UFC Champion, Anderson Silva--Inspired by ONG-BAK

UFC Middlewieght Champion, Anderson Silva is considered by most to be the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world. This weekend at UFC 134 in Rio, he defends his UFC title against Yushin Okami. Silva is best known for his unorthodox but still incredibly accurate and powerful striking, with highlight reel knockouts of former champions, Vitor Belfort, Rich Franklin, and Forrest Griffin, to name a few.



Before Silva competed in the UFC, he fought in a smaller organization called Cage Rage. One of his opponents during that period, Tony Frykland, had the misfortune of fighting him shortly after he saw Midnight Madness 2003 selection, Ong-Bak for the first time. The UFC champion tells the story of how Tony Jaa inspired him for that fight:

Not long before my Cage Rage fight with Tony Frykland, I saw the movie Ong Bak (sic). Tony Jaa, the martial arts hero in the movie is a master at Muay Boran, an art I have always been interested in. There was one move in particular he did that blew me away. Instead of attacking with a side elbow or an over-the-top elbow, both of which are common in Muay Thai, Jaa stepped toward one of the villains and threw a lead reverse back elbow. I was so enamored with the move I went to my trainers and told them that I was going to use the strike in my next fight to knock out my opponent. Immediately they shut the idea down. 'That won’t work,' they said. 'Just forget about that elbow.' I wasn’t convinced but every time I tried to practice the move during training, the could come run over and tell me to focus on techniques that would actually work.



I still wasn’t convinced, so one night I went home and asked my wife to stand on the couch and hold out her hand. I executed a lead reverse back elbow into her palm, and she told me what I already knew — it was a very painful strike. To get in the practice I needed, I had her stand on the couch every evening after my official training — this time holding a pillow — and I would do one hundred reverse back elbows. By the time the Frykland fight came around, I felt very confident. Unfortunately, backstage I couldn’t sneak off with my wife to warm up on a pillow, so I had one of my training partners hold out a mitt so I could squeeze in a few more lead reverse back elbows. Again my trainers told me to forget that move. I figured I had no other choice but to prove them wrong, so two minutes into my fight with Frykland, I stepped toward him, threw a lead reverse back elbow at his chin, and knocked him out.

And if you don't know Ong-Bak...

UFC 101 Anderson Silva vs Forrest Griffin

Well I finally got the chance to see UFC 101 yesterday and boy was it worth the wait. If you haven't seen it yet look away now cause I know how it feels when fights are ruined for me. I usually opt for a media block out, and yeah don't use twitter the next day, trust me!

I can say with absolute confidence that the performance of Anderson Silva against Forrest has to be the greatest performance I have ever seen inside the Octagon. Joe Rogan says it a lot, but Silva is definitely a character out of a movie. Silva was up against the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion and one of the most beloved fighters in the UFC ever since his slug fest with Stefan Bonner in the Ultimate Fighter finally season one. Forrest also has excellent cardio, great power and most of all heart! People might have been excused if they thought he had a chance against the reigning Middleweight champion, I sure did, especially taking into account Silva's last two fights versus Cote and Laites. Cote got injured mid way through and Laites ran from Silva for 5 rounds. Lets also not Forget that Silva was moving up a weight class to fight Griffin. What we were treated too was magical.

Silva felt up Griffin for the usual minute and then turned on the action. He managed to knock down Griffin 3 times in the first round the last of which finished the fight as Forrest waved that he has had enough! The first knock down was via a right hook to the jaw which dropped Forrest instantly but he was able to recover pretty quickly. The second one was truly brilliant. Silva stayed in the "pocket" in front of Forrest ducking under 3 punches with incredible head movement only to land a straight right and Forrest was down again. It was something you could only see in a Hollywood movie, something Jet-Li could pull off. Silva immediately pounced on him and at that point I though Forrest was done, but either he recovered or Anderson wasn't ready to finish him off yet. With Forrest out of options he attempted a flurry of punches while moving aggressively forward, Silva moved back smoothly and landed a jab while doing so that downed Griffin for the final time. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I was watching with my brother, who follows UFC diligently like myself, my wife who is a huge Ultimate Fighter fan, and a friend who sees a game with me once every blue moon. Prior to the game my brother and I were trying to explain why Anderson Silva is a legend but no amount of words could explain what my friend saw with his own eyes a few minutes later. If you ever see an MMA match this one has to be it!

http://www.myvideofight.com/UFC/Silva-vs-Griffin-Video

Anderson Silva is the best pound for pound fighter in the world, and probably the best fighter that ever lived. Like Jordan was for basketball and Mardonna was to football, Anderson Silva is for MMA!