The Spider Dilemma

Vitor Belofort made his long awaited return to the UFC against the dangerous Rich "Ace" Franklin at UFC 103. Vitor was able to take Franklin out in the first round with some devastating punches bringing back the Vitor of old. Vitor was out of the UFC for a long time fighting in in other organizations and trying out a boxing career. Now that Vitor is back and ready for a fight, MMA fans are excited. It has been announced that Vitor will challenge Anderson Silva for the UFC middle weight championship. I'm very interested in this fight. I have been watching a lot of Vitor's fights. He has very fast hands, and power in both of them. Here is my concern for Vitor: When he swings, the punches come from wide angles and he uses hooks. He does stay tight inside though. I watched a video of him in a boxing match and his jab seems to not have the power of his hooks. With this being said I think that Anderson Silva has seen this style so many times and trains to counter this style. Everybody wants to see Silva go up against someone with power to see if they can knock him out. My opinion is that it is going to take more than power to take him out. Everybody also wants to see someone take Silva down and pound him out. Those that have tried that, normally end up in a submission and gets tapped out. There are many strategies that people use to fight the Spider but there has yet to be one. Now we have Vitor Belfort looking to dethrone the Middle Weight King. Anderson Silva is going to have a Little height and reach advantage. The reach advantage I believe is the key to victory for Silva. When you watch him fight, he tries to keep his opponent within arms length. Then he sets up a viscous knee to the body and sets up the clinch. Opponents swing across the top of his arms hoping to catch him, but Silva just moves out of the way. If Silva gets Belfort in the clinch he needs to be weary of a powerful over hand right from Belfort, that can knock you out even if it barely hits you. Whats interesting is that if you watch Loyoto Machida he also does this same thing. This fight between Silva and Belfort is going to be an interesting. Is Belfort going to be the spoiler of Silva's legacy or will Silva just wait to strike and end Belfort's attempt at the title. We shall see.