Background check: Anderson 'The Spider' Silva

Anderson Silva was born April 14th 1975 in Curitiba Brazil. He is 6ft 2in tall and weighs in at 185lbs with a reach of 77.6 inches. He holds a black belt in BJJ, Tae Kwan Doe, Judo and a yellow rope in Capoeira. Anderson's MMA debut was against Luiz Azeredo in 2000 at Vale Tudo 1. Anderson lost the fight by decision but has since built up a record of 25-4 (15ko, 4sub).

Following his debut Anderson went on to win 9 fights in a row, one of which was against Carlos Newton in Pride Silva won by KO, before Daiju Takase submitted him via rear naked choke in 2003. In 2004 Silva won the Cage Rage middleweight title and defended it 3 times by knocking out Jorge Rivera, Curtis Stout and Tony Fryklund (with a savage standing elbow strike).

Since 2006 Silva has been fighting in the UFC. He has beaten Chris Leben by KO, Rich Frankln by KO twice, Nate Marquardt by TKO, James Irvin by KO and Dan Henderson by submission just t o name a few. His first fight against Franklin was for the UFC middleweight title which Silva has defended it five times as well as unifying the Pride middleweight belt.

Silva's latest fight at UFC 101 was against Forrest Griffin. Silva dispatched Griffin in a fantastic display of striking skill, scoring the knockout in round 1. Silva's next fight is against Demian Maia at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi this April. Silva is among the best pound for pound fighters on the planet at the moment, a spot he has truly earned, and I hope to see much more in the years to come.