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Can anyone beat Anderson Silva? by Tom O'Brien August 29, 2011 
As Anderson Silva sat on top of the Octagon cage with his hands raised in victory and Yushin Okami lay beaten and bloodied on the mat below, I began to wonder if anyone was ever going to beat this guy. The tag "unbeatable" is unrealistic in any sport, but especially MMA where one punch or kick can end a fight in a flash. In Anderson Silva's case though it makes you wonder if he is the one; the one guy that simply can't be beat.With one of his most impressive victories to date, Anderson Silva bloated his already gaudy MMA record to 31-4 after defeating Yushin Okami at UFC 134 Rio. Silva has not lost a fight in over 5 years, and has amassed fifteen victories in a row during that period. His confidence is sky high and on a scale of 1 to 10 his overall skill set is an 11. To equal Anderson’s stand up game you would have to take the elusiveness of Muhammad Ali, the jab of Thomas Hearns, the hand speed of Roy Jones Jr., the power of Mike Tyson, and sprinkle in a little bit of everything from Bruce Lee. Who can beat this guy, and how? Without question the fighter that finally breaks The Spider's winning streak is going to have to be a top notch wrestler. Striking with Silva is asking to be knocked out, and trying to submit the champ will likely end up just as bad. Although Silva was wrestling with some injuries in his contest with Chael Sonnen, the recipe to upset the champion was offered up for all to see; take him down, hold him down, and ground and pound. Who are the realistic opponents that might be able to pull of the monumental upset of the UFC middleweight champion? The first candidate is clear. Obviously, the name everyone thinks of when they try to envision Silva exiting the Octagon as the losing fighter is Georges St. Pierre. Not only is GSP the closest match in MMA to Anderson's skill set, but he has tremendous wrestling. GSP would have to keep Silva pinned down for five rounds, use ground and pound techniques, and avoiding submission attempts from Anderson all along. Not an easy task, but if anyone can do it it's probably St. Pierre. Next, you would have to give Chael Sonnen consideration as someone who could defeat the seemingly undefeatable. Sonnen almost etched his name in history at UFC 117 as he was less than 2 minutes away from capturing a decision victory and the UFC middleweight crown, but Anderson being Anderson found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Silva slapped on a triangle armbar and submitted Sonnen. Not only would Sonnen love an opportunity to redeem himself, but he has the all important wrestling aptitude to earn redemption. As GSP is a weight class below Silva, our next candidate is a weight class above Silva. Jon "Bones" Jones is a tremendous wrestler, and has the intangibles to possibly defeat a fighter of The Spider's caliber. Jones' long limbs and unorthodox methods would allow him to keep Silva off balance. If Jones was able to get Anderson to the mat, his vicious elbow strikes and furious all-around ground and pound techniques might be enough to produce a TKO of the middleweight champ. The final realistic choice to have any chance against Anderson Silva is former Greco-Roman Olympian Dan "Hendo" Henderson. As of late, it appears as though Hendo prefers to stand and throw punches but there's no question that his wrestling skills are exceptional. If Henderson could stick to a strategy of wrestling instead of striking, he would have a better than average chance of defeating Silva. To finish, there are a couple additional fighters I would like to mention. The following are long shots to defeat the UFC middleweight champ due to their fighting style but deserve to be noted nonetheless. Inside the UFC Brian Stann and Vitor Belfort would both stand a puncher's chance against Silva. I'm sure Belfort would gladly accept a rematch, and Stann would love the opportunity to test himself. Outside the UFC, Strikeforce's Ronaldo Souza may be one of a short list of guys that would have a chance of submitting Anderson. And finally, Bellator's Hektor Lombard is a well-rounded fighter with vicious stand up. If he could catch Silva on the chin it would be the punch heard 'round the world. There you have it, MMA Quick Hits list of fighters unlikely to be the unbeatable Anderson "The Spider" Silva. Feel free to give us your thoughts via email to info@mmaquickhits.com. Also, follow the links at the top of our homepage http://www.mmaquickhits.com and check us out on Twitter and Facebook. MMA Quick Hits is loading comments...
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