Will Anderson Silva go down as the Michael Jordan of MMA?

I didn't say those heavies fought Fedor. I said there names to show that the HW division is historically deeper than the MW division.

freakzilla wrote:

UFC MW Champions besides Anderson Silva-

Dave Menne
Murilo Bustamante
Evan Tanner
Rich Franklin

Yeah that's a great list

Besides Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson and maybe Franklin none are great in the MW division since the division was started.

HW has Fedor, Big Nog, Cro Cop, Couture, Barnett and Cain.

your forgetting a few guys:
Nate Marquardt who is the only fighter to ever win king of pancrase 7 times.
Vitor Belfort(who by the way cracks your top 5 in the division).
Kazushi Sakuraba, his resume speaks for itself.
Gegard Mousasi spent a good portion of his career at Middleweight.

Other notable fighters include:
Frank Shamrock
Yushin Okami
Jake Shields
Matt Lindland
Jose Landi-jons
Jeremy Horn
Paulo Filho

The MW division essentially never really existed before the reign of Franklin and then Anderson. The HW division on the other hand is the most historic and oldest division. No comparison. Anderson however is still one of the finest MMA fighters to have ever fought.

Marquardt and Mousasi are not great. Shamrock was mainly a LHW. The HW division is much better. Vitor spent a lot of time at LHW also.

freakzilla wrote:

I didn't say those heavies fought Fedor. I said there names to show that the HW division is historically deeper than the MW division.

How is it historically deeper if half of the guys you named were fighting at completely different times? By the time Fedor even began his career and before anyone knew who he was Barnett had already won and lost a major title. Nogueira too. Cain didn't enter MMA until 2006 and nobody knew who he was until 2008.

freakzilla wrote:

Marquardt and Mousasi are not great. Shamrock was mainly a LHW. The HW division is much better. Vitor spent a lot of time at LHW also.

I think they are both top notch dudes, but not accomplished enough to seriously make the MW division on par with all the legends of HW. Come on. All the best MW's are actually HW/LHWs themselves though like Sakuraba and Frank Shamrock. Anderson is the first all time great out of MW when HW has produced a load of them.

Couture spent a third of his entire career at Light Heavyweight so whats your point? It's not even close. Your only argument right now is "Heavyweight is much better" after dropping scattered names. Barnett is easily the biggest fuck up of anyone named in this thread.

Ludo just compare the lists of champions for the two divisions. The argument ends there. Man lol.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Ludo just compare the lists of champions for the two divisions. The argument ends there. Man lol.

+1.

Barnett is a better fighter than Okami and Marquardt. JDS is a much better number 2 than anyone at MW. Just look at the top 10's now for both divisions. Even Bisping is in the 8-12 rankings. Big Nog probably doesn't even make the 10 at HW.

Big Nog better be in the top ten after knocking Schaub's head off with that combination.

Nog isn't top 10 with the emergence of Cormier and Barnett starting to cement his position

freakzilla wrote:

Not anymore he isn't. At his peak Fedor is the GOAT.

At his peak, Fedor still wasn't Anderson Silva. He's the greatest to ever fight. He's done nothing but make fighters look like children sans Chael Sonnen for 6 years now

An example from 2004.

November 2004-

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Emelianeko Fedor
2. Minotauro Nogueira
3. Mirko Cro Cop
4. Frank Mir
5. Josh Barnett
6. Andrei Arlovksi
7. Tim Sylvia
8. Sergei Kharitonov
9. Heath Herring
10. Justin Eilers

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Anderson Silva
2. Jeremy Horn
3. Evan Tanner
4. Matt Lindland
5. David Terrell
6. Rich Franklin
7. Joe Riggs
8. Nathan Marquardt
9. Lee Murray
9 .Amar Suloev

bobbitt15 wrote:

freakzilla wrote:

Not anymore he isn't. At his peak Fedor is the GOAT.

At his peak, Fedor still wasn't Anderson Silva. He's the greatest to ever fight. He's done nothing but make fighters look like children sans Chael Sonnen for 6 years now

Fedor walks around about only 10 pounds heavier than Anderson yet he fights HW's while Anderson fights MW's. If Anderson had done what he did against the much more talented and bigger LHW's then you'd get no argument from me.

An example from 2001:

Rankings May 2001

HEAVYWEIGHT 205 lbs. and up (93 kg and up)
1. Coleman, Mark 155
2. Couture, Randy 131
3. Rizzo, Pedro 112
4. Vovchanchin, Igor 110
5. Fujita, Kazuyuki 85
6. Nogueira, Rodrigo "Minotauro" 84
7. Herring, Heath 52
8. Overeem, Valentijn 44
9. Kerr, Mark 38
10. Telligman, Tra 23


MIDDLEWEIGHT 170 - 184.9 lbs. (77.1 - 83.9 kg)
1. Sakuraba, Kazushi 156
2. Menne, Dave 138
3. Shamrock, Frank 113
4. Landi-Jons, Jose "Pele" 111
5. Lindland, Matt 79
6. Gracie, Renzo 77
7. Kikuta, Sanae 46
8. Filho, Paulo 31
9. Liborio, Ricardo 21
10. Doerkson, Joe 18
10. Minowa, Ikuhisa 18

freakzilla wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

freakzilla wrote:

Not anymore he isn't. At his peak Fedor is the GOAT.

At his peak, Fedor still wasn't Anderson Silva. He's the greatest to ever fight. He's done nothing but make fighters look like children sans Chael Sonnen for 6 years now

Fedor walks around about only 10 pounds heavier than Anderson yet he fights HW's while Anderson fights MW's. If Anderson had done what he did against the much more talented and bigger LHW's then you'd get no argument from me.

Anderson didn't always walk around at 225lbs. He started out as a Welterweight and only packed on extra mass in the last three or four years because he actually intended to fight at Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight.

I hope he keeps fighting. Fights with Le if he can beat Belfort somehow, and Rockhold now loom. I'd really like it if Le beat Belfort, because win or lose, Le has a style that would bring the most out in Anderson. I'd like to see Anderson against someone who actually can strike at a high level in pure striking. All he faces are BJJ guys and we already saw him kick Belfort's face in.

Rockhold is extremely explosive and athletic. He oozes talent and technique. He already appears to have great submissions and wrestling and striking. This guy is the best MW prospect since Anderson Silva.

Lol, getting a bit carried away aren't we Wolf? Rockhold is nowhere near ready for a fight against Anderson.

freak, im still trying to understand, how do u or any true mma/combat sports fan even consider barnett a true leggit fighter. Really. Guy needs juice to make up for talent. I give u cro cops loss to fedor even though his biggest win was over the juicer barnett but still. Come on, in the end fedors best wins wer over nog and timmy who now days cant compete against the elite. Andersons are destructions over hendo/franklin and vitor who to this day can compete against some of the elite. Sometimes it doesnt take 30+ fights to realize who really is great. Heck lesnar barely has over 5 fights under his belt and has beaten more elite/top 5 hws most top hws have or ever will be able to their entire career

You're trying to figure out how one of the most well rounded heavyweights in MMA history is legit? Good luck with that

He's believes everything Dana says.

whats legit about having to juice in order to compete. Many if not 80% of the fighters do it but not to the extent josh has. Add being caught with it not once but multiple times then it all makes sense. Add on not being responsible for it or wanting to face the consequences and it seals the deal

Due use the same argument when you say A-Rod or Clemens are not true legit baseball players?

oggy420 wrote:

Im not talking likeability or marketability really, even though Anderson clearly has both. Just pure dominance and standing out as clearly the best and most talented to ever compete in the sport.

Still feels like Fedor for someone like me. The playing field between GSP(cause yes he is in this discussion) and Silva gets closer as time goes on though. But my perspective is open and my view long. Joe Shmo can look at MMA events that happened only this year decide different from me and be more than satisfied with their conclusions, and that makes up a growing majority of people becoming 'familiar' with MMA.

I think in 50 years Fedor could be like the Wilt, Silva Magic, GSP Bird(who never dunks.,, get it), etc..... and a Jordan might not yet have emerged today.