Video playlist: The early fights of UFC champ Anderson Silva

Zombie Prophet has compiled the most comprehensive playlist of UFC Middleweight champ Anderson Silva's pre-UFC fights including bouts from Brazil, Japan and the UK.…

By: Nate Wilcox | 11 years ago
Video playlist: The early fights of UFC champ Anderson Silva
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Zombie Prophet has compiled the most comprehensive playlist of UFC Middleweight champ Anderson Silva’s pre-UFC fights including bouts from Brazil, Japan and the UK.

Subscribe to MMA Nation on YouTube and you’ll get all of the Zombie’s video playlists as soon as he compiles them.

The fights are:

  • Raimundo Pinheiro (first ever pro fight)
  • Luiz Azeredo
  • Jose Barreto
  • Claudionor Fontinelle
  • Tetsuji Kato
  • Israel Albuquerque
  • Hayato Sakurai
  • Roan Carneiro
  • Alex Stiebling
  • Alexander Otsuka
  • Lee Murray
  • Ryo Chonan
  • Jorge Rivera
  • Tony Fryklund
  • Yushin Okami
  • Jeremy Horn
  • Curtis Stout

Here’s some info from Silva’s Wikipedia page:

Early Career
Silva initially fought in his native Brazil in the welterweight category. According to Sherdog.com, Silva made his professional debut in 1997 with a pair of wins.[3] Silva recorded his first loss in 2000 to Luiz Azeredo by decision. After that fight, he went on a nine-fight winning streak, winning six of those fights by either submission or TKO.[3] After winning his first match in Japan he was put up against Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai on August 26, 2001. Silva beat Sakurai by unanimous decision after three rounds and became the new Shooto Middleweight Champion (at 167 lb) and the first man to defeat Sakurai who was undefeated in his first 20 fights.

Cage Rage
Three months later, Silva made his debut in the Cage Rage promotion in England. At Cage Rage 8 Silva fought and defeated noted striker Lee Murray by decision.[3] That year, Silva returned to Pride on December 31 to face Ryo Chonan. Silva was in control with a take down and body triangle in the first round. Chonan was able to counter Silva’s knees from the clinch, with knees, and takedowns. Chonan was perceived by some to be winning up until the finish, as during the third round, Bas Rutten, who was commentating alongside Mauro Ranallo, stated that he believed Anderson must obtain a knockout or strong finish or he would lose the fight. Despite being the underdog, Chonan ended the fight in the third round with a flying scissor heel hook, forcing Silva to submit. After the loss to Chonan he was cut by pride, Silva continued fighting in the Cage Rage promotion, as well as other promotions around the world. Silva defended his Cage Rage title against Curtis Stout.

Although he was slated to fight Matt Lindland at Cage Rage 16, Lindland’s decision to fight Mike Van Arsdale at Raze Fight Night put an end to the highly-anticipated match up. Instead, Silva defended his championship against Tony Fryklund, winning the fight with a reverse elbow, knocking out Fryklund early in the first round.

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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.

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