Ryo Chonan vs. Anderson Silva
This is a great fight and has one of the most amazing submissions you will ever see in MMA. The name of the submission says it all: “Flying Scissor Heel Hook”. You can’t get much crazier than that to even try such a move in a real fight. Especially in a Pride fight where your face can get stomped on if you fail. It is even more remarkable because the loser of this fight went on to become a long term champion in UFC.
The fighters were around 185lbs for this fight, so the fight will still be entertaining. (Don’t get me started about little guys and now women fighting in MMA…)
Intro:
Ryo Chonan is Japanese and had a 6-3 record in smaller MMA promotions before being invited to Pride. This was his 3rd Pride fight where he went 1-1 in the first two. His nickname is Piranha and he kind of looks like it. Chonan was by no means considered a superstar fighter. For the most part, he was an unknown coming into this fight.
Anderson Silva is from Brazil and earned his invitation to Pride after going 8-1 in Brazilian Vale Tudo, (the most hardcore MMA “rules” out there, if you do well in Vale Tudo, then you are a bad man). Being from Curitiba Brazil, he got involved with the famed Chute Box academy which already had Wanderlei Silva and Ninja Rua competing in Pride. So Anderson had access to excellent training partners and arguably the best MMA academy in the world at that time. This training made him well prepared. In his first Pride fight he shattered Alex Steibling’s eyebrow with one kick and got a flying knee KO in his third fight. He had established his reputation as a feared striker and was 4-1 in Pride coming into this fight. Contrary to some myths Anderson did not have a broken (or recently healed) ankle coming into this fight.
Staredown:
The opening staredown is serious. Both fighters look right at each other. It’s not intense, but it’s clear both men are ready for war. They do shake hands before going back to their corner to show respect though. Anderson crosses himself before the bell rings.
The Fight:
The fight begins and they circle for some time. Chonan has a strange stance with his lead hand down at his waist. Anderson has a distinct height and reach advantage.
Anderson throws a quick high kick that gets blocked. Chonan gets the first clean hit with an overhand right. Anderson is mad now, and launches a flurry. Two punches land but Chonan somehow blocks a big left high kick. Chonan gets tagged a couple more times before getting thrown to the mat, giving Anderson his back.
The fight might end here; Chonan looks a little rocked. Look how Anderson has his legs locked around Chonan’s stomach, its good technique and makes it hard for the other guy to escape or breathe.
Anderson is not really going off and causing any damage from that good position though. It is really hard for anyone to get out of a leg lock like that.
Chonan is doing a good job defending against a choke but is taking a lot of small punches to the head. Anderson eases on his leg lock for a moment and Chonan spins around quickly and gets in the guard of Silva. Nice reverse.
Chonan lands some good punches while on top and is surprisingly aggressive. Anderson lands a few shots too and Chonan is bleeding a little now.
Anderson is not doing much from the bottom so the ref stops the action and gives Anderson a yellow card for stalling. I think it was okay in this case because it looked like Anderson was just waiting to get restarted in standup. But I think it’s harsh taking 10% of his paycheck for it. It’s also a home ref favoring a Japanese fighter, which is slightly more acceptable for the crowd.
The fighters are restarted at standup. Really out of nowhere Chonan throws a spinning back fist that clips Anderson in the back of the head. Anderson ducks while absorbing the shot and takes Chonan down.
Anderson is briefly in the guard but Chonan gets out of it quickly by throwing a nice up-kick (illegal in UFC) and Anderson backs off. Anderson kicks at Chonan’s legs before the ref stands him up.
They both trade shots, all of which are blocked or miss until Chonan throws another overhand right that clips Anderson. Anderson taps his gloves like “yeah I felt that let’s go!”
They circle some more and Chonan throws more clipping type shots and then the bell rings. The fighters touch gloves before going to their corners. Classy.
Chonan won that round overall even though he got rocked in the beginning. The fight has been surprisingly competitive.
The 2nd round begins. I don’t recommend anyone imitate the stance that Chonan is using, but it seemed to work for him. Some big trading occurs but neither fighter looks too damaged. Note how Chonan lands two big inside low kicks to Anderson’s right leg. Low kicks are not too flashy for the crowd but they make a difference as the fight progresses… this is foreshadowing what was too come.
Anderson tries a flying knee that misses but then gets behind Chonan and partially slams him to the mat. Chonan does a good job of countering and landing properly, but Anderson has his back. This could be trouble but Chonan simply stands up and gets out of it. Anderson timed a high kick perfectly as Chonan got up but he somehow blocked it. The announcer Bas Rutton makes a good comment saying a lot of fighters tend to not watch what the other fighter is about to do and they don’t defend in time. It’s true and easier said than done.
Chonan tries an uppercut that misses that would have done some damage and Anderson answers with a quick counter punch.
Then Chonan throws another huge inside low kick. You can see Anderson’s leg vibrate from the impact. If you are new to MMA it is hard to realize how much that hurts. You can end a fight with low kicks like that and you can cause long term damage to the other guy. (In American kickboxing low kicks are not allowed for this reason).
Anderson still looks pretty fresh and gets the best of the next exchange. To protect his leg Anderson changed his stance to put his other leg out front. That is very impressive to be able to change stance comfortably in a real fight.
Chonan gets tagged with three good jab punches from Anderson. Note how Chonan circles to the side to avoid further damage rather than moving instinctively straight back. But then Chonan eats another big right hand and it stunned him for a moment.
Anderson is clearly winning this round, but if you pay attention Chonan is still throwing a bunch of little inside low kicks to Anderson’s leg. Those are adding up…
These men are not afraid to trade punches and the next exchange is pretty intense. They get in the clinch and Chonan throws a knee to the body and takes Anderson down. Chonan is in the guard but he is not as aggressive as he was in the first round on top. The bell rings ending the round.
The announcers are saying Chonan won that round, but I slightly favor Anderson in this round because he landed some big punches in the stand up. Chonan showed he can take a punch.
The 3rd round begins and Chonan throws another inside low kick to that same leg of Anderson. That has got to be at least 7 or 8 kicks now. It’s one of those things where Anderson’s leg is not going to really hurt until the next day.
Chonan keeps his hands so low in the standup but he doesn’t seem to have problems blocking. He brought his A-Game tonight. That and being able to absorb damage. Anderson tags him with two good punches in the next exchange.
Notice how Chonan throws two more inside low kicks during this. It is very subtle, but now it is obvious he is purposely trying to destroy Anderson’s leg. (This is a good strategy in theory, but not a lot of fighters actually implement it, preferring instead to go for head shots.) In this situation, the low kicks are working great though. You’ll see.
Anderson launches another flurry and Chonan ducks underneath a huge high kick. You can hear the crowd react “whoa”. That type of kick can end a fight if it lands.
Chonan tries a bad takedown attempt and then is on the ground. Anderson prefers to keep the fight in the standup so he can end it.
They circle for some time. Then Chonan lands a loud body kick to Anderson’s side. It was hard to tell if Chonan was going to go low or mid with that kick and nailed Anderson.
Chonan throws another inside low kick then Anderson tags him with a few more punches. Then Chonan lands another inside low kick.
This is the low kick that really started to do damage on Anderson. He’s clearly limping now. So it took at least 12 inside low kicks throughout the course of the fight to get the guy limping.
Anderson lunges in bending forward and Chonan kicks him in the face. Anderson looks a little discouraged but they circle again.
Anderson changes his stance to try to save his leg and Chonan starts low kicking the other leg. Good strategy. They trade a few more punches and Anderson switches his stance back with the injured leg leading again…
Then out of nowhere one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in MMA happened. Chonan attempts a flying scissor heel hook and Anderson taps out within 3 seconds. It happened so fast and with perfect technique that it’s incredible to watch.
Completely unexpected and unorthodox for anyone to anticipate this in a real fight. It’s one of those things where if Chonan had failed in his attempt, his face would have gotten stomped on in Pride rules.
It takes balls and great skill to pull off this move. Anderson looked confused at what Chonan was trying to do while he was still standing before going down. Chonan bent Anderson’s heel so quick to almost a 180° angle you can see the pain on Anderson’s face. What a submission wow!
All of the inside low kicks Chonan threw setup this submission attempt. When Anderson changed his stance back to his injured leg leading that was the perfect opportunity to try such a move on that leg. That submission probably would not have worked if Chonan tried that when Anderson was still fresh early in the fight with no injured leg. This was really intelligent fighting from Chonan. A masterpiece from him.
The crowd and the announcers are going crazy. That submission requires so much skill to even attempt correctly you cannot say he secured it through dumb luck. It was amazing.
When they show the replay of the submission, it is pretty graphic to watch Anderson’s ankle being turned almost completely around. If Anderson didn’t tap there was going to be serious injury. I’m impressed at how smooth Chonan secured that. This fight was so close before the submission that it was probably going to go to a split decision. What a great fight.
----------
There is some interesting post-fight footage from both fighters you can search google to see:
In the post-fight footage of this fight Anderson is wondering if his leg is injured. People interpret that as his ankle being injured from the submission, but he was talking about his leg from all of those inside low kicks. Chonan was ridiculous with all of those low kicks he threw to the same spot on the same leg. Low kicks can screw your knees/tendons up.
Some years after this fight when Anderson became a UFC champion, a myth went around saying Anderson’s ankle was injured before this fight. This is not true. Watch the replay again of the submission and you’ll convince yourself that Anderson’s ankle was going to be broken sideways, or break through the skin if he did not tap out. Anderson himself never said he was injured before the fight. Someone made that myth up because they didn’t want the UFC to look bad that their champion lost to a relatively unknown fighter who never became a superstar afterwards.
After this fight Anderson Silva was let go from Pride. Anderson was very upset about this for both professional and financial reasons. He continued on and achieved success in smaller MMA promotions, and even worked in McDonald’s to make ends meet before being signed to UFC within 2 years.
The rest is history. Anderson became a UFC champion for years. He is very well known and respected in UFC and has rightfully earned a lot of money from his success. He holds the record for most title defenses in UFC. The UFC rules may be better suited to him than Pride, or he simply did not reach his full potential as a fighter until later on. I respect him and his achievements.
Ryo Chonan fought the best fight of his life on this night and it was extraordinary. After watching this you would think he would go on to be a top contender in Pride/MMA, but he just never panned out afterwards. He has fought consistently through the years in bigger MMA promotions (including UFC) and has an overall winning record, but he never defeated any big names. Chonan is famous mostly because of this one fight, and he deserves it. I hope he has made plenty of money from his MMA career. Very few people will ever be able pull off that submission in a real fight, let alone against a fighter of Anderson Silva’s stature. Chonan showed great technique and intelligence the whole fight. You can tell he is a well-trained fighter.
I have nothing but respect for Chonan from this fight and for securing the most badass submission I’ve ever seen.
Ryo Chonan and Anderson Silva, thank you for fighting in Pride.
Written August 2013
The fighters were around 185lbs for this fight, so the fight will still be entertaining. (Don’t get me started about little guys and now women fighting in MMA…)
Intro:
Ryo Chonan is Japanese and had a 6-3 record in smaller MMA promotions before being invited to Pride. This was his 3rd Pride fight where he went 1-1 in the first two. His nickname is Piranha and he kind of looks like it. Chonan was by no means considered a superstar fighter. For the most part, he was an unknown coming into this fight.
Anderson Silva is from Brazil and earned his invitation to Pride after going 8-1 in Brazilian Vale Tudo, (the most hardcore MMA “rules” out there, if you do well in Vale Tudo, then you are a bad man). Being from Curitiba Brazil, he got involved with the famed Chute Box academy which already had Wanderlei Silva and Ninja Rua competing in Pride. So Anderson had access to excellent training partners and arguably the best MMA academy in the world at that time. This training made him well prepared. In his first Pride fight he shattered Alex Steibling’s eyebrow with one kick and got a flying knee KO in his third fight. He had established his reputation as a feared striker and was 4-1 in Pride coming into this fight. Contrary to some myths Anderson did not have a broken (or recently healed) ankle coming into this fight.
Staredown:
The opening staredown is serious. Both fighters look right at each other. It’s not intense, but it’s clear both men are ready for war. They do shake hands before going back to their corner to show respect though. Anderson crosses himself before the bell rings.
The Fight:
The fight begins and they circle for some time. Chonan has a strange stance with his lead hand down at his waist. Anderson has a distinct height and reach advantage.
Anderson throws a quick high kick that gets blocked. Chonan gets the first clean hit with an overhand right. Anderson is mad now, and launches a flurry. Two punches land but Chonan somehow blocks a big left high kick. Chonan gets tagged a couple more times before getting thrown to the mat, giving Anderson his back.
The fight might end here; Chonan looks a little rocked. Look how Anderson has his legs locked around Chonan’s stomach, its good technique and makes it hard for the other guy to escape or breathe.
Anderson is not really going off and causing any damage from that good position though. It is really hard for anyone to get out of a leg lock like that.
Chonan is doing a good job defending against a choke but is taking a lot of small punches to the head. Anderson eases on his leg lock for a moment and Chonan spins around quickly and gets in the guard of Silva. Nice reverse.
Chonan lands some good punches while on top and is surprisingly aggressive. Anderson lands a few shots too and Chonan is bleeding a little now.
Anderson is not doing much from the bottom so the ref stops the action and gives Anderson a yellow card for stalling. I think it was okay in this case because it looked like Anderson was just waiting to get restarted in standup. But I think it’s harsh taking 10% of his paycheck for it. It’s also a home ref favoring a Japanese fighter, which is slightly more acceptable for the crowd.
The fighters are restarted at standup. Really out of nowhere Chonan throws a spinning back fist that clips Anderson in the back of the head. Anderson ducks while absorbing the shot and takes Chonan down.
Anderson is briefly in the guard but Chonan gets out of it quickly by throwing a nice up-kick (illegal in UFC) and Anderson backs off. Anderson kicks at Chonan’s legs before the ref stands him up.
They both trade shots, all of which are blocked or miss until Chonan throws another overhand right that clips Anderson. Anderson taps his gloves like “yeah I felt that let’s go!”
They circle some more and Chonan throws more clipping type shots and then the bell rings. The fighters touch gloves before going to their corners. Classy.
Chonan won that round overall even though he got rocked in the beginning. The fight has been surprisingly competitive.
The 2nd round begins. I don’t recommend anyone imitate the stance that Chonan is using, but it seemed to work for him. Some big trading occurs but neither fighter looks too damaged. Note how Chonan lands two big inside low kicks to Anderson’s right leg. Low kicks are not too flashy for the crowd but they make a difference as the fight progresses… this is foreshadowing what was too come.
Anderson tries a flying knee that misses but then gets behind Chonan and partially slams him to the mat. Chonan does a good job of countering and landing properly, but Anderson has his back. This could be trouble but Chonan simply stands up and gets out of it. Anderson timed a high kick perfectly as Chonan got up but he somehow blocked it. The announcer Bas Rutton makes a good comment saying a lot of fighters tend to not watch what the other fighter is about to do and they don’t defend in time. It’s true and easier said than done.
Chonan tries an uppercut that misses that would have done some damage and Anderson answers with a quick counter punch.
Then Chonan throws another huge inside low kick. You can see Anderson’s leg vibrate from the impact. If you are new to MMA it is hard to realize how much that hurts. You can end a fight with low kicks like that and you can cause long term damage to the other guy. (In American kickboxing low kicks are not allowed for this reason).
Anderson still looks pretty fresh and gets the best of the next exchange. To protect his leg Anderson changed his stance to put his other leg out front. That is very impressive to be able to change stance comfortably in a real fight.
Chonan gets tagged with three good jab punches from Anderson. Note how Chonan circles to the side to avoid further damage rather than moving instinctively straight back. But then Chonan eats another big right hand and it stunned him for a moment.
Anderson is clearly winning this round, but if you pay attention Chonan is still throwing a bunch of little inside low kicks to Anderson’s leg. Those are adding up…
These men are not afraid to trade punches and the next exchange is pretty intense. They get in the clinch and Chonan throws a knee to the body and takes Anderson down. Chonan is in the guard but he is not as aggressive as he was in the first round on top. The bell rings ending the round.
The announcers are saying Chonan won that round, but I slightly favor Anderson in this round because he landed some big punches in the stand up. Chonan showed he can take a punch.
The 3rd round begins and Chonan throws another inside low kick to that same leg of Anderson. That has got to be at least 7 or 8 kicks now. It’s one of those things where Anderson’s leg is not going to really hurt until the next day.
Chonan keeps his hands so low in the standup but he doesn’t seem to have problems blocking. He brought his A-Game tonight. That and being able to absorb damage. Anderson tags him with two good punches in the next exchange.
Notice how Chonan throws two more inside low kicks during this. It is very subtle, but now it is obvious he is purposely trying to destroy Anderson’s leg. (This is a good strategy in theory, but not a lot of fighters actually implement it, preferring instead to go for head shots.) In this situation, the low kicks are working great though. You’ll see.
Anderson launches another flurry and Chonan ducks underneath a huge high kick. You can hear the crowd react “whoa”. That type of kick can end a fight if it lands.
Chonan tries a bad takedown attempt and then is on the ground. Anderson prefers to keep the fight in the standup so he can end it.
They circle for some time. Then Chonan lands a loud body kick to Anderson’s side. It was hard to tell if Chonan was going to go low or mid with that kick and nailed Anderson.
Chonan throws another inside low kick then Anderson tags him with a few more punches. Then Chonan lands another inside low kick.
This is the low kick that really started to do damage on Anderson. He’s clearly limping now. So it took at least 12 inside low kicks throughout the course of the fight to get the guy limping.
Anderson lunges in bending forward and Chonan kicks him in the face. Anderson looks a little discouraged but they circle again.
Anderson changes his stance to try to save his leg and Chonan starts low kicking the other leg. Good strategy. They trade a few more punches and Anderson switches his stance back with the injured leg leading again…
Then out of nowhere one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in MMA happened. Chonan attempts a flying scissor heel hook and Anderson taps out within 3 seconds. It happened so fast and with perfect technique that it’s incredible to watch.
Completely unexpected and unorthodox for anyone to anticipate this in a real fight. It’s one of those things where if Chonan had failed in his attempt, his face would have gotten stomped on in Pride rules.
It takes balls and great skill to pull off this move. Anderson looked confused at what Chonan was trying to do while he was still standing before going down. Chonan bent Anderson’s heel so quick to almost a 180° angle you can see the pain on Anderson’s face. What a submission wow!
All of the inside low kicks Chonan threw setup this submission attempt. When Anderson changed his stance back to his injured leg leading that was the perfect opportunity to try such a move on that leg. That submission probably would not have worked if Chonan tried that when Anderson was still fresh early in the fight with no injured leg. This was really intelligent fighting from Chonan. A masterpiece from him.
The crowd and the announcers are going crazy. That submission requires so much skill to even attempt correctly you cannot say he secured it through dumb luck. It was amazing.
When they show the replay of the submission, it is pretty graphic to watch Anderson’s ankle being turned almost completely around. If Anderson didn’t tap there was going to be serious injury. I’m impressed at how smooth Chonan secured that. This fight was so close before the submission that it was probably going to go to a split decision. What a great fight.
----------
There is some interesting post-fight footage from both fighters you can search google to see:
In the post-fight footage of this fight Anderson is wondering if his leg is injured. People interpret that as his ankle being injured from the submission, but he was talking about his leg from all of those inside low kicks. Chonan was ridiculous with all of those low kicks he threw to the same spot on the same leg. Low kicks can screw your knees/tendons up.
Some years after this fight when Anderson became a UFC champion, a myth went around saying Anderson’s ankle was injured before this fight. This is not true. Watch the replay again of the submission and you’ll convince yourself that Anderson’s ankle was going to be broken sideways, or break through the skin if he did not tap out. Anderson himself never said he was injured before the fight. Someone made that myth up because they didn’t want the UFC to look bad that their champion lost to a relatively unknown fighter who never became a superstar afterwards.
After this fight Anderson Silva was let go from Pride. Anderson was very upset about this for both professional and financial reasons. He continued on and achieved success in smaller MMA promotions, and even worked in McDonald’s to make ends meet before being signed to UFC within 2 years.
The rest is history. Anderson became a UFC champion for years. He is very well known and respected in UFC and has rightfully earned a lot of money from his success. He holds the record for most title defenses in UFC. The UFC rules may be better suited to him than Pride, or he simply did not reach his full potential as a fighter until later on. I respect him and his achievements.
Ryo Chonan fought the best fight of his life on this night and it was extraordinary. After watching this you would think he would go on to be a top contender in Pride/MMA, but he just never panned out afterwards. He has fought consistently through the years in bigger MMA promotions (including UFC) and has an overall winning record, but he never defeated any big names. Chonan is famous mostly because of this one fight, and he deserves it. I hope he has made plenty of money from his MMA career. Very few people will ever be able pull off that submission in a real fight, let alone against a fighter of Anderson Silva’s stature. Chonan showed great technique and intelligence the whole fight. You can tell he is a well-trained fighter.
I have nothing but respect for Chonan from this fight and for securing the most badass submission I’ve ever seen.
Ryo Chonan and Anderson Silva, thank you for fighting in Pride.
Written August 2013
