If Anderson beats Sonnen again, will he overtake Fedor as the GOAT, or not?

Some people consider Fedor the GOAT.

Some consider Anderson the GOAT.

I myself am still in the Fedor camp.

But if Silva gives Sonnen the rematch he wants, and beats him again, I do think it'll be pretty massive. Will make me sit down and have a think about this whole issue.

Sonnen is a ****ing wanker, but that shouldn't detract from how good he is as a fighter. Sonnen isn't just beating top middleweight contenders like Stann, Marquardt, and Okami these days, he's just completely owning them, manhandling them as if they were nothing. The guy is pound-for-pound one of the physically strongest fighters in MMA, and one of the very best takedown artists in the world. I have no doubts in my mind that he's a clear, clear number two at 185 just now, and that he'd treat the rest of the middleweight contenders with the same disdain that he dismissed Stann, Marquardt and Okami (though obviously guys like Maia, Mayhem and Jacare would have a fair shot of subbing Chael, which remains his weakness).

Is it possible for Sonnen to lose via KO or points, or can this guy only be subbed at 185, where he looks like just an unstoppable, grinding, beating machine?


Maybe I'm buying into the self-hype of Sonnen, but I think this ***** is a genuinely great middleweight fighter, and that if Silva can manage to defeat him again, then it really will be a solid gold win and will mean something in the ATG stakes.


Thoughts? :bbb

 

It's not really a 'thread fail' if the thread is putting forward a question, not a proposal. I'm not saying definitively that this win would put Anderson over Fedor in my eyes, I'm asking if people think so. I do think it's getting to the stage where Silva is approaching the status of a valid alternative. The last time Silva legitimately lost a fight was 2004, and it's 2011. 7 years of consistently dominating and/or finishing fights, and mostly against the best competition available in the biggest organization in the world. Maybe I'd rate another win over Sonnen more than most, but I would view it as big, I really would.

 

I agree with this. No-one disputes that Roy Jones was the absolute top dog of the mid-late 90s because he started getting blitzed around 2004/5. Same scenario with Fedor IMO.

 

Once again, no. Read my opening post, and read what I'm writing. You are having a sustained reading comprehension fail. I am not declaring that Anderson is the GOAT, I am asking if people will consider him as such with yet another win over a top middleweight contender. I just think he's becoming sublime, the way he has dispatched Belfort and Okami was just insane, and they were top challengers. Sonnen looks like a monster in the cage and has done for some time, if he also falls by the wayside vs Silva, then the Spider's reign really is something special. No?

 

IMO, Sonnen is a much stronger, tougher assignment at this time than everyone on that list other than Hendo. For Anderson to give him another shot, and to again turn him away, would be a great victory as I see it. A great victory. You can't deny that Sonnen dominated the vast majority of their last fight. For Silva to overturn that level of dominance in a rematch would be evidence of a special fighter, no?