Why is Andrson Silva the best pound for pound fighter?

Question

If you look at his record, he has losses that he hasn't avenged. Yeah, every fighter improves and has to fight the top talent but still, I don't think he's the best.

I think the best fighters should finish a match. Which he was hesitant to do against Thales Leites (a low rank fighter that had no place in the main event)

He seemed scared when Thales dropped to his back (not an abnormal move for a BJJ fighter).

I don't even see how Silva won that match, since nothing happened in it.

Has Silva really been tested? Until he fights GSP, I don't think so. Don't comment and say "LOL VASELINE" because that was dismissed in court. GSP didn't know about it and he went out there and kicked BJ Penn's ***, even if there was a bit of vaseline on his body, it would not have affected the fight.

But I'm getting off-topic. I have only seen Anderson Silva fight a few times (he's only been in UFC for a few years) but how is he the best fighter pound-for-pound?

If you can't dominate like Fedor does in the heavyweight division (though he needs to take fights in UFC to confirm his legacy) or the middleweight division like GSP, I don't see how he's so amazing.

Answer 1

gsp is a welterweight and its thales fault for not trying to fight silva

Answer 2

I've never been so proud of a group of answer-ers, I have been saying this same argument for months now, I completely agree that Anderson Silva is by far the best middleweight-no doubt what so ever, He's crushed the UFC's best middle's, But in my opinion-Theres only two middleweight fighters who can include themselves among the upper echelon of fighters, 1)Franklin, and 2)Henderson-who at the time Silva beat him was 38 yrs old, and we can agree his best days are behind him. None of this is his fault of course, he can only fight who's in his division to fight, but if the topic of best p4p is gonna come up, It's gonna create a whole different argument, The other p4p guys always in the discussion-GSP, Fedor, and now Machida have all fought a higher number of fighters included in that upper echelon,



Pierre beat Hughes twice, Penn twice, Both former champs, He fights the top ranked guys and goes on to the next top ranked guy-Fitch, and Alves, This is how the top p4p fighter should do it.



Fedor even not in the UFC has beaten the most amount of top heavyweights-Sylvia-champ in 06, Arlovski champ in 07-so they aren't from ten years ago like the Fedor haters would try to convince new fans, Coleman 2x-former champ, Noguiera-former champ who many consider one of top five HW, of all time-2x, the first time Fedor pounded his face so many times I started feeling sorry for Big Nog, Cro Cop in his prime-and lets not kid ourselves and say he was anything but a top HW also, Some others who were studs that just never had the belt, Babalu, Arona, Randleman.



Machida already has fought some very tough opponents-Bonnar, Franklin, Penn, Sokoudjou, Tito, Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans, and now Shogun, Talk about the opposite path as Brock.



Yes I'm way off topic I know, to sum it up, anderson will need to beat some top lightheavys to really be one of the top p4p's in my opinion,

He has fought and knocked out ONE lightheavyweight, James Irwin-#27tyh ranked, and he would no doubt avenge the losses he has, but hasn't, Azeredo, Takase, and Chonan are far too mediocre to have beaten him in the first place.

Answer 3

Its mostly determined by popularity i think. People like Joe Rogan, and the media will look at a fighters record, but not necessarily as compared to any others. Silva does have only 4 losses in his entire career. With 24 wins, half of which were 1st round knock outs, and just 6 won by decision. He has a black belt in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jui Jitsu, Judo and Tae Kwon Do. He has now has titles as the # Current UFC Middleweight Champion.

# Current Cage Rage Middleweight Champion

# Shooto Middleweight Champion in 2001

# Record for most consecutive UFC wins (Nine).

He has also knocked out guys in the light heavy weight division Which is where he will move up to again to fight forest Griffin at UFC 101. Instead of going down a weight class to fight GSP in the welterweight division. GSP must first fight Thiago Alves before eligible to fight Silva.

Admittedly the fight against Thales was a disgrace, and completely unexpected performance, but in spite of that fight, his record spells tough. I cant stand the guy as a fighter, hes cocky in an obtrusive sort of way just like Evans. And it was a great day when Machida put him to the mat unconscious!

Answer 4

I've always thought Ace Franklin was a little over rated, he's lost to every good opponent he's faced, but if he beats Henderson then I will be proven wrong because that's a great MMA fighter. Silva abused Marquart, Hendo, Franklin, Irvin, Lutter, and Cote who are all above average fighters but really only Henderson is special out of those guys. GSP didn't dominate Penn in their first fight, it was close, Penn kicked his but in the first round. GSP had to go to the hospital after the fight because he was messed up. Penn and GSp are about equals, Penn fought Hughes, Machida, Gomi. Fedor is the best fighter I think, Anderson #2, GSP and Penn #3

Answer 5

Anderson Silva is not the best MMA fighter in the world. Personally, I would rank him at #3 (behind GSP and Fedor). He has faced top level competition since entering the UFC and has dominated everyone. The fact that his last 2 fights were not "exciting" doesn't mean that he isn't an elite fighter. Anderson has cleaned out his division in the UFC, and is now testing himself at lightheavyweight due to the lack of competition at middleweight. That is the sign of an elite athlete: always wanting to test yourself. I believe that his last 2 performances were based on the fact that he wasn't excited to fight Cote or Leites, knowing that he would dominate them and win easily. In my opinion, he should have disposed of them both quickly, and then asked the UFC, "who's next?" instead of toying with them and allowing the fights to drag on. By allowing them to go long, he enabled people to doubt his skills. Don't forget, he demolished Rich Franklin twice, and submitted Dan Henderson. His wins far outnumber his losses. The fact that he hasn't avenged his losses is irrelevant. His loss to Ryo Chonan (who won with an amazing flying heel hook) would be avenged so fast, the two aren't nearly on the same level. The only other loss I believe that he hasn't avenged was against Yushin Okami, where Anderson was disqualified for up-kicking from his back while Okami was on his knees over Anderson. And if you think that Anderson wouldn't avenge that loss, you're nuts. He is the best middleweight fighter in the world, bar none.

Answer 6

Hey Jered. Cool question! Andersen Silva is undoubtedly one of the top five pound for pound fighters in the world today, but it's hard to put him at the top of the heap. Silva is beatable at random times because he tends to have mental lapses (probably because he's just so damn talented that he gets bored) which was highlighted by his shocking loss to Ryo Chonan in '06.



So who can beat Andersen right now? Plenty of 205 pounders but not a single fighter at 185. His next fight is at 205 against Forrest Griffin and, if Griffin gets him to the ground, we're going to witness an incredibly dull upset. The only person that can beat Silva at 185 is Lyoto Machida who would need to cut 10 lbs whjch is very doable considering his frame. It's a little known fact that they were sparring partners early in their careers and Machida regularly got the better of Silva. Unfortunately, we'll never see that battle. The two Brazilian fighters are very close and made a verbal agreement with Dana White to never fight each other in the UFC.

GSP (who I think is the shiznitz) should NOT fight Silva. I know all of the fans want this dream fight to happen, but GSP would get the beating of a lifetime if he bumped up in weight class to fight Andersen. I'm hoping GSP is too smart to not take that fight.





Who are the best pound for pound fighters right this second? My top five are Lyoto Machida, Fedor Emelianenko, Andersen Silva, GSP and Mike Brown. Machida is #1 because of his record and his potential to never be touched during his career in the octagon (even though that can be boring at times). Fedor is only #2 because he hasn't proved himself against the UFC monsters like Lesnar. As amazing as he has been, I believe he's now passed his prime and let's face it, we were one round away from having Andre Arlovski (who couldn't cut it in the UFC) as the Affliction champion. I've already mentioned Silva and GSP, but you should checkout the little-known WEC featherweight, Mike Brown. He's a manimal for his division.



I'm outta breath but I hope that helped! :D

Answer 7

gsp is so much better than silva, all silva has is a buncha elbows mid kicks.he just seems so good cos the middleweight division kinda sucks now, he wouldnt stand a chance as a welterweight. and as far as him fighting at 205, Mr. Griffin will show silva whats what in a few months.

Answer 8

I agree with you %100%

He's just all hype. I mean yes he's an excellent fighter but not p4p the best in the world, if he fought machida or gsp id put all my money on either of them to beat silva,$hit i think griffen is going to take out silva, we shall see

Answer 9

some people seem to have a need for there to be a best in their mind at least. the real question is why does this occur? why do so many feel the need to be able to point at something and claim that it is the best? he is just one who some think is the best fighter it does not mean much you can move on

Answer 10

He's not Fedor is.

Answer 11

He's not.



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