UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva is the greatest mixed martial artist on planet Earth today, and quite possibly of all-time. Of this I have no doubt. And I’m honestly not convinced there’s anyone in the world today who could beat him.
So why, then, am I writing an article about guys who have the tools to dethrone The Spider?
Well, for one, no one is unbeatable. Anyone who follows MMA (or sports in general) knows that anything can happen. Two, while I wouldn’t put money on anyone defeating Silva, there are some guys who because of their physical talents or fighting styles do measure up favorably against The Spider.
Here are those five guys. A couple ground rules: I only considered middleweights, light heavyweights and welterweights who could move up to middleweight (guess who that is!), because those are the three categories of fighter who could actually meet Silva in a cage. In addition, given the fluid world of MMA promotions and the drawing power of the UFC, I considered guys from across the sport, not just those currently working in the Octagon.