Manon/Silva
Manon - Her game is mostly built around the straight left, long south paw striker, plays a pressure counter game. Great reflex, great instincts, good fight IQ, power from both sides of her body, sharp jab, powerful one too, nasty straight left and a decent check right hook. She is also very good at jabbing and moving, she will slip off to either side in combination with the jab, so she lands the jab clean but she's gone before she can be hit with a counter. The side kick to the body and leg looks goofy at times but definitely effective at blocking an incoming opponent. Mix's up her strike selection well making it hard for girls to know what's coming next, combined with effective feints she gets girls biting and lures them into counters. Physically strong, doesn't have a natural wrestling game but isn't afraid to try, strong in the clinch, generally wins the clinch battle off of physicallity and will use knees to body here and break with elbows. Can win wrestling and scrambling exchanges just on strength at time but this is definitely an area of her game that is a work in progress. Her early fights showed her laying in guard and not knowing how to progress the position or do effective damage, now she can progress, work from half guard, move to mount and is very dangerous from the top now. Strong hips, heavy on top and hard to buck off, she will unload from the top with big elbows and punches. Good finishing instincts over all, but doesn't over reach, knows when to back off and when to pour it on. Can be caught with counter straights her self at times, questions about how she reacts to someone matching her power and speed, and someone with a more technical wrestling and grappling game may cause her problems. Hasen't faced any real high level competition or real athletes, but definitely has the tools to be effective in a step up. Will throw spinning kicks on occasion that never land, very annoying to see.
Silva- Very aggressive forward moving pressure striking game, power in all of her strikes, good front kick to the body up the middle, great calf kick that really looks to chop in. She loves the thai plum and working knees to the body and head but goes to this too often and it doesn't always benefit her. She seems to be so happy to get it and do some work with her knees that she doesn't notice she's being pushed to the cage where she can get held for long stretches. She works with short elbows when she has her back to the back but isn't great at getting out of the position. Walks into exchanges with her hands low and her striking defence is to just throw back, eats a lot of straight punches and jabs and doesn't have any head movement or foot work to mitigate this, ends up taking a lot of damage. Has a good front choke game, darcè, ninja chokes, anaconda, will also go to these when girls either clinch up or try to drop to her hips. Defiantly struggles to get up if she is taken down and will spend long stretches on her back with a closed guard, does have a nice arm bar and it's probably safer to be in half guard if you're on top, staying in the guard is playing with fire. Uses elbows from bottom and uses some up kicks which are decent. Slows down and becomes more hittable but does definitely wear on girls as the fight goes on, goes zombie mode and just keeps pushing forward. Plodding but vicious, everything she lands looks like it hurts.
I think Silva will eat too many straight punches and will struggle to close Manon down or cut her off. Manon should look to minimise kicks and just stick with the straight punching, jab and circle off, one two and circle off, lateral movement and darting punches should be too much for Silva. I think Silva is the most complete, dangerous and physical fighter Manon has faced, and this is a great next step for her in what should be a war in the later rounds.
I think Silva is tough enough to survive the 3 rounds, a finish late for Manon isn't out of the question but it would likely be an accumulation of damage.
Favorite bet - Manon decision or round 3 decision.
