Ask some mixed martial arts fans about the greatest fighter of all time and the answers are 100 percent guaranteed to vary.
Randy Couture, Fedor Emelianenko and Chuck Liddell are just a few of the names on the short list.
Heck, some might put Georges St. Pierre in the running nowadays and many anticipate a claim for UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones by the time his career’s out.
But inevitably the argument always shifts to the most enigmatic name in the sport: Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
You’ve heard it all before: pound-for-pound the undisputed king of MMA; 13-0 in the UFC; the only world champion in combat sports to walk out of eight consecutive title fights as undisputed 185-pound world champion.
Despite clowning the outmatched Demian Maia at UFC 112, fighting a rather smart fight with conservative training ally Thales Leites and surviving nearly 25 anatomically fatiguing minutes with Chael Sonnen, Andersen still is argued as possibly the greatest fighter in the illustrious existence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
He gets Yushin Okami at UFC 134 this Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, anywhere from a nine to 13-hour drive from Silva’s home in Curitiba.
Once again, it is the popular opinion that Okami will beat him as most of Okami’s wins came outside of the U.S.
Will a legitimate loss to Okami shut down the hype of Silva being the greatest fighter of all time?
No, it will not, partially because Okami’s not getting that win.
Yes, Sonnen laid the groundwork to push Silva to his breaking point—albeit with abnormally high testosterone levels attributed to TRT, which Sonnen claims he needs—but at the end of the day, Okami is not Sonnen.
Even with a takedown or two, or even a few brushing blows, Silva’s not going to be in any position that he hasn’t already seen.
The consensus is that Okami is all sizzle and no steak when it comes to besting Silva in any aspect of the sport.
Sonnen won’t be at UFC 134, but he claims Okami will do what he almost did by beating Silva.
That very claim of victory over Silva is exactly where his faithful’s constant “greatest of all time” claims originate.
Yes, the Curtis Stout win was nothing more than proof that Silva is capable of great ground and pound. But victories over the likes on Tony Fryklund, Alexander Otsuka and Roan Carneiro aren’t easy to dismiss.
Nobody was using the “he’s not that good” argument for those fighters when Silva fought them.
Hard to believe that this is the same guy that tapped out twice and lost a decision before the DQ loss to Okami, isn’t it?
Not only has Silva defeated credible fighters in their best days in the sport while shutting down some future notables in their “prospect stages,” but there’s also the men he’s beaten in the UFC.
Chris Leben, Rich Franklin, and Forrest Griffin are just few of the many that all said in their own way that they were going to be the man to defeat Silva before they fought him.
While the ill-timed, illegal upkick at Rumble On The Rock 8 led to Okami becoming technically the last man to beat Silva, nobody has decisively done it.
One has come close, but he tapped out in the fifth round and his solid efforts have since only served as a testament to the heart and endurance of Silva.
If Okami does win, the expectation is that he will not put Silva in legitimate danger and will smother Silva until the ringside judges give Okami his rounds—hence, the hopes of a Silva win have never been higher than they seem now.
Yes, Okami has the recipe to beat Silva with his wrestling game. But what makes anyone think that he’ll be able to do in five to 15 minutes what his training partner could not do in the full 25 minutes of championship action?
Silva has proven to be mortal, but he has also proven to be probably as intelligent a mortal menace as any percentage of wrestlers in MMA.
Every time someone appears to showcase the blueprint to finish Silva, he finds a way to shut them down. On multiple occasions, he’s finished fights with something that no one outside of his own camp could have honestly predicted.
Regardless of whether he avenges his DQ loss to Okami in front of his homeland or not, Silva has to go down as one of the top 10 greatest fighters, if not the greatest of all time.
But considering Silva’s track record since he entered the UFC, expect him to pull off the unexpected in avenging his loss and cementing his stature as the greatest fighter in MMA, bar none.
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