A very long analytical analysis of striking techniques performed by Fedor and Silva

by Avishai Abrahami

Why I made this analysis:

Watching Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko videos, I was becoming increasingly curious about their style, not what they said is their style, but what they actually did.
What sparked my interest was that I was convinced they are not using boxing or kickboxing moves for the most important parts of their fights. It seems there was a big gap between what their "school of martial art" was to what "martial art" they had actually been doing. So I started to investigate.

About the author, Avishai:

I practiced martial arts for 40 years, during which I trained for multiple years in each of the following styles: kickboxing, Muay Thai, Judo, two forms of Karate, Ninjutsu, mainly in AKBAN, Capoeira.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and White Crane Kung Fu are the exceptions; I only practiced each for a total of almost a year.

The rules I used for creating this analysis

So I took all their videos of their fights that I could find.
I cut short video clips of all their movements.
I sorted the new videos by technique.

  1. I only included and analyzed videos of striking, as I don't have the skills to analyze grappling.
  2. I only included videos of the fights where both fighters were in their prime (before their late 30's, as it seems no matter how good you are, old age always wins).
  3. I did not include videos of strikes where the opponent could hardly function anymore, These are not included. This is mostly important for Silva, who, once the opponent was slowed by knockouts, moved to a very different style and started to play with his opponent instead of finishing the fights, and for Fedor, who just keeps hitting stunned opponents until they drop.
  4. Some single move strikes are not included. It is a very small number, and I don't think they matter.
  5. At the end of the videos are a few strikes that I could not assign to techniques and clips I just kept.

The resulting videos are linked and embedded in each section link to video (recommended to watch in slow motion, and feel free to download).
The videos include 100% of all the strikes done in all fights by both fighters and almost all their defensive moves.

* Ok, so probably not 100%; I did try, but I am sure I missed a few strikes and defensive moves.