UFC 237: Namajunas vs. Andrade - Predictions and Picks

#2 Anderson Silva vs. Jared Cannonier

Can Anderson Silva pull out one last big win?

It’s pretty much an undisputed fact that Anderson Silva is the greatest Middleweight of all time, but the question now is whether he’s still at all relevant some 6 years after he lost his title to Chris Weidman.

At 44 years old and with just 1 official win since 2012 – a controversial decision over Derek Brunson at UFC 208 – as well as two PED busts in the last couple of years, it’s probably true that he should’ve hung up his gloves a while back.

But then we’d have said the same prior to his February fight with Israel Adesanya and yet he didn’t look miles away from picking up a win there, and Adesanya is now the UFC Interim champion.

Jared Cannonier is a different proposition entirely, though. Adesanya was always going to be a fascinating style match for Silva as while he essentially represents a modern-day twist on ‘The Spider’ himself, he also seemed to have a crazy amount of respect for the legend.

Cannonier is a far more straightforward power-puncher, but he’s not likely to want to put a show on like Adesanya did and is probably more likely to come out looking to take Silva’s head off.

For me this all comes down to exactly how much Silva has left in the tank. Cannonier looked good in his knockout win over David Branch late last year, but let’s be honest – he’s the kind of slow-footed, heavy-handed power puncher that Silva would’ve eaten alive in his prime. Think someone like Patrick Cote, James Irvin or even Dan Henderson, albeit without the wrestling threat.

The problem for Silva is that while he’s still got the majority of the skills that allowed him to become a UFC legend, the reflexes and speed that helped him utilise those skills are now largely gone, meaning he’s more susceptible to punches than he ever was in his prime, and with his style – which still uses a lot of unorthodox movement and “clowning” – it means he’s highly vulnerable, particularly as his chin isn’t what it once was.

With all that said though, I’m just not convinced Cannonier has enough to take him out. He’s not the striker that Adesanya is, he doesn’t have the sheer grit that Michael Bisping had – as evidenced by his KO loss to Dominick Reyes, which saw him fold under a barrage of punches – and I don’t think he’s as good in the clinch as Brunson is either.

It’s a risky fight for Silva because ‘The Killa Gorilla’ does have knockout power and can probably turn the legend’s lights out if he does land cleanly, but I’m just not comfortable with picking a fighter this unproven at the top level, not when he hasn’t really shown any true flashes of elite-level potential outside of that win over Branch, who’s always had suspect striking defense.

In the end I’m happy to take Silva by unanimous decision – but I hope this will be the last time we see him inside the Octagon as it’d be cool to see him go out with a win.

The Pick: Silva via unanimous decision