Anderson in his prime was far and away the best MW fighter ever... Maybe best fighter ever.

ColombianFist said:
MW Great but he always fought guys who were suited for his style, then again it wasn't his fault, that's what the MW division was at that time. Once age and new more deadlier contenders appeared those holes were more predominant.
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I still can't believe he got that kick on Vitor...would like to see them fight again maybe..both uncorked and untested though lol...
 
Everyone deserves at least a half dozen "second chances".
America loves a good comeback story...
bunnycoke.gif
 
Magnum1978 said:
Maia right now I wouldn't consider a 1D BJJ guy, but I would when Anderson fought him, as well as being undersized.

Alves is more of a jack of all trades but at the time was pretty feared, he was 10-1 prior to GSP just beating solid wrestlers Hughes and Kos. At least as good as someone like Okami comparatively. Hardy I didn't mention, I agree he's 1D and had zero chance against GSP. Serra I didn't mention.

Hughes is absolutely not 1D, having a very good ground game. Shields also. Fitch also.

I'm not grasping at straws I'm just suggesting that Anderson's run was favoured by having minimal other guys in the division at the time that were lesser likely able to expose his weaknesses, or do anything with them. The demographics suited his style.

If he was instead fed a steady diet of say, middleweight versions of Shields, Hughes, Kos, Fitch, Hendricks, etc. then perhaps he would have not had the success he had. That's all I'm saying.
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Alves has no ground game, he depends on striking to win. Kinda like Vitor, but Vitor has a better ground game

Hughes, Fitch, and Shields have absolutely no standup at all. They depend on grappling to win. Kinda like Maia, Okami, and Leites

Kos and Hendricks are like Hendo

They have very similar competition with very similar skillsets. Only difference is Anderson finished his fights and GSP dominated his for 5 rounds
 
Mamou said:
Alves has no ground game, he depends on striking to win. Kinda like Vitor, but Vitor has a better ground game

Hughes, Fitch, and Shields have absolutely no standup at all. They depend on grappling to win. Kinda like Maia, Okami, and Leites

Kos and Hendricks are like Hendo

They have very similar competition with very similar skillsets. Only difference is Anderson finished his fights and GSP dominated his for 5 rounds
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Vitor's better than Alves, though Alves was pretty decent at the time GSP fought him

Vitor's a better win than Alves

I don't think you're quite grasping what I'm saying. Guys like Hughes, Fitch and Shields would be much tougher fights for Anderson than Maia Okami and Leites - as they all have WRESTLING, Okami had ok wrestling at best, not offensive wrestling. Maia had limited wrestling ability back then, was generally green as an MMA fighter and was undersized at MW. Actually putting Andy on his back is what Maia Okami and Leites couldn't do (hence the stylistic advantages I'm making my point about)

Sonnen and Weidman were the only guys with actually decent offensive shoot wrestling that Anderson fought and was put on his back in both fights. A MW sized hughes doesn't need striking just like Sonnen didn't, but hughes was a MUCH better fighter than Sonnen with a great ground game (fought at ADCC level) and could pass. submit and GnP. That's the difference

Stack more Sonnen/Weidman types in the MW division and its a very different outlook, that's my point

You can't really (hypothetically) change or rearrange the demographics of GSP's contemporaries in his division (i.e. have more X type fighter) to make it worse for him as he beat all different styles and struggled very little with any of them (Big Rig non withstanding, that's probably the toughest match up as he was well rounded with elite wrestling skills and heavy hands).

Anyway, either see my point or don't its all good, I'm not bashing Andy, great fighter and only could fight the guys in his division at the time and crushed them all
 
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Goat and my favorite all time , respect to the spider
<{silvanormal}>
 
Agent Mulder's Hair said:
I'll tell you a secret. All the guys he beat, except for Nick Diaz, were most likely on stuff too. So imo it doesn't tarnish Anderson's legacy one bit. Just my opinion.
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If you look at his record vs other documented big name PED users, he is something like 10-0.
 
Haj01 said:
dude was literally in the matrix. And it's all thanks to Seagal. Who is the founder and inventor of mixed martial arts.
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Actually MMA was invented by Kim Jong Un. As well as Math and indoor plumbing.

Fun fact: He can levitate.
 
finally the true mw goat title will go to who it rightfully belongs, dave menne
 
Yes...looking back on if Anderson’s run was amazing and I’m happy I was there to bear witness
 
Elmo said:
I still can't believe he got that kick on Vitor...would like to see them fight again maybe..both uncorked and untested though lol...
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That kick was I suspect a lot of what got Vitor to train with Hooft, you could see in that fight he was basically taking the view "kicks are just a distraction, its Andersons hands I have to lookout for".
 
Magnum1978 said:
Vitor's better than Alves, though Alves was pretty decent at the time GSP fought him

Vitor's a better win than Alves

I don't think you're quite grasping what I'm saying. Guys like Hughes, Fitch and Shields would be much tougher fights for Anderson than Maia Okami and Leites - as they all have WRESTLING, Okami had ok wrestling at best, not offensive wrestling. Maia had limited wrestling ability back then, was generally green as an MMA fighter and was undersized at MW. Actually putting Andy on his back is what Maia Okami and Leites couldn't do (hence the stylistic advantages I'm making my point about)

Sonnen and Weidman were the only guys with actually decent offensive shoot wrestling that Anderson fought and was put on his back in both fights. A MW sized hughes doesn't need striking just like Sonnen didn't, but hughes was a MUCH better fighter than Sonnen with a great ground game (fought at ADCC level) and could pass. submit and GnP. That's the difference

Stack more Sonnen/Weidman types in the MW division and its a very different outlook, that's my point

You can't really (hypothetically) change or rearrange the demographics of GSP's contemporaries in his division (i.e. have more X type fighter) to make it worse for him as he beat all different styles and struggled very little with any of them (Big Rig non withstanding, that's probably the toughest match up as he was well rounded with elite wrestling skills and heavy hands).

Anyway, either see my point or don't its all good, I'm not bashing Andy, great fighter and only could fight the guys in his division at the time and crushed them all
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I get your stance, but I really don't see much of a difference in skillsets.

Maia threw Chael on his head, took down and dominated Fitch, and had a very competitive fight with Shields, but he couldn't do it to Anderson. I get that Fitch and Shields were at 170, but it doesn't change how the fights went.

And Sonnen did use his striking to get into range and take Anderson down. If he just shot from 5 feet away without throwing punches, he wouldn't have gotten a single takedown
 
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Getting pretty tired of any suggestion that Silva's record is somehow tarnished now as if he was the only one in the mw div who ever ingested a tainted flintstone vitamin.

I am not condoning PED use but lets not kid ourselves, it was always a cat and mouse game (in this analogy, the cat was either asleep or non existent up until fairly recently) The pendulum swings - the new cat (read USADA) seems to be catching up at the moment but things can always change again...

The Spider's record stands, and imho, the purest, slickest, most brutally sublime highlight reel machine to ever step into an MMA cage.

War Spider.
 
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