Book Review: Anderson Silva’s MMA Instruction Manual

Victory Belt released Anderson Silva's MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting. This is a sequel to his uber-useful The…

By: Nate Wilcox | 12 years ago
Book Review: Anderson Silva’s MMA Instruction Manual
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Victory Belt released Anderson Silva’s MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting. This is a sequel to his uber-useful The Mixed Martial Arts Instruction Manual: Striking which Victory Belt released a couple of years back.  I was grateful to get a free review copy to share with Bloody Elbow readers.

This time Glen Cordoza alone co-writes with Silva as they cover basically everything in his MMA repertoire that is not striking at range. Silva’s approach to ground fighting and take downs are singular and very interesting, but let’s not kid ourselves, it’s the stuff on the Muay Thai clinch that makes this book such a gem.

Silva is famous for his use of the Thai plum aka double collar tie as an offensive mainstay of his arsenal and here he shares his secrets to success with the position. For many fighters the Thai plum is just a way station from which to throw a few knees to the face. For Silva it’s a complete system of moves to break down an opponent’s posture and deliver painful strikes in sequence from less to more and more damaging.

We’ve looked at Silva’s use of the clinch to rob Rich Franklin of the middleweight UFC title and to keep Franklin from taking it back. The book was an invaluable tool for decoding what Silva was doing to make the clinch so effective and to counter Franklin’s attempts to counter the clinch in the second fight. A student who really masters this book will have a big step up on the competition when it comes time for clinch fighting.

The rest of the book is well worth a read and includes a section on working out with a striking coach wearing mitts, a very practical section for those doing real striking training.

The book is colorful, well organized, clearly explained and includes hundreds of color photographs illustrating each technique in detail.

Co-author Glen Cordoza has also done books with Fedor EmelianenkoAntonio Rodrigo NogueiraRandy Couturetwo with B.J. PennKaro ParisyanMarcelo GarciaDave CamarilloCung Le plus two with Eddie Bravo and I’ve enjoyed them all.

Share this story

About the author
Nate Wilcox
Nate Wilcox

Nate Wilcox is the founding editor of BloodyElbow.com. As such he has hired every editor and writer to work for the site. Wilcox’s writing for BE is known for its emphasis on MMA history, the evolution of fighting techniques and strong opinions. Wilcox developed the SBN MMA consensus rankings which were featured in USA Today from 2009 to 2011. Before founding BE, Wilcox was a political operative working for such figures as Senators John Kerry and Mark Warner and an early political blogger. He is the co-author of Netroots Rising, a history of the political blogosphere from 2003 to 2007. Wilcox also hosts the Let It Roll podcast on music history for the Pantheon Podcast Network.

More from the author

Bloody Elbow Podcast
Related Stories