My Take On The Debate, Anderson Silva Is World's Best.

by NCSAR on Dec 13, 2010 11:55 AM EST

Who is the world’s best pound for pound fighter? What a difference a few days, one fight, and hype will do for a ranking. George St. Pierre is without a doubt the best Canadian fighter ever. He is arguably the most popular Canadian sports star since Wayne Gretzky, but does a decision win over Josh Koscheck put him in rarefied air as the world’s best?

The link is to MMAOpinion where more is posted.

This question is more of a riddle, puzzle, or brain teaser. More of a personal preference than right or wrong question. How can someone determine who is the best between two incredible fighters that are both future Hall of Famers, seem to be untouchable, whose styles are so different?

I think not!

This is like asking who would you rather have at QB Peyton or Tom…There really is no wrong answer. Peyton….

To help us determine the P4P best, we will look at their last 5 fights.

GSP

1: Josh Koscheck by Unanimous Decision (UFC 124)

2: Dan Hardy by Unanimous Decision (UFC 111)

3: Thiago Alves by Unanimous Decision (UFC 100)

4: BJ Penn by TKO/ Ref Stoppage (UFC 94)

5: John Fitch by Unanimous Decision (UFC 87)

**GSP’s last loss was to Matt Serra (UFC 69, April 2007)**

Anderson Silva

1: Chael Sonnen by submission (UFC 117)

2: Demian Maia by Unanimous Decision (UFC 112)

3: Forrest Griffin by KO (UFC 101)

4: Thales Leites by Unanimous Decision (UFC 97)

5: Patrick Cote by Injury Stoppage (UFC 90)

**Silva’s last loss was to Yushin Okami due to illegal kicks (Rumble on the rock, January 2006)**

On paper the wins by GSP are better until you look at how the fight was finished. The largest chink (and its really not a fault) in GSP’s armor is that he doesn’t always finish fights. He is a very intelligent fighters that is more concerned with winning than highlights. Similar to an old school point guard, this is a great testament to his character and what he is attempting to accomplish as a Mixed Martial Artist.

Anderson Silva could have just been THAT much better than his competition. He rarely went to decision in this stretch and when he did it was because his challengerswere running from him! Sure, he was in deep trouble against Sonnen, but on paper all you see is a win. Champions find a way to win, and that is what he did.

What do you guys think? Can we learn anything by the records or is it an apple to orange comparison?

Poll Who is the world's best P4P fighter?

GSP
Anderson Silva
Fedor
Jose Aldo

0 votes | Results

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

GSP is tops right now.

1) Silva is inconsistent. The Leites and Maia fights are a huge question mark. GSP is consistent. Ever since the Serra loss, he has always showed up. Always. It says something about a fighter who always brings his A game.

2) GSP has never lost a single round since the first Koscheck fight.

3) Silva got dominated by Sonnen. Of course Chael pissing hot sullies the performance, but the fact remains, you have never seen GSP handled like that. He has dominated to the point where the talent and skill gap between him and the rest of the division isn’t even close.

4) Finishing fights is important, but not more than dominantly destroying your opposition every minute of every round.

5) You said it yourself. You put GSP’s record against Silva’s, GSP has had the better competition in the UFC. Cote, Leites, Maia – these guys, according to everyone, didn’t belong in the cage with Silva. With GSP, the only knock is Hardy.

6) However. If Silva moves up to LHW and gets the title, it will eclipse anything GSP has done to date, because LHW is THE division to be champ in.

by pud333 on Dec 14, 2010 2:32 AM EST reply actions

You are not destroying anyone if they can still fight in the next round.

John
RAIDERS - AS ROMA - CUBS - WARRIORS - MUAY THAI - HIP HOP
~R.I.P. Patrick Patterson~

by Ionnes on Dec 14, 2010 5:41 PM EST up reply actions

This is just a dumb comment.

If you don’t think GSP physically and mentally brutallized his opponents, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

by pud333 on Dec 14, 2010 6:28 PM EST up reply actions

Beating them and destroying them are two different things.

Finish him somebody and I call that destruction.

John
RAIDERS - AS ROMA - CUBS - WARRIORS - MUAY THAI - HIP HOP
~R.I.P. Patrick Patterson~

by Ionnes on Dec 16, 2010 11:59 PM EST up reply actions

A finish is punctuation, it's not the body/substance of the sentence.

Sonnen was far more impressive in Anderson’s last title defense for five rounds than anyone has managed to be in one round against GSP over his last half dozen fights.

GSP is more impressive in the sense that he outclasses everyone so clearly and so definitively, that there is absolutely zero doubt who the best fighter is when they walk out of the cage. Everyone had serious doubt as to whether or not Silva is/was better than Sonnen after their fight.

Anderson left us plenty of doubt with the Leites fight, the Maia fight and especially the Sonnen fight. We don’t necessarily doubt that he’s very good or a hall of famer, but we begin to doubt just how much better is he than the rest of the field. Sonnen walked through most of his best shots and even gave a few real rattlers of his own to Silva in the early going. Anderson was apparently terrified of both Leites and Maia on the ground, also.

GSP hasn’t shown an unwillingness to engage in any given position or situation. And when things aren’t going his way in a given position, he changes the position to a me favorable one. Anderson has shown he doesn’t like to be on the ground, and will refuse to engage there with a high-level grappler if he is allowed to dictate.

I’ve gotta go with GSP today. Andy’s body of work is probably more flashy, and it’s possible to even define it as more entertaining or historic. But GSP is the most dominant fighter in MMA today, and the gap is only growing.

Stranded In Paradise

by misterjonez on Dec 17, 2010 5:02 AM EST up reply actions