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Anderson “The Spider” Silva
(born April 14, 1975) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and mixed martial artist. Since October 14, 2006 he has been the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion.
He has also competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, Shooto, and Rumble on the Rock.

Once a member of Chute Boxe Academy, he left to form the Muay Thai Dream Team. In late November 2006, he joined a new team called Black House with Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Assuerio Silva, and the Nogueira brothers. On May 16, 2008, Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira opened the Team Nogueira MMA Academy in Miami, Florida.
MMA Weekly,MMALinker, Sherdog and Nokaut currently rank Anderson Silva as the number one middleweight in the world, Silva as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Silva has announced his intentions to retire by mid 2009, as soon as his current contract with the UFC is complete.

Biography

Although known primarily for his skills in Muay Thai, Silva is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he earned in 2006 from Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Early mixed martial arts
Silva initially fought in the Mecca organization in Brazil. Silva lost his first fight 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. After winning his first match in Japan he was put up against Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai. Silva beat Sakurai in a 3 round unanimous decision, and became the new Shooto middleweight (167 lb) champion on August 26, 2001 in Japan and the 1st man to beat Sakurai who was undefeated in his first 25 fights.
PRIDE Fighting Championships and Cage Rage In 2002, Silva began fighting in PRIDE.
In his first fight with the promotion, he stopped Alex Steibling with a cut resulting from a high kick. In his next match, he won via decision against the “Diet Butcher” Alexander Otsuka. At PRIDE 25, Silva faced former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton. Newton tried to shoot in on Silva, but was hit with a flying knee. Newton collapsed and Silva finished the fight with strikes, winning by technical knockout.
At PRIDE 26, Silva faced Daiju Takase. Considering his record at the time with only four wins to seven losses Takase was a strong underdog. Surprisingly, Takase submitted Silva with a triangle choke late in the first round.
After his loss to Takase, Silva fought in other promotions around the world. On June 27, 2004, Silva fought Jeremy Horn and earned a decision victory. 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.
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. 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, 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 before fighting in Hawaii’s Rumble on the Rock promotion, where he fought Yushin Okami in the first round of the 175 lb tournament. Although he was labeled as the favorite to win the tournament, Silva lost his fight when he kicked Okami in the face from the guard position. Okami’s knees were on the ground at the time, making the attack an illegal strike to the head of a downed opponent.
Silva was disqualified, and remains bitter about the incident. “I feel it was a cheap, cowardly way of winning.
Silva went further and said that “People that were there saw that he was in the condition to come back and keep fighting, and he didn’t.
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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