Quote:
Michael Hackett wrote:
Michael,
If you are talking about his ability to perceive his opponent's intent, he is superb in that regard, but I strongly suspect that speaks to his BJJ experience and training. I know a number of BJJ black belts and have rolled with a couple and they seem to be physical chess masters. It feels like they are always three or four moves ahead of you and that seems to be the case for Anderson Silva. I will grant you that he does "put it out there", but I think that is the case for all of those UFC guys as well. They play in an incredibly tough environment in a very tough game.
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I think his striking is far superior to his BJJ. That is to say he is great on the ground, but he is at another level standing. I've yet to see him do anything as spectacular on the ground as he regularly does standing. His last second triangle against Sonnen was more a failure of Chael to recognize what was coming. How long did he have wrist control? I knew that was coming and I have no BJJ background.
Locking Travis Lutter up with a triangle and then ending the fight with elbows was impressive, but not amazing. Getting Henderson's back and submitting him with a rear naked was impressive, but still no where near as amazing as what he can do standing.
I would argue that his ability to perceive his opponents intent should be attributed to his years of training in Muay Thai and Boxing. He undoubtedly has a great ground game, but it's not on the level of say a Vinny Malgalhaes or even Damian Maia. However, his stand-up game is simply unmatched. I can watch the guy throw anchor punches all day long.