UFC 101 Preview: Bloody Elbow Judo Chop: Anderson Silva Pulls a Wrestling Switch on Nate Marquardt at UFC 73
by Kid Nate on Aug 6, 2009 10:59 AM EDT
in MMA Technique
Email
Print
Going into UFC 101 we have an opportunity to watch some amazing martial artists ply their craft. One of the foremost talents on the card is Anderson Silva.
Clearly he's had a couple of lackluster performances in his last two title defences, but prior to that Silva ran off a great string of seven straight finishes in seven UFC bouts.
His Muay Thai skills finished Rich Franklin (2x), Chris Leben, James Irvin. He had to draw on his jiu jitsu skills plus his striking to put the kibosh on Travis Lutter and Dan Henderson.
But against Nate Marquardt, Anderson Silva showed an unexpected skill set to win that fight: wrestling.
After a fairly even first four minutes, with about half a minute left in the first round, Nate Marquardt was working for a single leg when Anderson Silva pulled a wrestling move called a switch that had announcer Randy Couture screaming his appreciation.
Here's Earl Smith of the great Division 1 College Wrestling site describing the switch:
The switch is a basic move which is frequently used in amateur folkstyle wrestling. It is most commonly used on the mat from the bottom position. It can be executed in a standing position as well. In MMA it is more practical to switch from a standing position.
The most important part of a correct switch is getting pressure from the back or the side by an opponent. It can take place to the right or left leg of an opponent, yet for a demonstration's sake I will explain it to just the right side. A textbook switch will have a bottom wrestler lift his left arm and bring it across his chest underneath his right arm. Almost simultaneously he will sit his hips away from the opponent, in order to create separation, while reaching his right arm under the opponents' near leg. This is where pressure from the opposition is important. The bottom man has his hips in the air and is reaching for the leg which puts pressure on the top wrestler's near shoulder and/or arm. He will likely stop the pressure he was applying or release his grip on the wrestler who hits the switch, which allows the wrestler who started on bottom to spin behind him and gain control. It should be noted that, as the wrestler who starts on bottom is spinning in an attempt to gain control, his opponent is in a similar position and can "re-switch" him as well.
In MMA, the switch is most frequently seen when one fighter is attempting to take the others back and apply a rear-naked choke without both legs in. It can be executed while the top man has both hooks in, but it is very difficult.
In the full entry we'll break down the move with some more help from Earl.
Photo via UFC.com
In the gif on the right we see Marquardt working for a single leg.He's got his left arm hooked behind Silva's left knee. Nate grips his left wrist with his right hand to get more leverage. Meanwhile, Anderson has his left arm wrapped around Marquardt's waist and he hooks his right arm behind Nate's left leg.
Here's Earl Smith again:
In the Middleweight Title fight at UFC 73 between Anderson Silva and Nate Marquardt, Silva hits an MMA version of the switch that ultimately leads to his victory. Marquardt controlled most of the first round from the top position, but the fight was stood up by John McCarthy with approximately 1:30 remaining.
It was soon afterward that Marquardt shot in on Silva's leg and a scramble for the takedown ensued. The Spider showed a great deal of creativity countering the single leg with a switch, because in amateur wrestling this technique is rarely used to counter a takedown while standing. He is rewarded because the maneuver has caught Marquardt out of position and seconds later Silva ground and pound's his way to victory. As stated earlier, Silva needed the pressure from Marquardt's takedown attempt for this move to even be possible.
In the gif on the left,we see Anderson switch his left arm from being wrapped around Nate's waist to grabbing the inside of Nate's left thigh. Then he locks hands and spins, throwing Marquardt to the ground. It's an excellent move, in part because he uses Nate's own momentum against him. Marquardt is driving for the single leg take down, pushing forward. When Anderson pulls the switch and gets behind him, all the momentum is driving Nate to the ground.
42 comments
|
8 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
That's fucking beautiful.
What else can you say? And pulling it on Marquardt of all people is no mean feat.
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Aug 6, 2009 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don’t want people thinking a Nate/Silva rematch would be a cakewalk. Nate can fucking fight.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Aug 6, 2009 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions
This also supports
the opinion that Anderson is pretty strong for his weight. Both fighters essentially have a single leg, but Anderson powers through Marquardt’s grip to pull the switch and get him to the ground.
rzor, they both don’t have a single. Nate has the single, and Silva is defending then hits the switch. Hence Nate ending up on the ground.
/\ this
Anderson is able to turn Nate’s own power against him by grabbing the leg and spinning around. It’s pure leverage and misdirection.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
what gets me
is Silva’s ability to pull something like this out of what is normally thought to be a bad position. any other MW probably gets taken down by Nate in the same position.
that said, i’d really like to see them go at it again, because Nate has upped his game immensely.
by bobthewriter on Aug 6, 2009 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions
I always thought that move was so sick. Whenever someone says Silva doesn’t have any wrestling skills (e.g. Jake from Sherdog) I always think of this little counter.
agreed
i have commented about this exact move he did against nate. this is a perfect example of anderson being a total fighter, instead of people calling him just a striker. i have this fight on tape and i replay that switch every time i am feeling blue, for some reason it puts a smile on my face.
good luck in life!
there was an interview with big nog about two years ago
where he stated that the spider travels many times to the US to train with college wrestlers to up his base game.
Anderson
I think Anderson’s strength is his ability to stay calm. At this point Nate was being over aggressive by trying to finish him early. Anderson was able to use that against him. That is his bread and butter, he lets you get close enough to get caught in his web then he finishes you.
the art of this
is in anderson first dropping his weight and sliding his heel to break the grip. Without that, he ends up on the ground with nate on top.
Silva's Ground Skills
@judonerd @Kid Nate,
For some reason people will always talk Anderson Silva’s ground skills even after he has weathered the storm again and again. After all, if you’re training with Jacare, Nogueira and a number of world-class BJJ practitioners, and wrestlers how can you not be great on the floor. Although people want to make a million excuses for Travis Lutter, Silva still escape his full mount and defeated him from his guard.
Recently on Tatame one of Silva’s coaches, Rogerão Camões, basically said Anderson is excited because
“He’s a man driven by stimulus, he likes the guy who comes to punch and this fight is stimulating him a lot.”as opposed to a BJJ expert which obviously doesn’t excite Silva.
If you have to pick a poison...
…there’s something to be said for picking the one that will leave you helpless in three minutes instead of three seconds.
Sergio Non,
MMA writer, USA TODAY
http://mma.usatoday.com
Yeah, BJJ guys don’t excite him at all, but the UFC didn’t exactly give him a BJJ guy that’s purely offensive either. Nate Marquardt is a phenomenal defensive grappler, but he’d much rather punch and wrestle for top control.
There isn’t anyone in the MW division that has the BJJ chops and overall skill to make it to the top to fight him. Furthermore, Anderson has the best of both worlds. Excellent defensive BJJ training via Nogueira, but he also has excellent offensive training in Filho, Xande, the list goes on. I’d still like to see a legitimate MMA grappler take him on, and Maia is that guy. He beats him decisively on the floor, everyone would just shut up.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Aug 6, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Actually, Maia is the only guy who has the BJJ chops and overall skill. Correction.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Aug 6, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions
That fight will end the same way as Cote & Leites…
A very one sided victory for Silva.. Maia is a beast & in my opinion, the best BJJ MMA guy in the field today..
The problem is he will have no room to get close enough to Silva.. Silva is extremely long.. Even if Maia got him down.. He’s getting wrapped in Silva’s body triangle.. And stuck there untill they get stood up.. Maia would have the best chance at catching a leg dangling in my opinion.. Silva is just to fast and too strong to be kept idle.. He moves at very fast angles, so even taking him down without a great wrestling base is going to be hard.. Leites was shooting from 10-15 feet way lunging for take downs.. You have to get Silva coming in like Hendo did and have enough strength to to stop his momentum.. Also be willing to take a risky shot in order to get that close too..
Maia’s main weapon is his ground work.. His standup isn’t great at all & he isnt big or long enough to get close enough to Silva.. Bad matchup for Maia..
If it were a straight grappling match.. Maia would smoke A. Silva all day…
by MMAuthority on Aug 6, 2009 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I freaked when I first saw this myself, even after several replays, but once I got over being mesmerized by Anderson and actually looked closely at Nate, I couldn’t help but notice it appears as though he’s exerting like 0 effort in this sequence.
Just me?
thought experiment
Imagine the physical force involved in taking a 6"3" 200lb man with his arm wrapped around your waist and a good deal of his weight on your back and then standing to your feet and bringing him up with you.
He is also planting himself to drive forward into the take down just as Anderson pulls the switch and spins him down.
I don’t doubt that he was fairly tired (toward the end of a very tough round) but he wasn’t coasting here.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
Imagine the physical force involved in taking a 6"3" 200lb man with his arm wrapped around your waist and a good deal of his weight on your back and then standing to your feet and bringing him up with you.
Oh, right. I first had this thought after watching another gif which started w/ them on the feet already and I kinda glanced over that part here I guess. Yeah, he’s def putting in work there.
He is also planting himself to drive forward into the take down just as Anderson pulls the switch and spins him down.
This I just don’t see. That might just be a combo of your last point (Nate being tired) and me not having a wrestling background to know what I’m looking at, though.
Love these entries, btw. Always informative.
As Nate said, Marquardt’s momentum is doing a lot of the work here, Silva just had to utilize some technique to allow that to happen. If you’ve wrestled any and hit a switch, then you know that it looks much more dramatic when your opponent has too much of his weight on you (particularly if it’s above your hips on the middle or upper portion of your back if you’re in the classic down positions on the mat).
I remember watching this and freaking out when Silva hit the switch. I turned to my wife and told her that Silva’s unstoppable if he’s able to pull out wrestling technique like that on Nate (who was probably the best pure wrestler Silva had faced up to that point, since it was before the Hendo fight if I recall correctly).
Glad you dug this one up Kid, great addition to the Judo Chop series!
Does anyone think Nate has a chance in a rematch?
I think he is better than what he showed against Silva, although he was really doing quite well IMO for the first few minutes…
I’m not sure it would be pretty, but I could seed N8 pullling it off.
I think he has an excellent chance
Maia will be the real test. But the way Marquardt has looked lately, wow, he’s been murderous.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
Nate's Chances in a reMATCH??
Sure Nate got better. (After Silva, this is my quick assessment)
He beat journey-man vet Jeremy Horn (who took the fight on short notice).
Lost to Thales Leites via split-decision. Did he win, was it a dominating performance?
Beat Martin Kampman, who’s obviously better suited for welterweight.
Then he got a solid victory against Wilson Gouveia.
Ok, yeah he’s better but murderous and deserving of another title shot? Not so fast.
Did Anderson Silva get better? (After Marquardt)
He easily put away the former champion Rich Franklin who has a decent record post-Silva.
Stopped Dan Henderson a feat that only two other men can claim. Hendo is arguably a far-better wrestler than Marquardt AND the only guy “on paper” outside of Matt Lindland who was picked by the experts to beat Silva.
Stopped James Irvin at 205 less than a minute . . . proves nothing.
The Cote and Leites fights simply proved that the champion is elusive . . . just not as elusive as one of his training partners LHW champ Lyoto Machida. Note, both Cote and Leites left the Octagon bruised and bloodied.
While Marquardt definitely has a chance against Silva, I believe the results will be the same.
I’d much rather see what Maia can do against Anderson Silva because the guy is a BJJ wizard playing chess against opponents messing around with checkers.
by VeeisAnimated on Aug 6, 2009 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Beat Martin Kampman, who’s obviously better suited for welterweight.
A, it’s Kampmann, and B, Kampmann was undefeated going in – that’s still his only loss, and Nate fucking bumrushed him.
And he beat the shit out of Leites and loss a split because of two point deductions – that means he kicked Thales’ ass so bad that he lost two points and STILL got a judge to give him the fight.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Aug 6, 2009 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Want to know more...
It should be noted that, as the wrestler who starts on bottom is spinning in an attempt to gain control, his opponent is in a similar position and can “re-switch” him as well.
In MMA, the switch is most frequently seen when one fighter is attempting to take the others back and apply a rear-naked choke without both legs in.
any gifs or vids of this?
A. Silva is very strong
I’ve said this numerous times.. But it’s his “core strength” thats vastly underestimated..
He has very strong hips & lower body mechanics.. That’s how he generates so much force even in his hands.. It’s the way he rotates his hips and snap’s his strikes..
Also he uses them on ground work too.. every person who’s ever had top control on Silva has been locked or nullified at some point. Greco Roman Olympic wrestlers, BJJ guys, strikers etc.. Because he has a very strong dense core.. His body triangle pretty much stuff’s anyone from mounting any real offense against him with top position.. He was able to use his hips to switch Lutter when Lutter was riding full mount.. With the length of his legs and the power of his hips he threw a 200 lbs man on to his back that had full mount.. Thats says a lot about his core strength.. He wrestles and trains with guys as big or bigger than him.. I’d say he’ll do fine..
can somebody with a wrestling background explain head outside singles to me? i know there’s a million variants of a single leg but in jujitsu we’ve always learned head inside, and then some horrible things to do to people who shoot for a head outside single (by far worst guillotine you’ve ever felt, i think its the same move that belcher did to kang)
is a kosher for a wrestler to intentionally have his head outside or was that unintentional, either by mistake or by silva forcing it?
i’m no expert on takedowns, but i thought it was always head outside on a double and head inside on a single….so i’m thinking it was a tactical error.
it looks like nate was a second away from hooking his left leg behind silva’s left leg, so maybe he thought he was just so damn close to getting him down it didnt matter?
Head Outside Single is a different shot
It’s often called a High Crotch (High-C) shot and finishes with either a dump, snake trip, or a double leg shot. The head-inside single leg (which I believe is actually called an Outside Single Leg) generally has a higher completion percentage, at least in amateur wrestling. Confused yet?
man i need to work on my wrestling
1) i looked up high crotch on youtube, why wouldn’t you just shoot for the double at that point? is it for when your arm gets blocked or something?
2) what’s a snake trip? i’d guess that’s when you hook your leg around their ankle and drive forward?
thanks!
2) what’s a snake trip? i’d guess that’s when you hook your leg around their ankle and drive forward?
yup
It’s easier to actually get the leg with a high-c with very little setup if you both have the same stance because it attacks the lead leg. The outside single attacks the trailing leg and requires a bit more setup/risks telegraphing the shot. The double leg attacks both legs when it’s usually easier to attack one. A failed double-leg attempt (a blocked arm, among other reasons) can be transitioned to a high-c, and a good high-c can be finished with a double-leg. You have some pretty fun finishes with a high-c as well, such as a fireman’s carry or a crotch lift. The downside, as I said before, is that it’s just harder to finish once you have the leg.
With a head outside single/high c
you want to switch to and finish with a double leg almost immediately. Its completion percentage is lower than either the double or the outside single. If you both have the same stance, it’s a little easier to get the shot because it attacks the lead leg, but it is actually harder to finish the takedown. Wrestling also doesn’t have the added risk of the worst guillotine you’ve ever felt. :P
It looks like Marquardt would have had to re-shot to finish the takedown. He tries to dump Silva and that does nothing from the position he’s in. His hips are way too far out to do anything meaningful from that position. Against a bad wrestler, that might have worked for him, but clearly Silva is not a bad wrestler.
I'm no wrestling wizard
but I did wrestling in high school, my coach always taught us to do singles with head inside, never with head outside. but for doubles you put your head outside for better leverage to pick up your opponent. but this is high school wrestling, and I was never really good at it…
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
MMA Rankings
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
