irrelevant if Marquardt fails to take the fight to the canvas. Taking down Silva is far from a simple task. He doesn’t have the takedown defense of a guy like Chuck Liddell. Yet, one must approach a takedown with extreme caution because of his elite Thai skills.
If Marquardt telegraphs a shot against most fighters, the end result is an effective sprawl. Telegraph a shot against Silva and it could be lights out courtesy of a vicious knee strike, as former UFC champion Carlos Newton learned in their 2003 PRIDE bout.
If Marquardt haphazardly closes the distance for a body lock against the average guy, he might find himself grasping at air. Against Silva, the more likely result is ending up on the wrong end of a Thai clinch and a fight-ending series of knees.
Marquardt needs to engage Silva on the feet, even if only briefly, to set up a takedown. He should avoid full-blown exchanges at all cost. But leading with an inside leg kick followed by an immediate right hand transitioned into a double leg wouldn’t be a bad idea. Silva will check the kick by lifting his leg, which leaves him temporarily off balance. If the right hand lands immediately thereafter, his focus will be on regaining his balance by setting his feet with his weight slightly forward.
The last thing on Silva’s mind in that instant will be defending the takedown or firing a knee, so it presents a nice opportunity for Marquardt to take the fight to the ground, a place where he holds all the advantages on Saturday night.
To view the entire article on UFC.com, click HERE
