Anderson Silva's Fight IQ

What you're seeing here is Anderson Silva putting himself in an awkward position so he can maneuver his head away from the cage. Earlier in the fight, Sonnen had Silva's head jammed up against the cage and was pelting his skull with the most effective ground strikes of the entire fight. That was round one. It never happened again.

In every round after, Silva deftly rotated his body every time his head was near the cage. Sonnen was dominant, but for the remainder of the fight he couldn't hurt Silva like he did in the first round. Near the end of the second round, Sonnen nearly gets Silva up against the cage, but Silva briefly gives up his back. He then goes for a totally out of position kimura, and a half-assed leg lock, and voila: his noggin is safely away from the cage again.

In the fifth round, shortly after he slips, Silva appears to actually slide his own leg into half-guard in an effort to get away from the cage. Seconds later, Sonnen goes for an arm triangle choke; I'd claim Silva let that happen on purpose to get away from the cage, but that's a little too wild even for me. Instead, I'll chalk it up to a gamble/mistake on Silva's part. Sonnen's best chance to stop the fight was to press Silva's head to the cage and rain down punches; Silva knew this, and was willing to take a chance to prevent it.

Now, let's look at Silva's striking. Silva's known for spending the first minute or so dancing around, gauging his opponents' timing before he strikes. In the first round, he comes out uncharacteristically aggressive - probably he wants to prove something after all of Sonnen's trash talking. This leads to:

Well that's no good. After some Anderson reversal action and a few punches on the chin just to prove how crazy he is, Sonnen gets the easiest takedown of the fight. Second round, Silva is still showing unwonted aggression. He is angry, he has to pay Sonnen back for the punch that hurt him. Understandable - but not very smart. Perhaps he'd thought by now he had Sonnen's timing down, and it was safe to go a little crazy. But Sonnen catches a poorly timed kick and gets Silva on his back, again. Silva takes note.

Third round. Seeing that Sonnen doesn't go for a takedown at the very beginning, Silva throws a haymaker and backs off. Now he dances away from Sonnen, trying to judge distance and time Sonnen's takedown like he did Maia's. Very different from the first two rounds. He realizes by now he cannot give up the takedown. No more lazy leg kicks. He throws a spinning back kick, though, to get Sonnen away from him. But Sonnen distracts him with a punch and moves in for the takedown. Okay - this isn't working either, Silva thinks. This guy is not Demian Maia.

Fourth round. No more fucking around. Sonnen hasn't shot in on Silva during their exchanges; why not go all out and see what happens? Silva pays him back for the first-round punch with a wicked elbow - and Sonnen can't take him down. Now Silva knows it's time to unload, before Sonnen can pull himself together for a good shot. Silva's right on the money - as he lets go wild kicks and haymakers, Sonnen shoots again, and Silva stuffs it again. He's on top, landing elbows to the body. But alas, Sonnen's wrestling is worlds apart from Silva's, and he dumps Silva on his back yet again.

Fifth round, Silva seems to have finally gotten his opponent's timing down. He stuffs a takedown, slips a punch... and falls on his ass. That's it for the striking.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Silva had been trying like hell to stifle or submit Sonnen. People act like that triangle choke came out of nowhere. Well, yes, it was unexpected, but he'd been working up to it the whole fight, trying different things from his back, until finally something worked.

First round, Silva just gets beaten. I don't know if Sonnen's offensive style just confused him, or if he had never trained for a wrestler of his caliber, or what it was - but Silva had nothing for him that round.

Second round, he tries his usual strategy from the bottom: shut down the other man's offense, don't risk a submission attempt, and wait for the referee to stand you up. First he locks his hands around Sonnen's back to stop the ground and pound - but Sonnen lands little shots to keep the fight active, even boxing Silva's ears. Silva realizes he can't force a stand-up this way, and lets go. For the rest of the round, he tries a variety of things. He is constantly moving his hips, trying to get wrist control, landing elbows from the bottom, even dodging punches from the bottom. He tries to set Sonnen up for submissions, but none of the attempts are remotely successful. Still, Silva does considerably better this round than in the first.

Third round. Silva goes to his old standby: the body triangle. This is how Silva stifled Dan Henderson's offense - but he quickly realizes Sonnen isn't the same kind of fighter. Sonnen is fine with landing pitter-patter punches to keep the action going. Silva recognizes this and lets go so he can at least go for submissions off his back.

Fourth round. More of the same from Anderson - that is, more of his multifaceted groundwork. Not highly effective or threatening, but constantly moving, constantly looking. Finally he lands a good elbow and Sonnen starts bleeding. The whole time Silva is working, working, never complacent. Elbows, hip movement, wrist control. Sonnen has not been nearly as successful in these later rounds as in the first. Silva is constantly testing Sonnen and figuring out his game on the fly.

Fifth round. You can see him moving his hips and legs, poising his limbs. He is hunting. No more stalling. Four and a half rounds, taking less and less damage, getting more and more active. Finally, after 23 minutes of searching, the moment comes, and he snatches it.

23 minutes, nearly all of it on the losing end, and he never stills his mind. He never stays stagnant, never stops looking for another way to win. That is why, even as dominant as Sonnen was, it'll be hard to look at Silva as an underdog if they fight again. Silva may very well be the smartest fighter out there. He can adapt to situations, adjust on the fly. This is not something you can teach a fighter to do, and it's not something Chael Sonnen can learn if he hasn't by now. It is creativity, and reflexes, and intelligence, and calculated risk-taking. It is one of the many, many reasons Anderson Silva is the greatest fighter in the world.