Erick Silva and Rick Story are two welterweights who suffer from the same issue: brilliance marred by inconsistency.
I have wrote in depth about Erick Silva, believing that if he shored up a couple simple weaknesses he could catapult into the top six or seven of the UFC welterweight division. In reality he reminds me of Andrei Arlovski, except that Silva never got the opportunity to be a champion before coming up short.
Rick Story is a nightmare match up for anyone. That may sound odd for an 11-6 fighter but with the exception of grappling savant Demian Maia and surprise replacement Charlie Brenneman, no fighter has had an easy win against him. On his kill list are such prominent names as Johny Hendricks, Thiago Alves and Gunnar Nelson
While both are welterweights trying to resurrect their glory, they could not be any more different.
Erick Silva is, and always has been, an incandescently talented fighter. As a striker, he has unbelievable power in his punches and kicks. He is one of the few fighters outside Ovince St. Preux and perhaps Lyoto Machida that commits to the liver kick and it shows. As a grappler he possesses the type of explosive technical prowess on offense and defense that takes me back to the days of a young Nogueira. Watching him escape the mount from Dong Hyun Kim was sublime.
But small lapses in fight IQ like not moving his head against Kim and suffering an adrenaline dump against Matt Brown threw away fights he was easily winning.
Rick Story is far more workmanlike in his approach. Story is a powerful wrestler, capable of clinching and taking down almost anyone as his total stifling of Thiago Alves’s offense for two rounds showed. While he has cinder blocks for hands and brutal knockdowns to show for it, he’s never been a fighter that scores clean knockouts. Instead he alternates punching the body and head to wear down opponents, mixing in leg kicks to boot. The fleet footed Gunnar Nelson was reduced to a walking corpse in the fourth and fifth rounds after being forced to go toe to toe with Story.
Remember this is the same guy who made Brandon Thatch look like a chump, barely able to get out of the way of Story’s punches because of damage accumulation.
Story’s biggest problem is that he’s not defensively sound. Kelvin Gastelum was able to almost take his head off in the first round of their fight while Mike Pyle was able to steal back a fight he was clearly losing via standing elbows. If Story isn’t winning a unanimous decision, he usually isn’t winning at all. He’s also not a great defensive wrestler, repeatedly giving up takedowns to Martin Kampann.
It’s a pity that the match up has happened the way it has because neither Story nor Silva deserve to slide just so the other one can cap their run. That being said, the match-up is extremely interesting because each fighter’s weaknesses are the other fighter’s strengths.
Erick Silva’s cardio is always under exaggerated attack, but there’s no question it’s a weak point. Rick Story on the other hand retains his withering pressure over the duration of a fight and with his penchant for leg kicks and body punches Silva may not stay dangerous long enough to make a difference. Plus his habit of keeping his head stationary as he throws punches is a recipe for disaster against the iron jawed and powerful Story.
On the other hand, Story’s biggest losses have come against fighters who can withstand his pressure and fire back through his defensive holes. Story survived clean body kicks from Gunnar Nelson but that is not an option against Silva’s cringe inducing liver kick. Plus Silva is an absolute beast on the ground and if Story finds himself on his back I see a submission victory coming easily.
Whatever happens, let’s agree to take these fighters seriously.
Both fighters have had their premature hype train derailed but if they beat the man in front of them this Saturday, they are a threat to the division.
No ifs, ands, or buts.
