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
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