Well, as I’m sure you know by now, Anderson Silva retained his middleweight title when a referee stopped his fight against Nate Marquardt at UFC #73 with just 10 seconds remaining in the first round of their five-round title fight. This didn’t surprise me, as Silva has the potential to hold onto the title for quite some time. How long can Silva reign as champion? Well, this has yet to be determined, and it will be determined by none other than Silva himself and whether or not he can resist the many temptations that seem to plague most, if not all, fighters once they win their respective titles. This is, of course, with a few notable exceptions.

What will follow is a detailed professional analysis of the fight from start to finish, concluding with some final thoughts on both fighters. Please note that these are my views from my own perspective of the events that occurred. They are in no way intended to spew any kind of thoughts, words, etc. negative or derogatory. on any of the wrestlers involved. I have great respect for anyone, and I mean anyone, who gets on the mat. So, with more ado, let’s get started.

THE FIGHT:

The first and only comparison that this particular fight brought to mind was the deadly dance performed between a mongoose (Marquardt) and a cobra (Silva) as the mongoose tries to outmaneuver its deadliest adversary. Now in the wild, the mongoose will be able to defeat the venomous cobra more often than not through a series of evasive maneuvers followed by vicious counterattacks that will eventually wear down the cobra to the point where the mongoose can deliver its lethal bite. final.

This comparison was evident from the start of the fight when Marquardt began the fight by delivering a series of lazy kick like punches that seemed to be aimed at Silva’s visibly confident and relaxed right hand. Marquardt was obviously using his left hand as a probing attack to see what kind of reaction he would get from Silva. When Silva did not react to the left hand, Marquardt took advantage of this to deliver a left leg roundhouse kick to the outside of Silva’s right leg, which was in the lead position as Silva was fighting from a southpaw stance. Marquardt continued this strategy and after some more ineffective left hands, he landed another left leg spin kick to the outside of Silva’s right thigh. Although this kick was less effective than the first one that Marquardt landed.

Meanwhile, Silva seemed content to patiently wait for an opportunity to launch an effective counterattack, which he did as Marquardt was quick to unleash a series of left and right hands. Silva responded by briefly grabbing Marquardt by the neck in a typical Muay Thai clinch and then releasing him to deliver a short, straight right hand to the head that sent Marquardt backing around the ring. Silva followed Marquardt around the ring and made a colorful, but ineffective attempt to land a double jump knee strike to Marquardt’s head with his left knee.

Marquardt did well defensively here by avoiding the knee strike and then grabbing Silva’s left leg and holding it as he tried to lower Silva to the ground, which he eventually succeeded after a valiant attempt by Silva to keep his upright position.

Marquardt held top position throughout the running game, though he wasn’t very effective at this top position other than holding top position. Silva, on the other hand, was able to land several elbows and punches to Marquardt’s ribcage and even a couple of ineffective punches to the head from bottom position. At one point during the initial exchange of ground, Silva was able to temporarily push Marquardt off of him before Marquardt once again regained top position. Marquardt was even able to get to his feet and tried to land a few punches over Silva’s head. Punches were ineffective at best, though Marquardt was able to once again regain top position after avoiding Silva’s “bicycle pedal” kick defense in an attempt to keep him at bay.

After a few moments of ineffective ground tactics, referee “Big John” McCarthy stopped the action and had both fighters restart in a standing position. Marquardt repeated his strategy that he implemented earlier in the round by once again throwing a lazy jab that seemed to be aimed more at Silva’s lead right hand than his head or body. Marquardt managed to throw a single right hand followed by more lazy left hands.

Silva, on the other hand, seemed very calm as he patiently waited for an opportunity to appear on Marquardt’s defense. Silva tested Marquardt’s defenses with a roundhouse kick to the head with his left leg, which was easily blocked by Marquardt’s right arm. This kick, however, gave Silva an opening that he capitalized on with a straight left hand that dropped Marquardt but didn’t take him out. Marquardt, lying on the ground on his knees and forearms, wrapped both arms around Silva’s left leg in an attempt to counter Silva’s attack and give him some time to recover from the blow and gain an advantage over Silva. Meanwhile, Silva landed several elbows to the head and a couple of punches to the ribcage.

Marquardt, in an attempt to tackle Silva to the ground, rose to his feet while holding onto Silva’s left leg and tried to tackle Silva to the ground. Silva in an impressive display of slipperiness, reversed into Marquardt and grabbed Marquardt’s left leg and brought him to the ground where Silva proceeded to land a right-handed hammerfist followed by a right-handed punch particularly well. placed which resulted in referee “Big John” McCarthy stopping the fight with just 10 seconds left in the first round. Thus, Silva retained his middleweight title in his first title defense since he won the title from Rich Franklin.

THE REFEREE’S STOP:

Now, there was basically only one contributing factor that was directly responsible for the referee’s stoppage of this fight, and that was Silva’s very effective right hand to the head of the downed Marquardt. However, there were some additional contributing factors that occurred just prior to the referee’s stoppage. I have broken down those factors by fighter and they are as follows:

Marquardt:

If you watched the fight closely, Marquardt seemed to be “grabbing” Silva’s left leg after the left hand that dropped him, rather than initiating any sort of counter. Now this could have been and probably was done in an attempt to clear his head after the hit, and in that sense it would have been effective. However, this inactivity on Marquardt’s part allowed Silva the opportunity to land numerous elbows to the head and punches to the ribs, adding to the effects of the earlier left hand to the head. This, in my opinion, had a very devastating effect on Marquardt’s ability to take Silva down when he got to his feet just before the end of the fight.

Silva:

The ease with which he slipped out of Marquardt’s grasp and turned him around by grabbing Marquardt’s left leg and pulling off an impressive takedown followed by several blows to the head, including the very effective right hand that caused the referee to stop the fight . Silva’s totally laid back and controlled manner made this fight seem like little more than a glorified sparring session to him, which is exactly how this fight should have appeared.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Here are my thoughts on how each fighter could improve their respective skills regarding this particular fight.

Marquardt:

1. If a particular strategy works, keep using it! Your lead leg roundhouse kick to the outside thigh after the lazy “kick” jab was landing, but you gave it up after two times. Both landed effectively, though the first kick seemed to land with much more authority than the second kick.

2. What about the lazy “kicking” jab? I have seen this same technique executed in a point style tournament type setup with some success, but have never seen it used in a full contact type setup. I’m not sure what you were trying to achieve with it, but it didn’t seem to have any noticeable effect. If Silva had thrown a straight left or a counter right to the head while you were throwing, he would have landed and landed hard.

3. You did a fantastic job grabbing the leg after the failed headshot attempt, now you just need to learn how to maximize the effectiveness of that to put your opponent at a greater disadvantage. The suggested; he learns to sweep the supporting leg while holding the other leg in the air.

Silva:

His strategy and technique for this particular fight was near perfect. However, here are a couple of things I noticed.

1. Your patience and laid back attitude in the ring is a very powerful asset. However, you should be a little more aggressive when you see an obvious opening, like the lazy “kick” jab. You could have easily landed a straight left to the head and/or a counter right hook to the head. An overhand right would also have been available and that’s without taking into account the numerous takedowns you could have used.

2. The knee to head double jump attempt was colorful and if it had landed it would have been very impressive. However, it’s best to save techniques like these for after your opponent is visibly stunned by a previous technique and is ready to go down anyway. If he insisted on using this particular technique, it should have been for the body.

3. It would have been much better if he had followed up with a straight right hand with more head shots followed by a Muay Thai clinch and knees to the body.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Unfortunately for Marquardt, he’s not as decisive as a mongoose and didn’t really present much of a problem for Silva. Silva, on the other hand, did a great job imitating a poisonous cobra with his patience, elusiveness, and ultimately his poisonous bite. Personally, I think Silva should reconsider his nickname and change it to “The Cobra” or even “The Black Cobra” which I think would be a more appropriate nickname for him to be tagged instead of “The Spider”. But that’s just my opinion.