When Anderson Silva steps into the cage this weekend in his native Brazil he will be facing the only man to defeat him in five years, Yushin Okami. In those five years, Silva has dispatched Chris Leben, Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt, Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Damian Maia, Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort. There are several things impressive about this streak other than just the simple list of the fighters he has bested.
First, the length of the streak is unprecedented. It is the longest of its kind in the UFC. No fighter has won as many fights in a row, let alone title fights. Silva hasn’t compiled this streak fighting no names and cans; he has done it by destroying every fighter UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva can possibly come up with to throw at him. Every one of the fighters he has faced worked their way up the middleweight ranks only to be sent packing in mere minutes.
The mention of minutes brings up another point, time. The way with which Silva won those fights is absolutely unheard of. By the numbers, Silva has, in that span, eight knockouts and three submissions. Seven of these fights came to a close in the first round and three of them occurred right around the one-minute mark.
The most competition Silva has received in this five-year span was against Chael Sonnen, though some debate what was actually going on during that fight. Sonnen, who some call the worlds best trash talker, made some comments about how useless he thinks Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is, and many people speculate that Silva continually pulling guard is indicative of this. At the same time, Silva did get hit by a few good shots that sent him sprawling. Either way, Silva won the fight and held on to his belt, in a show of how versatile his skills are.It would be quite a tall order to ask Okami to win this fight. In their previous meeting, Okami won by disqualification, not by any legitimacy, as he was knocked unconscious by a kick to the head while grounded. The only reason Okami was even on top of Silva was because Silva failed a triangle choke and was subsequently reversed. Silva-Okami 1 was just as one-sided as any other fight Silva has been in for the last seven years.
Okami should be an interesting match-up for Silva because he is the same height as Silva, and has a two-inch reach advantage, but he simply won’t be. Silva-Okami 2 was decided the night Silva decided to put his foot in Okami’s brain from guard for even thinking that he might beat him. This one should end quickly if Silva acts professionally. We have seen him take it to extreme measures and fool around in the cage delaying the inevitable, but avoiding that, Silva wins by knockout in the first round.
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