Total-MMA.com

By: Bill Thompson

The best is something that can be very fluid. Sometimes what is the best can be quantified, and other times it can’t. Within MMA the best in a certain division can be quantified by taking a look at results within that division. However, how does one quantify the best current fighter in all of MMA? Or the best fighter ever in MMA? I don’t really believe there is a way to quantify either in an exact non-contentious fashion, and that is why in the latter category you will get one person arguing for Frank Shamrock, another for Randy Couture, one person for Matt Hughes, and yet another for Fedor Emelianenko. As of this past Saturday a new name has entered that mix, Anderson Silva. A few years ago I never would have thought this was possible, and then Silva amped up his game and started his current run. But, does Silva really qualify as the best of all time in the short lived history of MMA, or am I a bit ahead of myself? Let’s take a look, shall we.

Silva started his career as a lanky and gaunt 165 pound fighter that had barely a muscle on his body and looked like he would break if you touched him. He was a pure striker, but he was still an unrefined striker. Silva had no wrestling to speak of, his ground game was less than average, and his striking while impressive wasn’t exactly something to write home about. A fighter that comes into the sport looking like that doesn’t seem to be long for the road. A funny thing happened with Silva, all he did was win, and win against big name opponents. Lost amid all the fervor that currently associates Silva is just what he accomplished before he hit his current stride. Silva was able to rack off wins over Alex Stiebling, Hayato Sakurai, Roan Carneiro, and Tetsuji Kato en route to laying claim to being the linear number one welterweight in the world. Silva did so with little more than his striking acumen and the rough shod style of Chute Boxe to back him up. At this point in his career Silva had already accomplished far more than he ever should have, then he moved up to the middleweight division and left Chute Boxe and that is when his ride really began.

Silva worked diligently at his striking and his ground game. He acquired a rep for having some of the nastiest stand-up in the game, but he still had yet to garner the toughness and smarts to go along with his natural striking abilities. Silva also worked very hard on his ground game, but since he never showcased much more than a decent defensive guard many people doubted how good he actually was, myself included. A couple of weird submission losses to less than stellar talent in Pride did not help to dissuade people from thinking his ground game wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. But, even with that he was still able to knock out Carlos Newton & Jorge Rivera and garner impressive decision victories over Lee Murray and Jeremy Horn. Now Silva was making a name for himself in the middleweight division, he was the man that deserved to be in there with the best. It wasn’t that he was a killer that would destroy everyone, but rather that he had shown that he deserved a shot at the best of the best.

It was at this point in Silva’s career that he entered in the Rumble On The Rock catchweight tournament at a 175 pounds. It was a chance to for Silva to prove himself on a bit of a middle ground. He would impress against both welterweights and middleweights and show the UFC all that he had to offer while knocking off some big names in the process. Silva was en route to possibly doing just that as he was supplying a bit of a thrashing to a top middleweight prospect in Yushin Okami. Unfortunately that was when controversy reared its ugly head. Silva landed a kick to Okami that was deemed illegal by the ROTR officials. This was controversial because it took the officials five minutes worth of deliberation to determine that the kick was illegal and even then they could not provide any actual evidence from their own rule book that stated it as being illegal. Alas, Silva was disqualified and his chance at showing everyone just how good he really was appeared to have been lost.

Luckily for Silva even with the controversy of the ROTR event there was now a real buzz about him. People still weren’t acknowledging his accomplishments at welterweight, but at least now they were recognizing him as one of the best strikers in all of MMA that was training with some good people in the Nogueira Brothers, had improved his ground game and had a host of results to back up why he deserved to be given a shot in the big time. The UFC took a chance, and they signed Silva to a deal. This was what Silva had been waiting for his entire career, and this was his chance to validate just how good he believed he had become as a fighter. And boy, did Silva manage to validate just how good he really was. Chris Leben was knocked out in under a minute, UFC middleweight champion and possible top middleweight in the world Rich Franklin was knocked out by Silva in a little under three minutes in their first encounter. In their rematch Franklin managed to last into the second round, but Silva made him look foolish and outclassed for as long as he lasted and still sent him crumpling to the mat early in the second. Travis Lutter looked ready to expose the weakness that we all still thought Silva had when he took Silva down and was controlling him, but then a funny thing happened. Silva showed that maybe his jiu-jitsu credentials were legitimate and not fake like is so often found in fighters nowadays, as he locked in a triangle choke and forced Lutter to tap. Finally he outstruck and outgrappled fellow top 10 middleweight Nate Marquardt for the majority of the first round of their contest before the bout was finally called to a stop while Silva unleashed a barrage of strikes to Nate’s downed form. All of these fights showed Silva at his best, but yet, there were still doubters.

That all changed this Saturday night, as Silva squared off with an all time MMA great and top fighter at both middleweight and light heavyweight in Dan Henderson. Silva showed his usual striking acumen, but he showed good ground defense as he weathered an early Henderson top control session. The second round saw Silva hurt Henderson standing and then blitz him on the ground until he was able to secure a rear naked choke for the tap out victory. This fight truly showcased how great Silva has become and how great he may truly be in the pantheon of MMA. His striking was superb as usual, and more importantly he showed how much better his striking has become with the smarts and toughness he has gained as his career has progressed. He showed that the Lutter fight was no fluke as he controlled Henderson at will on the ground in the second. But, perhaps most importantly he was able to stuff some of Henderson’s takedowns and hang with him wrestling wise, showing that by far the weakest aspect of Silva’s skill set has improved by leaps and bounds as well. Silva has the results, both recently and historically. He has the talent, he has the “it” factor, he has all the intangibles you could ask for, and that is why Silva is the best this young sport has ever seen.

An argument can be made for any of the fighters I listed in my opening paragraph- Shamrock, Hughes, Fedor, Couture- being the best the sport has ever seen, but I am not here to argue for them. Rather what I have done is present the argument for Silva and why he is truly the best that this sport has ever seen. He is a very accomplished fighter, right up there with those men, he can lay claim to being the worlds number one in two different weight classes and he has championship belts to boot. Stylistically he is as well rounded of a fighter as you will ever find, but his striking has proven to be light years ahead of anyone else in the sport. Results wise he matches up with and is better than all but Hughes and Couture, and is dead even with them.. He has wins over a litany of top 10 opponents, but it’s not even that he has wins over them. What separates Silva from the rest is how he wins. On his resume you will see a few decisions, but that will be followed a series of knockouts and submission victories. Silva doesn’t just win, he wins in spectacular fashion and usually in a fast manner. Who knows how long this ride will last, a fighters shelf life is notoriously short after all. But, all I know is that I am enjoying watching pure greatness every time he steps into the cage, and you should as well. After all it’s not every day that you get to see the best fighter of all time in his prime at the height of the sport, enjoy it while you can.