He definitely has a chance against all of them, but unless he adds a lot of weight to his fight night frame it would be very touch to beat like you say, Carwin and Lesnar. IMO it would be very tough to beat Cain as well because well, Cains a beast.

 

So pretty much I think he has a chance to beat any of them, but the ones I bolded are the ones I feel he could no doubt win. The others would be toss ups, pretty much a on any given night scenario, but in a best of 10 I could see them strategically getting the best out of Silva 6/10 times but thats just because of size and wrestling ability. If Silva could get up to about a 220 lbs fight size and keep most of his speed and quickness then its a different story. But at his size and at their size as it stands it would be tough.

 

You'll get no argument with me. I think he would struggle with Cain's wrestling ability.

 

I think he'd have a pretty good shot at beating any of the guys from 7-15. And, above that, I think he'd have a pretty good shot at beating Fedor and Werdum at least, possibly Dos Santos. The three big wrestlers would be much more difficult.

 

For the sake of this discussion, I'm pretty much assuming that Anderson can bulk up a little and maintain his same level of ability.

Honestly, I don't know about that one. Nelson can take a shot, heck he took multiple ones from Dos Santos, plus he can wrestle and his BJJ is pretty good. The size differences + wrestling + good top game = problems for Silva.

1 Cain Velasquez 99 UFC 1

2 Brock Lesnar 91 UFC 2

3 Fedor Emelianenko 89 M-1 Global / Strikeforce 3

4 Fabricio Werdum 87 Strikeforce 4

5 Junior Dos Santos 85 UFC 5

6 Shane Carwin 82 UFC 6

7 Alistair Overeem 77 Strikeforce 8

8 Frank Mir 75 UFC 7

9 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 69 UFC 9

10 Antonio Silva 54 Strikeforce 10

11 Josh Barnett 46 Strikeforce 11

12 Brett Rogers 39 Strikeforce 12

13 Brendan Schaub 36 UFC 13

14 Roy Nelson 34 UFC 14

15 Cheick Kongo 29 UFC 15

 

 

USA today rankings, pick who you'd think he'd beat. This is a great debate.

 

Anderson Silva has knock out power in his hands, knees and feet. He can also submit you from his back. He has a shot against anyone in the world, including every heavy weight on your list. Does that mean he'd beat everyone of them? No way to know unless he fought every single one of them. But I'd give him a shot against every one of them.

Anderson Silva has knock out power in his hands, knees and feet. He can also submit you from his back. He has a shot against anyone in the world, including every heavy weight on your list. Does that mean he'd beat everyone of them? No way to know unless he fought every single one of them. But I'd give him a shot against every one of them.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

Couldn't say it better except I'd add KO power in his elbows. There is a reason Silva is the baddest man alive.

 

I do agree with 5wide that the three big wrestlers are the most difficult match ups for him.

 

One thing that seems to be lost in the discussion is Silva's walk-around-weight. I've seen 220 mentioned in this thread as the "magic number", well he walks around at 220ish, so it's not out-of-the-realm to think he can't bulk up to a 220 fight weight or even higher. Silva cuts a ton to get to 185.

Sounds like even if Anderson beats GSP he isnt leaving the middleweight division. Bummer for us fans.

 

Sounds like even if Anderson beats GSP he isnt leaving the middleweight division. Bummer for us fans.

 

That's what he says now. $$$ talks and I don't see how Dana can justify him staying if he decisively beats GSP. Plus it would look bad for him to talk about moving up after the GSP fight until AFTER the GSP fight...

:thumb: :thumb:

 

Couldn't say it better except I'd add KO power in his elbows. There is a reason Silva is the baddest man alive.

 

I do agree with 5wide that the three big wrestlers are the most difficult match ups for him.

 

One thing that seems to be lost in the discussion is Silva's walk-around-weight. I've seen 220 mentioned in this thread as the "magic number", well he walks around at 220ish, so it's not out-of-the-realm to think he can't bulk up to a 220 fight weight or even higher. Silva cuts a ton to get to 185.

 

Yes he does, but you do realize that every single one of those guys listed have KO power in their hands and its one shot power. Him fighting above 185 would also have an affect on his speed and reaction time.

 

Look, he is a bad man. He is better than a lot of his haters give him credit for, but he is not as good as a lot of his fans says he is. He is somewhere in the middle.

I'm just glad that it looks like this fights going to happen. Hopefully Shields don't blow it for everybody and pull the Matt Serra. Also hope there isn't any kind of Mayweather Pacquio stuff that goes on, but at this point it looks like we are good to go barring a Shields victory. Not sure what you would consider the biggest UFC fight up until this point, several come to mind, but when really looking at it, this has to be the biggest fight the UFC has ever done. Two champions, both rated pound for pound among the best in the world, both who have cleared out their respective divisions with a streak of title defenses, both can be considered the worlds most dangerous man, and both at the peak of their careers. What more could you want in a fight? To me this fight is everything that Lesnar and Fedor was supposed to be.

I'm just glad that it looks like this fights going to happen. Hopefully Shields don't blow it for everybody and pull the Matt Serra. Also hope there isn't any kind of Mayweather Pacquio stuff that goes on, but at this point it looks like we are good to go barring a Shields victory. Not sure what you would consider the biggest UFC fight up until this point, several come to mind, but when really looking at it, this has to be the biggest fight the UFC has ever done. Two champions, both rated pound for pound among the best in the world, both who have cleared out their respective divisions with a streak of title defenses, both can be considered the worlds most dangerous man, and both at the peak of their careers. What more could you want in a fight? To me this fight is everything that Lesnar and Fedor was supposed to be.

 

I like this thought, going to "borrow" it for a thread topic.

Yes he does, but you do realize that every single one of those guys listed have KO power in their hands and its one shot power. Him fighting above 185 would also have an affect on his speed and reaction time.

 

Look, he is a bad man. He is better than a lot of his haters give him credit for, but he is not as good as a lot of his fans says he is. He is somewhere in the middle.

 

He's by far the best middleweight in the UFC. That's about all anyone can say for sure. The rest is opinion. Nobody knows how changing weight classes will affect any fighter until it happens. Silva's performances in his two fights at LHW certainly prove that he didn't sacrifice any ability in that jump. The fact is, no one has dominated a division any more thoroughly or in more exciting fashion than he has, and topped it off by embarassing two guys in a higher weight class, one of whom was a former champion of that division. I think Silva's fans have far more support for their argument than his haters, who typically claim the MW division is weak or point to his performances against Lutter and Sonnen, fights that he ultimately won. The weak class argument is weak. His victim list is as impressive as anyone in MMA during his span in the UFC.

To compare Silva vs. St. Pierre since Silva arrived in the UFC...

 

Silva = 13-0, 8 (T)KO's, 3 Sub.

Chris Leben - KO (1st Round)

Rich Franklin - KO (1st Round)

Travis Lutter - Submission (2nd Round)

Nate Marquardt - TKO (1st Round)

Rich Franklin - TKO (2nd Round)

Dan Henderson - Submission (2nd Round)

Jame Irvin - KO (1st Round)

Patrick Cote - TKO (3rd Round...knee injury)

Thales Leites - Unanimous Decision

Forrest Griffin - KO (1st Round)

Demian Maia - Unanimous Decision

Chael Sonnen - Submission (5th Round)

Vitor Belfort - KO (1st Round)

 

 

GSP = 10-1, 4 (T)KO's, 1 Sub.

BJ Penn - Split Decision

Matt Hughes - TKO (2nd Round)

Matt Serra, L - TKO (1st Round)

Josh Koscheck - Unanimous Decision

Matt Hughes - Submission (2nd Round)

Matt Serra - TKO (2nd Round)

Jon Fitch - Unanimous Decision

BJ Penn - TKO (4th Round)

Thiago Alves - Unanimous Decision

Dan Hardy - Unanimous Decision

Josh Koscheck - Unanimous Decision