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I think GSP > Silva for a few reasons:
GSP lost only two fights in his career, one against one of the all-time greats fighting in his prime, and one in which he just got hit with a haymaker. He beat every other fighter he faced, and cleared out his division.
Anderson has lost 10 times. Granted, six of those were when he was arguably “out of his prime”, but he still lost to two B-level fighters (Chonan and Takase), even when he was PED-ed up. He was also mauled by Sonnen for all but 30 seconds of their first fight – no one GSP ever faced beat him up like that.
Anderson gets points for moving up in weight, which GSP never did, but it’s a lot easier for a long, lanky striker to move up than for a 170 lb stocky grappler to move up and be at a big reach disadvantage against good strikers and grapplers that are probably walking around at 200 lbs +. GSP’s frame just isn’t made for that much weight, and any increase in power he would have gotten by moving up to 185 would have been more than offset by loss in speed, disadvantage in reach, etc.
Also, many of you may not remember, but back when Silva fought Forrest – which was an amazing performance, by the way – everyone (esp Dana) was upset that Silva “never really fought” (the prevailing sentiment was that Silva did just enough to win, but wouldn’t really engage; Dana pressured Silva to fight Forest because, in Dana’s words “Forrest will make him fight” – yes, that might sound strange given how many KO’s and TKO’s Silva had, but Dana was always critical of the way Anderson fought). Finally, Forrest was coming off a brutal loss to Rashad Evans before fighting Silva. A fight against, say, Chuck Liddel or Rashad after Forrest would have been a lot more impressive than a fight against Bonner.
Anderson also had a lot more drug-use issues than GSP ever did. About half of the Spider’s career was fighting in organizations that turned a blind eye to PED use. GSP had only five fights out of the UFC. Even within the UFC, Anderson’s drug use (suspected or actual) was arguably much greater than GSP’s.
Finally, the two fought a common opponent at roughly the same time: Silva couldn’t put Bisping away and lost a unanimous decision, and GSP choked him unconscious inside of three rounds. Yes, you can argue that Anderson was past his prime in 2016, but GSP was coming out of a four year retirement to fight a champ in a higher weight division than GSP had regularly competed in.
Both were smart fighters, and I agree that GSP picked his opponents more than Anderson did (GSP knew he could beat Bisping, but avoided moving up to fight Silva probably because Silva would have been able to keep the distance better and would have picked GSP apart from the outside). Silva was more willing to fight anyone, but that’s not necessarily the smart move (as his recent record shows). GSP retired on top and has been smart not to come back and fight people bigger and better than him just to stay active.
If the two had fought in their prime, I think the smart money would be on Silva, but if Sonnen, Hendo and others could take Silva down, GSP sure had a very good chance of doing that, and if the fight went to the ground I think GSP would have won a decision.
In every GOAT discussion, you have to factor in things besides records: Jones is the GOAT by record alone, but his legacy is going to be tainted by his behavior, not being willing to move up to fight at HW after clearing out LHW, and by recent lackluster performances. Anderson is a fighter’s fighter – willing to fight anyone, with great striking technique, and a person that will fight – win or lose – until he’s “forced to retire”, and he gets points for that. Silva genuinely loved fighting.
But GSP beat everyone but two fighters, one of which is a GOAT in his own right and the other of which landed a bomb (aka’s Weidman’s punch against Silva in their first fight), didn’t lose to second-tier fighters while drugging up, and came back after a long retirement to choke out a champ that had recently beaten Silva.
So, my vote for GOAT (between Silva and GSP) goes to St Pierre.
GSP lost only two fights in his career, one against one of the all-time greats fighting in his prime, and one in which he just got hit with a haymaker. He beat every other fighter he faced, and cleared out his division.
Anderson has lost 10 times. Granted, six of those were when he was arguably “out of his prime”, but he still lost to two B-level fighters (Chonan and Takase), even when he was PED-ed up. He was also mauled by Sonnen for all but 30 seconds of their first fight – no one GSP ever faced beat him up like that.
Anderson gets points for moving up in weight, which GSP never did, but it’s a lot easier for a long, lanky striker to move up than for a 170 lb stocky grappler to move up and be at a big reach disadvantage against good strikers and grapplers that are probably walking around at 200 lbs +. GSP’s frame just isn’t made for that much weight, and any increase in power he would have gotten by moving up to 185 would have been more than offset by loss in speed, disadvantage in reach, etc.
Also, many of you may not remember, but back when Silva fought Forrest – which was an amazing performance, by the way – everyone (esp Dana) was upset that Silva “never really fought” (the prevailing sentiment was that Silva did just enough to win, but wouldn’t really engage; Dana pressured Silva to fight Forest because, in Dana’s words “Forrest will make him fight” – yes, that might sound strange given how many KO’s and TKO’s Silva had, but Dana was always critical of the way Anderson fought). Finally, Forrest was coming off a brutal loss to Rashad Evans before fighting Silva. A fight against, say, Chuck Liddel or Rashad after Forrest would have been a lot more impressive than a fight against Bonner.
Anderson also had a lot more drug-use issues than GSP ever did. About half of the Spider’s career was fighting in organizations that turned a blind eye to PED use. GSP had only five fights out of the UFC. Even within the UFC, Anderson’s drug use (suspected or actual) was arguably much greater than GSP’s.
Finally, the two fought a common opponent at roughly the same time: Silva couldn’t put Bisping away and lost a unanimous decision, and GSP choked him unconscious inside of three rounds. Yes, you can argue that Anderson was past his prime in 2016, but GSP was coming out of a four year retirement to fight a champ in a higher weight division than GSP had regularly competed in.
Both were smart fighters, and I agree that GSP picked his opponents more than Anderson did (GSP knew he could beat Bisping, but avoided moving up to fight Silva probably because Silva would have been able to keep the distance better and would have picked GSP apart from the outside). Silva was more willing to fight anyone, but that’s not necessarily the smart move (as his recent record shows). GSP retired on top and has been smart not to come back and fight people bigger and better than him just to stay active.
If the two had fought in their prime, I think the smart money would be on Silva, but if Sonnen, Hendo and others could take Silva down, GSP sure had a very good chance of doing that, and if the fight went to the ground I think GSP would have won a decision.
In every GOAT discussion, you have to factor in things besides records: Jones is the GOAT by record alone, but his legacy is going to be tainted by his behavior, not being willing to move up to fight at HW after clearing out LHW, and by recent lackluster performances. Anderson is a fighter’s fighter – willing to fight anyone, with great striking technique, and a person that will fight – win or lose – until he’s “forced to retire”, and he gets points for that. Silva genuinely loved fighting.
But GSP beat everyone but two fighters, one of which is a GOAT in his own right and the other of which landed a bomb (aka’s Weidman’s punch against Silva in their first fight), didn’t lose to second-tier fighters while drugging up, and came back after a long retirement to choke out a champ that had recently beaten Silva.
So, my vote for GOAT (between Silva and GSP) goes to St Pierre.
