Could Anderson Silva have accomplished more had he never joined the UFC?

I know Anderson Silva has had a stellar mma career within the ufc, but what if he never signed with the ufc and instead bouced around different orgs outside of it and even continued combat arts other than mma. what could he have accomplished?
Remember silva entered the ufc in the summer of 2006 with a very impressive ko over Chris leben.

fighters he could have fought outside the octagon:

Gegard mousasi
Hector Lambard
Melvin Manhoef
Ronaldo Jacare Souza
Jorge Santiago
Cung Le
Jason Mayhem Miller
Robbie Lawler
Murilo Bustamante
Matt Lindland
Kazuo Misaki
Murilo Rua

and.... Kazushi sakuraba

that's not counting the opponents he could have faced if he decided to test himself at lightheavyweight or even heavyweight.

its also posible he could have fought these fighters before (or in hendersons case after) their time in the ufc:

Dan Henderson (I know they fought in the ufc)
Vitor Belfort
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Dennis Kang



of course their is also the chance he could have fought roy jones in boxing, if Silva somehow won that would be huge!

Even if jones is way past it...

K-1 is also an option that maybe anderson could have persued if he wasnt bound by a ufc contract or anderson could have continued a career in muay thai even(his muay thai record is rumored to be 40-1 or 40-2 their-abouts http://www.fightingspiritmagazine.co.uk/article.asp?IntID=52).
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUf1ZLK5q_Q[/ame]

I know he was never as dominate outside the octagon as he was inside of it- setting that aside -could Anderson Silva have accomplished more outside the UFC?



ps: say Pongsaklek Wonjongkam five times as fast as you can:hey
Thai names are the best:good

 

like fedor?

what about the match with roy jones and k1/muay thai?

if he beat henderson mousasi lombard jacare miller vitor and manhoef that would be about the same as what he has accomplished in the ufc, then add in the freedom to compete in boxing and muay thai then were talkin:deal

 

I agree.

but remember "if you build it they will come", your legacy I mean. if you can become the man to beat, fighters will come to you to try and take your glory. also I never said he would fight all of the fighters I mentioned just if he could fight most of them in addition to the fight with jones and maybe k1 possibilities.

ufc is one hell of a mma promotion where most of the best fighters reside, but if you make your name in the ufc and hang on to the belt eventually you become boxed in and run out of options. if you can be a free agent like fedor was then maybe end your career in the ufc you can gain far more prestige.

 

also anderson silva is a very talented guy his muay thai record is supposedly about 40-1 or 40-2(against not so great comp I can only assume because where is the record if they were world class we would surely have names besides pele which anderson suposedly went 1-1 with) decent record and in the vid I posted silva looks very good, exellent movement timing and speed. untested really, but at least had potential.

 

yeah, its true that he became far more dominant since entering the octagon, but he has fought more than just americans and his losses came from guys who were far from elite strikers.

lets look at his losses:

Luiz Azeredo Decision (Unanimous) Meca 1 - Meca World Vale Tudo 1 5/27/2000 anderson silva's first mma fight kind of difficult to watch considering they spend most of it on the ground (a few minuetes they are stuck in the "69" position ) in what was clearly a positional ground battle that anderson was not prepared for. this could have happened in the ufc just as easily, anderson without much effort won the striking portion of the contest in the few short exchanges standing. This is a very boring fight take my word for it.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nAPuo6CR7U[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Njblooszn4[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk5nL5XYdCU[/ame]



Daiju Takase Submission (Triangle Choke) PRIDE 26 - Bad to the Bone 6/8/2003 anderson immeditly gets taken down and controled on the ground similar to his first loss against Azeredo he ends up falling for a trap set by his opponent when he tries to excape from under takase and get to his feet neglecting to defend the triangle choke this video was already posted but I will post it again inthe interests of being thorough.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQa4X_WhM6s[/ame]



Ryo Chonan Submission (Flying Scissor takedown to Heel Hook) PRIDE - Shockwave 2004 barnett does a good enough job explaining this one with the exception of the fact that he says "chonans offense counted for nothing" and that "chonan was never in that fight at any point in time"- this is bs! in fact the fight was far closer than that but I believe anderson would have won a decision.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=267i7rKeECA[/ame]



Yushin Okami DQ (Illegal Kick) ROTR 8 - Rumble on the Rock 8 Sivas last loss. this fight was basically bull**** anderson had okami on his back and was attempting to destroy his legs with powerful kicks to okami's thighs like sakuraba used to do and the ref stands okami up! and he did it twice! okami gets the takedown and then anderson smashes okami with a upkick that puts him out allowing the loser to win by dq- it was a beautiful shot though!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StYulH-yKsk[/ame]



while it is true that silva while on his current 13 fight winning streak has faced 2 brazillians 1 canadian and the other 9 americans (fought rich franklin 2x) and 3 of his 4 losses were to japanese fighters he has fought and beat 3 other japanese fighters including Hayato Sakurai and has fought many brazilians and beat all but 1 in his mma debut.

Monarocountry I couldnt dissagree with you more here, silva has fought all over the would and defeated many different fighters with different skills in different countries under different organizations under different rules (probably why he lost to okami)

a statement like "Anderson would have to fight a wider variety of fighters, some with K-1 background who he wouldnt easily dominate standing and some with a far better ground game" dosent seem to really fit anderson silva.

though it would be good to see him compete against great strikers. but just remember he came from a great camp of strikers back in the day at chutebox sparring with the likes of José "Pelé" Landi-Jons wanderlei silva, ninja rua and shogun rua, with only Pelé getting the better of anderson and silva outstriking the all the others according to rumor.:deal