At UFC 183 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, two of the most popular and famous mixed martial-artists, Nick Diaz and Anderson Silva, will fight in the five round main event. We know that Diaz will show up and be aggressive. The question is, which Anderson Silva will show up?
When Silva fights, he usually has a feeling out process and then becomes aggressive later. Sometimes Silva puts his hands down and toys with his opponents. In a couple of fights he literally danced around, but it cost him in his first fight against Chris Weidman.
In a bout with James Irvin, Silva caught his leg within a minute and blasted him to the ground, literally opening up his face.
In the Chael Sonnen fight, Silva was rather tentative because of a broken rib. His manager Ed Soares said that Silva was planning on submitting Sonnen and he was just waiting for an opening. In the second bout with Sonnen, he took him more seriously and TKO’d him in the second round. His second fight with Chris Weidman involved a more serious attitude to the fight also, but Silva unfortunately broke his leg in that fight.
Silva has a size and reach advantage over Diaz and Silva may use it to taunt Diaz and get in his head. Diaz is the king of taunting others and getting in their heads, so we will see if they play that type of game. Silva’s best bet is to take Diaz out in the earlier rounds. Silva has great conditioning, but it is nowhere near the level of conditioning that Diaz has.
Diaz has been competing in triathlons for years and uses that cardio advantage to keep a high pace with his opponents, land multiple strikes and then continue to attack at that pace until his opponents wilt and crumble. Diaz is very dangerous in the later rounds because of his imposing cardio and pressure. Silva is the obvious favorite in the fight, but Diaz still could possibly win.
The main advantage Silva has is technical superiority in striking. He has shown time and time again that he can KO an opponent or make them wilt with one strike. Silva has possibly the greatest highlight reel of KO’s and submissions in MMA, but Diaz does not have a bad highlight reel himself. It will be a very interesting fight nonetheless. Silva has overcome a serious gruesome leg injury and many are hoping that Silva can get back into championship form, especially since Weidman just got injured and had to pull from the UFC 184 bout. Silva is a spark that can keep pay-per-view numbers high.
We will see what Anderson Silva can deliver at UFC 183.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @LWOSToddP. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
