Nickname: The Spider

Anderson "The Spider" Silva (born April 14, 1975), is a Brazilian Muay Thai champion, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and mixed martial artist. Since October 14, 2006 he has been the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion.[2] He has also competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, Shooto, and Rumble on the Rock. He holds notable wins over Rich Franklin (twice), Hayato Sakurai, Nathan Marquardt, Carlos Newton, Chris Leben, Travis Lutter, Jeremy Horn and Dan Henderson.

Once a member of Chute Boxe Academy, he left to form the Muay Thai Dream Team. In late November 2006, he joined a new team called Black House with Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Assuerio Silva, and the Nogueira brothers.[3] On May 16, 2008, Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira opened the Nogueira and Silva Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Miami, Florida.[4][5]

MMAWeekly, Sherdog and Nokaut currently rank Anderson Silva as the number one middleweight in the world, [6][7][8] while both Sherdog and Yahoo! Sports rank Silva as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.[9][10]

Silva will coach alongside Lyoto Machida for Team Nogueira in The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.[11]

He is expected to fight in a light heavyweight bout against James Irvin at UFC Fight Night 14 on July 19, 2008.[12]

Biography

Although known primarily for his skills in Muay Thai, Silva is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he earned in 2006 from Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.[13]

Early mixed martial arts

Silva initially fought in the Mecca organization in Brazil. Silva lost his first fight to Luiz Azeredo by decision. After that fight, he went on a nine-fight winning streak, winning six of those fights by either submission or TKO. After winning his first match in Japan he was put up against Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai. Silva was the first person to ever beat Sakurai, and became the new Shooto middleweight (167 lb) champion in 2001.

PRIDE Fighting Championships and Cage Rage

In 2002, Silva began fighting in PRIDE. In his first fight with the promotion, he stopped Alex Steibling with a cut resulting from a high kick. In his next match, he won via decision against the "Diet Butcher" Alexander Otsuka. At PRIDE 25, Silva faced former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton. Newton tried to shoot in on Silva, but was hit with a flying knee. Newton collapsed and Silva finished the fight with strikes, winning by technical knockout.

At PRIDE 26, Silva faced Daiju Takase. Considering his record at the time – with only four wins to seven losses – most predicted that Takase would not win. Surprisingly, Takase submitted Silva with a triangle choke late in the first round.

After his loss to Takase, Silva fought in other promotions around the world. On June 27, 2004, Silva fought Jeremy Horn and earned a decision victory. Three months later, Silva made his debut in the Cage Rage promotion in England. At Cage Rage 8 Silva fought and defeated noted striker Lee Murray by decision.

That year, Silva returned to PRIDE on December 31 to face Ryo Chonan. Silva was in control with a take down and body triangle in the first round. Chonan was able to counter Silva's knees from the clinch, with knees, and takedowns. Despite being the underdog, Chonan ended the fight in the third round with a flying scissor heel hook, forcing Silva to submit.

After the loss to Chonan, Silva continued fighting in the Cage Rage promotion, as well as other promotions around the world. Silva defended his Cage Rage title against Curtis Stout before fighting in Hawaii's Rumble on the Rock promotion, where he fought Yushin Okami in the first round of the 175 lb tournament. Although he was labeled as the favorite to win the tournament, Silva lost his fight when he kicked Okami in the face from the guard position. Okami's knees were on the ground at the time, making the attack an illegal strike to the head of a downed opponent. Silva was disqualified, and returned to Cage Rage once again.

Although he was slated to fight Matt Lindland at Cage Rage 16, Lindland's decision to fight Mike Van Arsdale at Raze Fight Night put an end to the highly-anticipated match up. Instead, Silva defended his championship against Tony Fryklund, winning the fight with a reverse elbow, knocking out Fryklund early in the first round.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Although speculation ran rampant about where Silva would sign next, the UFC announced in late April 2006 that they had signed him to a multi-fight contract, one of these fights believed to be for the middleweight title. It was not long before the UFC started promoting Silva, releasing an interview segment almost immediately after announcing his arrival.[14]

Silva made his anticipated debut at Ultimate Fight Night 5 on June 28, 2006. His opponent was Chris Leben, a contestant from The Ultimate Fighter 1 reality show who had since gone undefeated in the UFC with five consecutive victories. A relatively unknown fighter in the United States, Silva made an emphatic debut when he knocked out Leben with a flurry of strikes, followed by a final knee strike at 49 seconds into the first round. In response to the victory, the UFC quickly tallied a poll on their main page, asking viewers to select Silva's next opponent; the majority of voters selected UFC middleweight champion, Rich Franklin.

Although it is unknown whether the UFC voters had any bearing on the situation, Silva was given his chance at the title at UFC 64 on October 14, 2006.[15] Silva defeated Franklin by TKO (strikes) at 2:59 in the first round. Silva hit Franklin with knees to the body in the Muay Thai-clinch, then broke Franklin's nose with a knee to the face. Unable to strike back, Franklin dodged the last of Silva's strikes before falling to the ground, where referee "Big" John McCarthy ended the fight. Silva was then crowned the new UFC middleweight champion. Anderson Silva joined Black House-teammate Lyoto Machida as the only men to have beaten Franklin.

On February 3, 2007, Silva defeated The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner Travis Lutter by submission in the second round via triangle choke at UFC 67. What was to be Silva's first title defense since defeating Franklin in October 2006 was quickly changed to a non-title bout following Lutter's unsuccessful attempt to make the 185 pound weight limit for the title contest. [16]

Silva successfully defended his title against Nate Marquardt on July 7, 2007 in Sacramento, California on the UFC 73 card, winning by TKO at 4:50 in the first round.

On October 20, 2007 at UFC 77, Silva defeated Franklin in a rematch by TKO in the 2nd round. The fight was in Franklin's home town of Cincinnati, Ohio and took place at the U.S. Bank Arena[17]

Silva defended his UFC Middleweight Championship against Pride FC Welterweight champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on March 1, 2008 in a title unification bout, winning by submission via rear naked choke in the second round.

Silva is undefeated in the UFC, having won all of his fights in two rounds or less.

Silva will be making his Light Heavyweight debut against James Irvin on July 19, 2008 at UFC: Silva vs. Irvin.

Roy Jones Jr.

Following his win over Dan Henderson, Silva expressed great interest in fighting Roy Jones, Jr. in a boxing match. In an interview with MMA Weekly, Anderson Silva's manager stated that "Anderson would love to fight Roy Jones in a boxing match under boxing rules to prove that MMA fighters are technical, too.":[18] UFC president, Dana White, later expressed that he would use his veto power to stop such a match from taking place. [19] Although since joining the UFC Silva has fought at middleweight, he will be fighting at 205 against 'James " The Sandman" Irvin at UFC Fight Night which will be aired on July 19, 2008 at 6pm(pt) or 9pm(et)

Championships

Current UFC Middleweight Champion Current Cage Rage Middleweight Champion Shooto Middleweight Championship in 2001