LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 31: Anderson Silva of Brazil reacts after his loss to Uriah Hall in a middleweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 31, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
The Anatomy of The GOAT: Anderson Silva
With the retirement of Anderson Silva, Daniel Cormier, Henry Cejudo, and Khabib Nurmagomedov, there have been tons of talk around who the MMA GOAT is. Last month, we talked about how after Khabib, the MMA universe has moved past one singular GOAT and moved into eras of GOATs. But now, a big conversation has been brought up about the GOAT debate.
It’s no secret that Anderson Silva has struggled at the end of his career. Since beating Stephan Bonnar, his last successful title defense, Silva has gone 1-7 with 1 no contest. Silva was often linked in with the best ever as he was in prime. But, as those losses piled up, Silva’s name was mentioned less and less among the greats of the sports. He was passed up by Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, and more recently Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Some members of the media have made the assertion that despite his struggles at the end of his career, Anderson Silva is one of the greatest ever. I don’t believe that to be true. When assessing an athlete in any sport, the entire body of work must be taken into consideration.
Anderson Silva and Michael Jordan
When comparing Anderson Silva to the greats, the entire body of work is absolutely important. Like it or not, Anderson Silva lost those fights. He lost to Michael Bisping. He couldn’t get it done against Israel Adesanya. He was knocked out against Uriah Hall. Every loss Anderson Silva suffered counts towards Silva’s GOAT argument.
Michael Jordan famously went six for six when in the NBA Finals. When in the GOAT basketball debate, it’s often LeBron James who is being compared with Jordan. LeBron is 4-7 in his appearances in the NBA Finals and it’s that stat that Jordan fans point to that discounts him against Jordan.
When comparing to Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, and Khabib Nurmagomedov, you HAVE to count the losses in Anderson Silva’s post-championship career. He is in line with BJ Penn, Cain Velasquez, and Chuck Liddell as fighters who have peaked and were insanely talented and peaked for a while, but hung on just a bit too long.
Think about it, if Floyd Mayweather came back to box and put his 50-0 record on the line, and he lost a rematch to Canelo and to Lomachenko, and then a couple others to something even wilder, like Berto or someone, his argument as best ever would erode. He would fall back to behind Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson firmly.
It is the full body of work that has Mayweather up there with Ali, Marciano and Robinson instead of the second tier fighters like Mike Tyson, Harry Greb, and such who just hung on a little too long.
That is why Silva has fallen out of favor with MMA GOAT debates. Fans know that with how good athletes have become, four and five losses at the end of a career really matter. It matters when you quit. Swan songs like Khabib riding off in the distance, or Georges St-Pierre, or Henry Cejudo even, have changed the definition of what a GOAT is.
