Anderson Silva | The Greatest Mixed Martial Artist of All Time
SteemSports Presenter: @brandonk
SteemSports Editor: @theprophet0
The prowess of the spider will never be matched inside a mixed martial arts cage. The octagon retrieved this Brazilian phenom in early 2006, and with his dispatching of one of the toughest men the UFC had ever seen (in Chris Leben) in under a round he showed everyone his skill.
Anderson was a supestar off the bat, and he was able to finish the elite of the elite as they were thrown at him. Silve still holds the longest streak in UFC history with 16 wins straight, and the way he finished men in the cage was so supremely spectacular... who knows if anyone else can emulate him.
The combination of muay thai and karate, Silva was the most deceptive of fighters. He would lull fighters (and sometimes fans) to sleep with a strategy to bait, and finish. Right before every Silva finish there is a moment of calm, and then BANG... it is all over (as Mike Goldberg would say).
Who else has the resume or credentials of Anderson Silva? I can answer that in one word: nobody. Legends who are still fighting strong such as Dan Henderson, Demian Maia, and Thales Leites were all dismantled in their primes by the devastating Anderson Silva.
The middleweight champion reigned for nearly a decade before a young gun named Chris Weidman took that mantle. Nobody will ever match the way Anderson finished Forest, Vitor, Dan... these are Hall of Famers who went on to finish the elite of their divisions...
I can go on forever as to why Anderson is still the greatest, and beyond the performance enhancers and allegations that somewhat tarnished his record... nothing replaces emotion, nothing replaces nostalgia, and nothing replaces the feeling when I first saw Anderson go on his run. He is the greatest of all time.
Silva was wayyyyy ahead of his time man!
Absolutely.
For me Anderson is 2nd behind GSP in terms of the greatest of all time.
It's a shame for Silva his legacy has been tarnished and part of me still gives him the benefit of a doubt that his positive tests may have been something to do with the leg break rather than him being on the juice his whole career. I am not a doctor though so don't know if there is anything in that or not.
GSP just had an atrocious style in my opinion, I always dreaded his fights. I also think he abused PEDs, but who am I to say anything..
Yeah he didn't finish his opponents as spectacular as Silva that's for sure. The PED stuff we will likely never know, I doubt it though personally.
thanks @steemsports for that post
thanks @steemsports for that post
Huhuu