The Tap Podcast

Fighter Focus: Anderson Silva

The Tap #56 Fighter Focus: Anderson Silva Impoverished communities tend to produce some of the most resilient human beings.  Theres something about a tough upbringing in harsh conditions that makes people work harder, push their limits and try to prove the world wrong.   Boxers like Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquio came from places of economic struggle where future prospects were bleak at best.   It was dismal conditions like these that gave rise to possibly the greatest P4P MMA fighter on earth. The spider!   Andersons early career:  Watch here Andersons UFC Career:  Watch here Show Notes: Anderson Silva was the second child of four born into a poverty stricken family in Sao Palo Brazil.  It was this hardship that drove his parents to send him and his older brother to live with his aunt and uncle in Curitiba when he was just four years old.  His aunt and uncle found themselves supporting 5 children in total on a police officers meagre salary.   Times were tough all around but growing up in a rough area its essential to learn your was around a scrap early and while martial arts was more of an elite activity in Brazil, Anderson wasted no time in figuring out how to learn it. He began watching the not so poor neighbour kids practicing jiu jitsu and eventually started practicing with them.  While it wasn’t official or organized it was better than nothing.   Silva clearly had a talent for the fighting arts early on and this added to the petrie dish in which great champions are born.  All he needed now was opportunity.   This came in the way of his family scraping together enough money to send him to TKD lessons at the age of 12.  He bounced between there and capoeira before finding his passion in Muay Thai when he was 16. During the next five years he supported his training with some less glamours regular jobs.  He found himself working at McDonalds and as a file clerk, which is a common trend among great people who crawl their way out of less fortunate circumstances.  People who are successful will usually do whatever it takes to make their dream work or support their passion. Anderson made his professional debut in June of 1997 and while he claims he lost his first bout to Fabricio Marango, it was never recorded.  He then chalked up a pair of wins in the brutal world of professional Vale Tudo in Brazil. He recorded his first loss to Luiz Azeredo in 2000 but proceeded to go on a 9 fight win streak between 2000 and 2003 with wins both in Brazil as well as Japan.  He competed in Shooto, winning the middleweight title as well as Japan’s premier MMA show PRIDE Fighting Championship. During his early career he was training with the Chute Box Academy which was home to some of Brazils best and most feared martial artists. Impressed with his raw talent, they continued to showcase his skills all over the world until a pay dispute caused a Silva to leave under bitter circumstances.  This affected his career as chute box had a lot of pull in the MMA world and the asked pride to not offer Anderson any more fights.   It wasn't all bad though, while he was training there he had honed his skills and developed a solid ground game as well as fame in the world of martial arts with many recognizing him as one of the most feared strikers in the game. As always, when one door closes another opens and the open door came from Antonio Nogueira otherwise known as Big Nog. Antonio trained Silva and improved his ground game immensely, awarding him his BJJ black belt in 2005.  He also used his status in the martial arts world to undo the career damage that chute box did and got Anderson back on the radar of the major promotions. After jumping around some other promotions, Silva finally made his UFC debut in 2006 with a stunning knockout of Chris Leben which stated a win streak spanning 16 fights, 1 championship belt, 10 title defences, two weight divisions over 7 years! This reign, in what was at the time the biggest MMA promotion on earth saw Silva fight the best in the world and win in spectacular fashion almost every time.  His style became a thing of legend with his hands down, evasive stance and pin point striking accuracy.  He was so good that he was even able to taunt his opponents during his fights which drew a lot of controversy and dislike from some MMA fans but its important to remember that martial arts is more than just physical.  As Most seasoned competitors can tell you its equally psychological.   This is one of the main reasons for this style of taunting, its psychological warfare.  Getting in your opponents head can put them off their game.  Most people think of McGregor when it comes to smack talk and taunting but before Conor... There was Anderson. This taunting eventually led to the end of his title reign when Chris Weidman managed to catch him on the chin during one of his taunts knocking him out and during their rematch Silva suffered a grizzly leg break that left him out of action for over a year.   By the time he made his return he had crossed that 40 year old threshold that usually spells the end for most fighters careers.  Heck 35 usually spells the end for most fighters but none the less he fought on for six more fights, winning two of those but after a recent knee injury during his bout with Jared Cannonier, it looks as though its time for silva to focus less on fighting and more on sharing his knowledge and grooming the next generation of athlete for the world stage.   Silva embodies what it is to be a true mixed martial artist.  He took the elements that worked for him from Muay Thai, TKD, Boxing, BJJ & Wing Chun just to name a few and created his own fighting style that took him on a 22 year long professional career that has left him with a legacy of being one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.

Enter The Dragon

THE TAP 55 ENTER THE DRAGON   On todays show we discuss the epic event that was ONE Championships:  ENTER THE DRAGON. Naming a martial arts event an iconic name like ETD creates some very big shoes to fill.  Bruce Lee fans across the globe were taken back to the first time the watched his epic film about Han’s secret island tournament where the best martial artists from around the world tested their skills against each other.  One Championship had a very similar theme with their event... minus the evil crime boss king pin at the center of it.   With almost every fighter on the main card holding multiple championship accolades in multiple disciplines over multiple organizations, it truly was a meeting of some of the best martial artists on earth.   Sage Vs Cosmo:  Watch Here Nieky Holzken Vs Regian Holzken:  Watch Here Christian Lee Vs Shinya Aoki:  Watch Here Full Card:  Watch Here SHOW NOTES:     First of which is the one that made headlines around the world and that is the one strike fight that ended the UFC’s former star Sage Northcutt’s Debut.   Now accepting a fight against a ferocious striker and multiple time Muay Thai champion like Cosmo Alexandre is a brave decision.  Its about as “trial by fire” for the international martial arts stage as it could possibly get.     Now I certainly don’t doubt Sage’s skills to win that fight but its a lot of pressure for a 23 year old.  Not just for the physicality of the fight itself but there was a lot of unspoken pressure due to the fact that he was a star coming across from the UFC.  Despite the modernization of mixed martial arts, there are some folks who still believe that the UFC holds the most superior roster of fighters on earth.  The truth is that any fighting organization only has the resources to showcase a small sliver of the amazingly talented athletes out there and the best can come from ANYWHERE!     Anyway, back to the fight.     Unfortunately he couldn't establish his wide base, Karate style distance control early enough, got backed up to the ropes and after only 29 seconds caught a power right hand from Cosmo that fractured his orbital in 8 places and left him face down on the canvas.  Thus leaving the American star with a disappointing debut and shattering the dream of hardcore UFC fans from across the pond.  ;D   Its a sobering reminder of how much power a trained martial artist wields and how fragile our bodies can be in certain situations but the good news is Sage is recovering well and should be back training again in no time.  We hope to see him back on the ONE roster very soon.   Lets change gears to the super series kickboxing tournament in which the million dollar prize attracted some of the best Muay Thai practitioners that Thailand has to offer.   We usually think of Thai fighters as these tough as nails, almost invincible punishment machines.  But this event saw two Thai legends out struck by younger foreign opponents.     Kickboxing takes away two vital weapons of the Muay Thai artist, the clinch and the elbow, (now it should be said that you are allowed to clinch in kickboxing but not in the same manner as Muay Thai, we will cover those differences in a later show) Had these been Muay Thai bouts things may have gone down a different road, but there was one Thai fighter that secured his spot in the featherweight semi finals by beating the Italian kickboxing ace Giorgio Petrosyan.     Petchmorakot is a 200 fight veteran and has multiple Muay Thai titles to his name but fighting Petrosyan in the world of kickboxing is a tall order for anyone.  Giorgio is known for his absolute control and surgical precision (hence the nickname “the doctor”) which he displayed all through the first round, but the second and third saw Petchmorakot drag Giorgio into his world of scrappy chaotic striking.  Using his long limbs to land strikes then tying him up in a brief clinch to avoid counters.  A solid flurry in the last minute of the fight gave him enough to edge the win on the judges score cards.  Not the most exciting way to do it but it certainly nullified the dangers of Giorgio’s game.   Theres an important lesson there that you don't want to be dragged into someone else's game, it puts you off your own and its always going to look better for your opponent to the judges.   Staying with the kickboxing.   Neiky Holzken and Regian Eersel traded heavy leather in an all dutch affair for the Lightweight Kickboxing World Title.   Eersel outworked Holzken for a UD win and had some spectacular moments with his flying knees.  His work rate was high and consistent through the whole fight and range proved to be an enormous advantage, landing shots and forcing Holzken to overcommit and expel a great deal of energy chasing his target.  Holzken had his moments though with some nice uppercuts, back kicks and a picture perfect spinning heel kick but as the rounds wore on he visually slowed and as a result we have a new Champion in Regian Eersel.     (Ad space)     Jumping back to MMA .   Earlier on the card Singaporean Amir Khan suffered another painful loss by way of KO at the hands of Arslanaliev.  Amir got phased by a tight hook while on the ropes which left his chin high for a savage uppercut KO.  This puts him on a 3 fight skid which is disappointing, he is a phenomenal striker but just hasn't been able to put it together in the last couple of fights.  Its one of those cases where a fighter just doesn't seem himself, he’s not the Amir that we are used to seeing.  But he is only 24 and has a bright future in the sport.   Arslanaliev literally punched his ticket to the finals of the ONE MMA lightweight tournament.   Speaking of lightweights, the winner of the tournament will face the new champion in Christian Lee.   Christian is a 20 year old phenom from Singapore and is now the youngest ever MMA world champion.  This sounds groundbreaking but when you look at his history, its almost expected.     He has been training since he was a child, holds two black belts and won six world titles from BJJ, pankration, mma and submission grappling.  His parents are both accomplished martial artists and his father is his head coach so martial arts IS the family business.  His sister Angela is also the ONE atomweight champion, capturing that title back in 2016.  When you consider all this along with his absolute focus toward martial arts, it really was only a matter of time.   His opponent Shinya Aoki is a 36 year old veteran of the sport holding over a dozen titles himself and is a submission ace.  Shinya recently beat Eduard Folyang to regain the title and immediately asked to fight his teammate and friend Christian.  He felt he wanted to fight the hungriest young lion in the sport and he knew it had to be mr Lee.   The first round was exciting with Shinya dominating the ground and even sinking in a DEEP armbar that looked like it was going to end the fight but Christian managed to slip out and finish the round.     The second frame started well for both men but then Christian threw an right left left combination that sent Aoki wilting to the mat in the corner of the ring.  Lee immediately followed it up with a scooping right hook that had Aoki clearly stunned.   Now in my personal opinion this fight could have gone on for another few seconds at least.  Aoki was rocked but he is a veteran and there may have been an opportunity to pull guard or work his way out of there.     But when we put the shoe on the other foot and look at things from the referee’s stand point, he saw Aoki go down, Christian swarming in with big shots and Aoki not getting back up.  It was also in the corner of the ring which makes it difficult to see if Aoki was intelligently protecting himself.  A fighters safety is always priority #1 and the Mr Coste clearly made the right decision from where he was standing.   Refs have an incredibly tough job and no one but them can fully understand the stoppages and the reasoning behind them.   So Christian Lee made history and was crowned the ONE lightweight MMA champ and Aoki almost seemed very happy about it!  I think when you get to a certain stage in your career, especially a career as decorated as his, you are looking for someone worthy to pass that championship legacy on to.  Aoki found it that night in his friend and team mate Christian Lee.   Its all quite poetic really,  Enter the dragon, an epic martial arts tournament in Asia.  Our hero Mr Lee vanquishing his veteran foe after overcoming adversity in an epic battle of the main event.     I think it truly did the name justice.   What do you think?

Lima Vs MVP

We have all sparred that guy who is super hard to read, but when you finally catch him it feels so satisfying!  Thats how Douglas Lima felt last Saturday night when he won the semi final of the Bellator welterweight GP. Catch the replay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob9vcaAlnxk&t=633s

The Tap Podcast #53

On todays show I recap the main event from ONE Championships "Reign of Valor" between the undisputed welterweight champ Zebaztian Kadestam and the challenger Georgiy Kichigin. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thetap Youtube:  https://youtu.be/ZGgzt57vRSY

The Tap Podcast #52 - Passing the torch

On todays show I talk Spider Vs Stylebender and how the torch has been passed between two of the most phenomenal and artistic strikers in the game.  I also discuss the spinning back kick and how it is being applied in MMA to finish fights.   To support the show head over to: https://www.patreon.com/thetap and donate OR https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tap-podcast/id1449430464?mt=2 Leave a review and a rating.