Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva also known as Anderson da Silva was born on 14th April, 1975 in Curitiba, Brazil.  He weighs 185 lbs and stands 6'2" tall.  Popularly known as "The Spider" amongst MMA fans, he has a high skill level in  Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai Boxing. Healso has one of the highest knockout ratios in the mixed martial arts game.

Anderson has a terrific MMA record with 20 wins and only 4 losses.  Twelve of those wins have come by the way of knockout which indicates his expertise in the Muay Thai style of fighting.  Travis Lutter, Roan Carneiro and Israel Albuquerque have just been some of the opponents who have been stopped by this great Brazilian MMA fighter.

Silva started fighting in the Mecca organization in Brazil. His debut fight saw him losing to Luiz Azeredo by decision. This loss was enough to spur him on to win 9 consecutive matches at a stretch either by TKOs or strikes.  He faced Hayato Samurai in his first match in the Land of Rising Sun.  This Shooto contest was won by Anderson within 5 minutes from the start allowing Anderson to be the new Shooto champion.

Silva made his debut for PRIDE in 2002. His first fight was against Alex Steibling.  Though, Alex was considered to be a hot favorite to win this match, Silva had Alex's reputation in complete tatters with a cut from a high kick. Doctor's stoppage saw this match go in Silva's favor.  This triggered a 2 match winning spree for Silva when he defeated Carlos Newton and Alexander Otsuka.

Low ranked Daiju Takase faced Anderson at PRIDE 26.  Considering his poor record at that time, not many gave a chance to Daiju.  Daiju realized Silva's weakness is the triangle choke and after a long fight that lasted for about 9 minutes, he employed the choke to win the contest.  This was Silva's first loss at the PRIDE FC.

This loss prompted Silva to fight for other fighting promotions across the world.  After a couple of wins, he came face to face with Ryo Chonan in PRIDE Shockwave 2004.  This contest lasted for about 3 minutes when Ryo made short work of Silva's fight with a Flying Scissor Heel Hook.  This loss meant Silva would try fighting in other promotions before he could come back to PRIDE.  He fought 4 matches for other promotions with a 3 -1 record before being signed by the UFC.

Anderson defeated Rich Franklin at UFC 64 - Unstoppable.  This victory earned in less than 3 minutes was good enough for Anderson to be crowned as the new UFC Middleweight champion.  In the UFC, Anderson has a clean slate record of 5 wins and no losses as yet placing him as the defending UFC Middleweight champion.

Anderson has a total of 20 wins out of 24 fights. He has remained undeafeated in the Ultimate Fighting Championship for over two years at the middleweight division. He moved up to light heavyweight to face James Irwin and that resulted in a quick victory for Anderson. Experts agree, it will be a while before anyone dethrones one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.