Frank Trigg thinks he knows Anderson Silva’s weakness:
“Everyone’s so scared of his length and his reach that they stay way the hell outside. They’re idiots. That makes no sense. You have to be on the inside. You have to be a Mike Tyson-style boxer against him. He’s too elusive to hit in the face. He just has too much movement. You have to work his body. You have to pick him apart. You have to out-point him…. He can’t hurt you when you’re inside because his punching power is from his length and he has to be outside to kick. You have to take Anderson Silva down and hold him down. You almost have to fight him like B.J. Penn fought Sean Sherk: Constant movement, peppering him with quick shots. It’s not difficult to see how to beat Anderson Silva. What’s difficult is putting yourself to the task and understanding that the game plan isn’t going to be perfect, and when something bad happens, overcoming that bad thing. If you don’t think you would win, why the hell are you showing up? Yeah, I think I could win.”
No disrespect to Frank, but I’m confident that if he pursued this strategy with Silva he would end up unconscious very quickly. People don’t stay outside because they are afraid of his length and reach. They stay outside because they are afraid of his clinch. Rich Franklin tried to fight inside in the first fight, and Henderson did too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an MMA fighter that can grab the Thai clinch and deliver a brutal knee as fast as Silva. Rich Franklin got badly overpowered on the inside against Silva, I don’t see any reason to believe Frank Trigg, Patrick Cote, or most anyone else at 185 could do better up close.