Anderson Silva Has A Sting In His Tail

By Patrick Lennon

No-one in the promotion has taken him beyond the second round and he's fought the best the division has to offer. Clinical and dominant defeats of Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson linger long in the memory. And Silva has simply destroyed some very tidy fighters like Chris Leben, Travis Lutter, and latterly James Irvin. His recently announced retirement in 2009 will call time on the career of arguably the world's best active fighter of the past five years.

Silva began his six-fight swansong on Saturday night against Patrick Cote. The fight ended in a third round stoppage of Cote through injury.

Critics point feverishly to Silva's two submission defeats in Pride as a chink in the armour but the man from Curitiba has evolved at an alarming rate in the past two years.

Fighting Talk caught up with the gentlemanly Brazilian and asked him if he's up for a piece of Michael Bisping, whose 185lb career is taking flight. He told me: "Bisping is a good fighter, but he still has to prove himself as a top fighter." Bisping seemingly agreed with Silva when the same question was put to him in Birmingham after his victory over Chris Leben last weekend. He said: "I don't think I'm there yet. I probably need one or two more solid fights over solid opponents."You've got to earn that right. And when I earn that opportunity, I want to be ready."

Silva's terrifying perfect record in the Octagon can't be attributed to luck. His combination of Muay Thai striking, wrestling and ju-jitsu has made him the complete package.Silva said: "I think in MMA today you have to be well trained in all of these skills.Also he stated "It's a combination of it all  discipline, dedication, a good team.The 185lb category has some strong guys and I think the UFC is going to bring out even more great fighters. Competition is a good thing." And Silva joked: "I've asked Dana to try to set up a fight with my clone!"

As things stand, opponents don't want to be in the clinch with him taking knees to the face  as Franklin and Leben found out. They don't want to be on the ground getting choked by those wiry arms or legs, as Messrs Henderson and Lutter discovered.

And they certainly don't want to stand up against his striking as Irvin will tell you.

Article supplied courtesy of www.dailystar.co.uk