I'm not a fan of Anderson Silva, but he is a special fighter.

There are two main reasons why I think so.

(and his unbeaten run in the UFC is not necessarily one of them. Sure consistency is important, but I believe calibre of opposition is much more important than longevity/consistency, so I'm not too fussed with his zero run since it included some pretty mediocre fighters like Leites, Cote, Lutter, etc)




- In his last two fights, he has finished a great wrestler and a great striker. Against the wrestler, he showed incredible resilience, mental strength and composure to absorb punishment for the vast majority of five long rounds, then have the presence of mind to perfectly execute a submission. Against the striker, he waited until he saw an opening then pounced in lethal fashion to produce a stunning, highlight-reel KO of a guy who hadn't been knocked out for almost 14 years (and who'd never ever been knocked out in this conclusive manner before). The ability to produce BJJ submissions and Muay Thai knockouts in big fights against very different world-class opponents is surely proof of an elite mixed martial artist.


- Silva doesn't stage stoppage executions of routine, lower level opponents, then labour to points victories over tough, top class competition. He seems to save his most clinical finishing skills for his biggest fights against the best guys available. Who have been Silva's best opponents in the UFC? I'd say Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin. Results? Henderson: 2nd round submission of a guy who had only ever been submitted by the bigger Nogueira brothers. Belfort: 1st round highlight-reel KO. Franklin: Two utterly dominant KOs after unleashing hellacious beatings on him. One could maybe argue that Chael Sonnen was a better fighter (albeit a less decorated one) in 2010 than Franklin or Belfort were at the times that Anderson fought them, but even after taking Sonnen's best for 5 rounds, Silva still managed to finish him. The point here? Great MMA fighters finish fights. Scoring points is not what MMA is about. That's why Fedor is the GOAT, that's why for me someone like Penn will always rank above a points-scorer like Edgar. And that's why Anderson Silva is an ATG, because on the biggest stage, he finishes fights. In style.



So even though I'm not a particularly massive Silva fan, I think he is a legitimate choice for 2nd greatest fighter ever.

What's your thoughts on the Spider now? :bbb

 

Nah.

 

Then if you make a thread about Silva, you can include it.

As for me, I simply don't rate the guy very highly, never have. He was coming off being KTFO by Rashad ****ing Evans.

Never in his wildest dreams has Forrest been fit to lace Dan Henderson's boots IMO.

 

Anderson-Forrest was a great performance by Anderson, but personally I don't rate it as a great win, because I don't rate Forrest very highly as a fighter, and I don't rate Rashad very highly either.

I do rate Henderson and Belfort, and I think Franklin was a good scalp at the time to take the way he did.

Anyway, your ranking of his wins is pretty solid, we can agree he has beaten some very very good competition.

 

Yeah, I'd like to see Silva-Okami before Silva-GSP. That would leave the door open perhaps for GSP to have a tune-up at 185 to get accustomed to the new weight class. Silva-Okami would be an important step towards Silva properly cleaning out the division.

 

Did you see how Sonnen landed hard and clean on Silva a few times, and drove him back?

Belfort is a much better boxer than Sonnen, much more powerful, much faster, and much much more explosive.

That was where the interest lay for me, to see if a deadly finisher like Belfort could capitalize after getting into the same positions as Sonnen did.

Except he never made it into those positions because Silva pulled off a move like something out of Street Fighter II, Dhalsim-style kick.

Sublime finish of a genuinely dangerous opponent.

 

In the aftermath of Silva-Sonnen, I ranked GSP as #1. However, his continual failure to finish opponents has become frustrating for me, as I view MMA as a sport about finishing opponents, not grinding out more points than them. For now, I am undecided. I rank both Silva and GSP extremely, extremely highly. They are both incredible fighters.