Wanderlei Silva took a tough loss against Chuck Liddell at UFC 79: Nemesis. The Iceman came away with a unanimous decision in a contest which had some exciting exchanges. Everyone expected this would end in a KO, but it didn't go down that way.
Before the Silva seemed like a re-born fighter. He left Chute Boxe and took residence at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. He sparred with noted striking coach Shawn Tompkins, and had Rafael Alejarra(conditioning coach), Ulysses Pereira (Boxing) and André Galvão (BJJ) as his personal coaches. Every report I read from Silva's training camp noted how focused and rededicated he looked. I was expecting a better than ever version of Silva in the Octagon. I'm not so sure that particular fighter came into the cage on fight night.
They call Wanderlei the Axe Murderer due to his relentless aggressive style. He's known as an attacking machine constantly putting the pressure by coming forward, regardless of the opponent facing him. For some reason we watched a different Silva against Liddell. Maybe he was showing respect for Chuck's knockout power. After all, Silva came out aggressive and CroCop in their Pride fight, chasing him around the ring, and ended eating a head kick en route to a knock out loss. Surely he wouldn't want the same to happen.
Against Liddell Silva didn't press forward as much as I thought he would. He played mostly a counter game, sitting back and exchanging wild swings with the Iceman from long range. Not a particularly good idea since Chuck has the longer reach.
Another surprise came in the clinch game. I expected Wanderlei to handle Chuck in this phase of the game, but the few times they actually locked up Liddell got the better shots. In fact Liddell outworked Silva in the clinch. Wanderlei usually puts on a plumb clinic in his fights, not only with those devasting knees, but how he maintains control and usually manages to pummell into the double necktie. This did not happen at UFC 79 as Liddell managed out position Silva and get in nice shots, including a solid elbow, on the breaks.
Now Silva is talking about rededicating again and moving back to Brazil and reconnecting with former Chute Boxe teammates. He also mentioned hooking up with K-1 legend Ernesto Hoost in Holland to improve his Muay Thai. Suddenly he feels like he has all these weaknesses which need fixing, like his wrestling. He also feels he needs better training, although he maintains his last training camp was great and his coaches had him properly prepared.
Obviously no knows better about themselves than themselves. But I think Silva may be a little off in assessing what went wrong. He needs to dig deep and find the original beast within which made him dangerous. I think he sat back too much trying to play counter fighter in his last fight and needed to just blast forward and let his weapons loose. He's never been a technical striker like a Cung Le or Rich Franklin, so why does he feel the need change his style now? Get back to you bread and butter which is overwhelming the opponent with punches and kicks.
I'd also like to see Wanderlei dominating in the clinch again. Before the CroCop and Dan Henderson losses there was this feeling that once it got close and Silva had chance to grab you and lock you with the vice grips of his, it was inevitable the barrage of wrecking ball knees would bring you crumbling down to the mat. The Muay Thai plumb was his world. He needs to reclaim his place as a brutal clinch fighter.
Essentially I am saying the mindset and approach Silva took was wrong. His skills did not fail him. Once he gets back to his roots and finds the man he was when he faced Rampage, Sakuraba, Guy Metzger and all his other victims, then we will once again see Wanderlei standing with his arm raised in victory.
