August 2010. Anderson Silva faced Chael Sonnen for the UFC middleweight belt. The fight was going well, but the Spider couldn’t pull off his much-desired knockout on his rival. On the ground, Sonnen punished Anderson and was dangerous. The solution? Hip motion and a triangle, finishing on the arm.
The former champ and many times UFC record holder know well that BJJ can save you, and he uses that powerful weapon when things get messy in the cage. So he did also versus Dan Henderson in 2008. But could we someday see him fight straight-up competitive BJJ?
World-class black-belt André Galvão bets on it. In a recent seminar at Atos, his gym in the U.S., Anderson shared some of his knowledge and also talked about BJJ. André, who once trained Anderson and knows his ground game well, was incisive:
“He really likes BJJ. His dream is to one day fight in a world championship. He always mentions it, but his coaches always advise him not to. He has a very different kind of BJJ, even due to his body type. He can use his body very well. Whenever he can, he accompanies me to championships,” says Galvão.