Why Anderson Silva is the best p4p fighter in the world

list of B+ fighters. Vitor is the only thing he has to prove. a guy who can strike and grapple. Hendo and Franklin were good, but that was years ago. If he beats belfort ill say hes not all talk, but I think 205 would be a better career move for him if he feels he has something to prove.

Nope.....GSP is the current p4p best in MMA. Until Silva redeems himself after getting dominated by sonnen (and submitting Sonnen is not enough, he was outclassed the whole fight and p4p fighters should not get outclassed) im gonna stick with GSP's complete dominance. ( Dont bring up old fights from 3 years ago....they are useless for current p4p talk)

Irvin, Cote Leban (his first fight for the org) and Leites are B fighters. Everyone else he fought are top of the food chain in the UFC. Who else should he have fought?

I think dana is the only one who thinks silva is the number 1 p4p LOL. as u said he only fought B class fighters and frankly, even Vitor is past his prime. Silva walks around as a HW! come on, this guy need to prove himself at LHW where the real competiton is!

Forgetting the details already? AS had cracked ribs, AS came in with his BJJ gear for some reason, Chael was 4 times higher than normal in testosterone level allowed. GSP dominated with a good jab, AS knocked out Forrest with a great jab. p4p fighters get outclassed when they are not acting themselves and yet get the win anyway against unusual odds. AS has faced more than GSP has faced.

agreed if he can fight horrible for the whole fight, getting dominated and still come out with a finish, that shows how amazing he is. dont know how many uk fans are reading but manchester united have played horriby most of this season and still top of the league. if anything it makes you respect the team/fighter more that they can pull it out of the bag even when things are going against them.

he was on steroids and silva had a bruised rib.. i forgot who won that fight though lol.. oh yea it was anderson silva, not chael sonnen so therefore it is sonnen who has to redeem himself not silva.





but for all of you on here write your own article on why GSP is the best and provide reasons lol its a opinon based matter, nobody is right wether you believe it or not

Hmmmm.... I dont have Silva at #1 at the moment, but still, coming back from adversity to pull off the win is a big part of what makes a champion. i.e Fedor, Nog etc.

theres no point in making an article......the facts are out on the table...

Silva got dominated by Sonnen, save the ribs bs cuz UFC wouldnt let a fighter who is injured that bad fight. His ribs were nothing more then a small nuisance. Sonnen was cleared of any abnormal levels of testosterone so he was in the correct range. And if his ribs were that bad then its not fair that we have to speculate how much better he would have done w/o "bruised ribs". Its much more logical to base it on his performance, since he felt he was in good enough condition to fight. And also Silva came out wearing BJJ gear cuz he knew he was gonna get taken down at will.....theres no excuse to why he got taken down. Silva knew his best bet was to take Sonnen out standing which he preferred, but had his BJJ as a backup plan. Not a GSP fan, just a fan of logic. GSP is #1 p4p

He felt he was good enough to win and he did just that. Everyone involved including Sonnen knew something was wrong with AS for that fight and everyone watching knew he was not doing what he does in that he even started throwing haymakers and made little effort to get back up and was constantly looking for the triangle rather than try and get up. AS has faced more than GSP has.

He tried to get up but Sonnen held him down.....Idk whats with this "he wanted to get outclassed by Sonnen" bs. He knew that Sonnen was gonna have his way with him wrestling wise and knew he probably would have to resort to getting a sub off his back. Either Mark Munoz was taking Silva down pretty well at his gym and knew Sonnen would do much better or he had no faith in Mark Munoz's wrestling compared to Sonnen and expected the worst.

I have never thought or said or implied that AS wanted a ground battle but I am sure he wanted a submission victory. He did not try very hard to stay on his feet and it may be because he was hurt as well.If it was a 50 round battle AS would have gotten a sub eventually since Sonnen could not dispose of him and was very near gassing in R5.

If that is a list of who's who in the UFC, I want some of what you're smoking. With the exception of Sonnen, it looks more like a list of 2nd tier fighters or top fighters who were past their prime (Henderson, Franklin) when they fought Anderson.



You say his nerves never rattle, yet admit in a previous section, that the Maia and Leites fights were "horrendous". Maybe you should look up the definition of the word 'never'.



I would say kicking you opponent in the leg for two rounds, and then dancing away for three rounds, pretending that it's not you who doesn't want to fight, isn't exactly a sign of mental strength.



Silva's two big records, the winning streak and the title defense streak, which are the only real argument left for Silva as the p4p king. And those are good arguments.



But the last time he looked impressive in a fight was against Forest over a year and a half ago. While I like Griffin, that isn't exactly setting the bar high.



People talk about how Silva finishes his fights and GSP doesn't, but it's actually 75% vs. 65%, so it's not that big a gap.



While I'd love to see Silva and GSP go at it, until they do we will have to figure it out other ways. The most accurate ways to measure p4p is partly past success, but also current form, including quality of opponents and how dominate the victories were.



Based on that, the only Anderson that tops the p4p ratings ins the 2009 version. Since then, he's slipped. Not far, maybe, but enough to lose the top spot and show that anyone who thinks he's still the p4p king is also still living in the past.

Well technically this article is correct. Silva deserves to be pound for pound purely because of his unbeaten streak and continuous title defenses. i mean what is it, 7 in a row now? that's ridiculous! you can say some of those were against poor opposition like maia and leites but a win is a win and when you consider the amount of pressure put on a champion, to be able to retain the belt for that long should really be enough to give him the top spot.



Also, i don't believe in the whole 'pound for pound' theory of fighters that move up weight classes deserving higher spots because that system only applies to guys like penn and silva and the rest would just theoretically be good at any weight. but if you need another reason and you use that system, then just look at what mockeries anderson made of guys at 205.



In all honesty, i think GSP is the better fighter and is more dominating in a tougher weight class. I also believe that if the two ever meet, GSP will win by taking Silva down like Sonnen did, and although Silva has subbed wrestlers before, none of them have been anywhere near as good as GSP in bjj. But, at the end of the day this is a sport and what matters most is winning and silva has done more of that for a longer time than gsp so i think you have to give him number one, as much as i don't like it. These things sort themselves out eventually in any case, either one of them will lose or they'll fight and we'll be able to definitively see who the best is.

how is forrest griffin not setting the bar high? former UFC LHW champion isnt setting the bar high? and his nevers didnt rattle against maia or leties because he was clearly just being an asshole, at no point was he nervous or scared of either of them, so yess his nerves NEVER rattle. and no GSP hasnt finished 65% of his fights so you need to get your facts straight my friend.



GSP has recycled his divison on several different occaisons so please dont talk about quality of opponents.

Soooo I guess your first paragraph also describes Nick Diaz, hes on a 8 fight win streak and holds a title lol

Maia was not a poor opponent. He would have beaten most other MWs. He finished Sonnen in what, the first round?

I agree. It should also be pointed out that there is a higher liklihood of a knock-out finish at higher weight classes due to simple physics.



This whole argument rests upon subjective judgement when you have two great fighters being compared--and it all depends upon which factors you use and how much weight you assign to each factor.



AS more consecutive defenses

GSP tougher division = higher quality wins

AS finish percentage higher

GSP more dominant every round

AS better striking and maybe BJJ

GSP better all-round

AS fought LHW

GSP fought more P4P top ten



My head hurts. Will this discussion never end?



They are both all-time great fighters.

except silva has fought franklin, henderson and sonnen, all of which are better than anyone diaz has beat. and silva currently holds the record for most consecutive wins in the ufc.

I'm getting tired of these articles. They are going no where.

I think they are funny!

They're "opinion" articles for the sake of winning a contest.

p4p contest will never be won. That's why it is opinion lol.

come on he didnt finish cote

Yeah because Cote was playing with AS the whole fight until that.lol.

A. silva nutuggers are so funny they weak anything that could be negative about their god. sorry but silva did not finish cote nor did he give any indication that he could. cote's knee blew out while attempting a superman punch and the fight was stopped by the doctor

Cote was a dog in a tiger cage. that fight was miserably easy for AS and he barely attempted to showcase his finishing abilities. he was flustered when that happened to Cote because you could tell he was building up to a finish or he was just going to coast a win since it was embarrassing to watch Cote believe he was legitimately the first guy to reach round 3 in the UFC with AS. Why bring Cote up just because he wasn't finished by AS as an arguement to compromise the p4p status when it was clearly lopsided in favour of AS?

Good try Blunts have another beer lol, but theres a bigger reason Anderson is staying in that current division and not LHW. It certainly isnt because Machida Peepee drinker is there. Anderson knows that division is weak(Sonnen...comeon man) He has a guge height and reach advantage there. Forrest and James Irving proved nothing to me, lets see how effective he is against guys like Rua who are fast, strong, good on the ground and know him well.

Peepee drinker? Come on Hype haha!

:D

Yea...rua is sooo strong that he tore apart his knee trying to grapple with forrest on the way to a loss. Apparently forrest is a joke even though he won that fight?

someone with skill and that hits hard. hes overdue for that. rampage, shogun, thiago silva, vera, bones. anyone on that list would be a good fight

Let's be honest, this is a tough call. GSP is the greatest ww of all time. Period. Anderson Silva (AS) is the greatest middleweight of all time. Period. GSP has been absoutely dominant since avenging his loss. He hasn't even been in danger in years. AS is the most accurate striker in ufc history. Every fighter who has took him down has been finished by submission. He holds the record in title defenses, finishing most #1 ufc championship contenders. All this and technically he had been outside of the conventional prime of 28-32 year old.



They are both elite even among other champions. I have to give a razor thin edge to GSP for not even sniffing danger in his title defenses after avenging his losses. His wrestling is god-like in mma. Takedown (TD) defense, successful wrestling shots, and effevtive BJJ top game is the smartest, safest way to prevail in mma matches. Now he's tightening up his boxing. Scary for challengers. AS has more of a killer instinct and he looks to finish with elite level kickboxing. He trusts his BJJ guard so much that he focuses on finishing on his feet and taking risks that expose him to TDs.



It's extremely close between these two greats. If the champs are willing, it's simply time. Neither are getting any younger and both are still at the top. The weight difference isn't as vast as many think. In the off training cycle AS gets up to 220 lbs. After training for the Maia fight, Silva's pre-cut weight was 192 lbs. Since taking up olympic powerlifting, GSP's pre-cut weight gets up to 185-190 lbs. Reach stats are comparable, too. For equity's sake both can meet in the middle at a catchweight of 177.5 lbs. Also, this leaves White with two champions to market no matter who wins. Make this 5 rounds and give both fighters plenty of time to train. This would be epic. Every fight fan in the world would follow this. No Pacquiao vs. Mayweather? Who cares? The UFC is delivering a best p4p match up for the ages.



Although Silva has fought at 170 lbs, with the weight cut, his age, and GSP's phenomenal wrestling; I think GSP would hold a slight edge. An edge that would increase with each passing round of survival. Still Silva's guard is nasty and he can always up-train his TD defense. It's tough to count this guy out.



Silva still has to get past a super dangerous Belfort. Shields and Okami will still challenge for belts next because this would be a catchweight non-title 5 round exhibition match. If both champs are willing to contend, the question all fight fans have to ask Dana White and Joe Silva is: "Why not, now?" Time is running out. Will history be denied this epic match up for the ages?

its all opinon based people need to relax.. this was purely for blogkick (:

I definitely think that AS is up there. I have him at #1 BUT here's some food for thought. Fedor I s basically a MW who refuses to get in shape. If he trimmed off the fat and left the muscle he would be an average MW. He has dominated the HEAVY WEIGHT division for ten years. If that isn't P4P greatness then I don't know what is. You could lay out some good arguments that right this minute he is not the P4P king but I think he may be the P4P GOAT in MMA.

Sure he can probably cut to 185 or 205. But there is something amazing at fighting at your natural weight. I'm not a fan of guys that cut 15 or 20 pounds to get an "edge". For some reason i think fighting at a natural weight is just healthier? I could be wrong, and probably am, but thats how i feel about cutting weight, just don't like it.

yeah cutting weight is really an unfair advantage as well cus on the day of the fight the fighter that cuts weight could outweigh the other by 10 or 15 pounds. lesnar was definitely pushing 280 for most of his fights. they should have the weigh ins on the day of the fight to stop this.

Yeah, I'm no fan of cutting but I don't think it is an unfair advantage. Almost everyone cuts and those who don't (Frankie Edgar) usually make up for it with extra energy on fight day. I don't like it because of the health risks. At HW not cutting and being small enough to easily make LHW without losing all the fat makes what Fedor does unbelievable. Brett Rogers (who I still think would be dangerous in the UFC) cuts to make 265 and Fedor layed him out. That would be like me, a natural 135er fighting Evangelista Cyborg and doing likewise and that just astounds me.

The scales should be at the side of the octagon and they get weighed right before the fight. I don't know why the UFC allows this practice of cutting, as it's quite unhealthy over the long term and encourages bad practice. I wouldn't expect them to tackle the issue though, just as they won't tackle steroid abuse in mma.

I agree 100% man.

In UFC every fighter is p4p not in fighting things like geting BOOOED in every fight or running like chicken or talking bull shitt.Shileds is better fighter than GSP and Anderson and best MW fighters are in SF.

Send me some of what ya smokin' koko

Everyone talks about how GSP dominates sooo much, buit silva could dominate the same 4 guys over and over as well. GSP has had 4 rematches already, with rematches against fitch and thiago VERY likely in the future...thats going to be 6 guys and a total of 10 matches.



Silva could fight the same guys over and over but im sure someone would say something. Someone would surely say something if he tried to ävenge" his losses.



Silvas wins are more impressive because he's always facing different challenges, and he doesn't play it safe. He beats opponents at their strengths instead of playing it safe with their weaknesses and waiting out the clock. He doesn't get bested when an opponent gains the advantage usually. He'll drop his hands and let himself get hit, he'll sit down into takedowns, he'll offer no resistsance because even when it's a clear danger, he has no fear and absolute faith in his abilities.



For that reason, he's better than GSP. And that's without bringing up weight changes.

you really think he lets people take him down?

Uhh yea. He'll be in a full sprawl and beat the takedown then suddenly he goes to his back. He did i against people that have actually beat him such as takase....and the first guy he lost to...and okami if you want to count him

That's because the WW is so stacked the same quality guys keep dominating at the top so GSP has to fight those dominating in the WW division. MW does not have that problem as Sonnen was a contender? When was the last time GSp faced a WW with the record of Sonnen? Nevermind getting owned for 20 minutes.

Durr if it was stacked then different guys would rise to the top...maybe someone should learn what stacked actually is? If a team in the NBA was stacked you wouldn't see just a couple of guys as a threat would you?



Your last question is pretty dumb. When was the last time GSP fought injured against a steroid abuser that possessed in his alledged weakness?

You miss the point. How if the MW division is stacked, does a journeyman fighter like Sonnen get a title shot?

Who said it was stacked?? Just because they dont recycle the same fighters over and over. And...like i ALREADY told you, there was simply noone else that could have stepped up at that time.



Who if not him would have fought?

After the Sonnen fight people have the perception that he does in fact have a weakness in the wrestling area. GSP on the other hand has no weakness, except for the fact he cannot finish. Personally I think it is quite likely Anderson was setting up that triangle for most of the fight, but he needs to beat Chael in a rematch again for alot of people to consider him #1. Although a convincing win over Vitor may do the trick.

So which is a bigger minus in a p4p comparison, struggle finishing or struggle with wrestling. In a fight that had no time limit the finisher would most likely win as he would have more opportunity to look for the weakness of his opponent while the guy who can't finish would need to depend on the failure of stamina in his opponent and the hope that when that happens he has the ability to do what he struggles with, a finish against someone who is very difficult to finish.

I'd say GSPs real weakness is standup or simply lack or finishing ability, andersons weakness is his own ****iness

I think if GSP was 6'3", walked around at 220 lbs. and had a 77.6 reach, and had the same skill set he has now, he would be P4P IMO.

PS. Just a reminder of the game in MMA.



All fights in a particular weight class are in reality the weight class above.



For example, Brian Stann weighed 186 pounds on weigh-in day, and weighed 205 lbs. on fight day.

He'd still have a striking weakness, still possess wins over the same people over and over, and still wouldn't fight in multiple weight classes. Realistically if silva swallowed his pride and put more effort into stuffing takedowns(maia,leites...even the start of fights he lost) then he possesses less weakness than GSP even if GSP was that size.

IMO Silva aint even top 3 p4p.

Top 5 p4p is

1.AS

2.AS at 205

3.AS at170

4.AS with cracked rib and bad game plan

5.Jose Aldo

how can you say that? dude hasnt lost in years. beaten everyone at middleweight, what more do you want?

I think guys like Edgar, GSP, Aldo to name but 3 have better all round skill sets.

PS. I'm not hating on Silva. he is a great fighter and a worthy hall of famer. he is top 10 p4p material. I just think because he has some highlight reel finishes many give him too much credit. His all round game has shown weaknesses at times, the kind of which does not put him in my top3 p4p. His technical stand up is probably the best in mma, though the way Sonnen knocked him down more than once that may no longer be the case. But just because he has the best stand up does not make him the best MMA fighter.