How would prime Anderson Silva fare against the current top 10 MWs?

[Touch of Death]

I think we can all agree that fighters like Whittaker, Romero etc are better than most of the Spider's best wins, not to discredit Anderson Silva, he is the greatest striker we have seen in the UFC.

Here is the current top 10:-

Whittaker (C)
Romero
Jacare
Rocksalt
Weidman
Kelvin
Bisping
Brunson
Branch
Hall
Vitor

Would Silva still be the champ if he had to face these fighters, if not who would he lose to and why?

 

[BC]

Prime Silva would flying knee KO all of these playbois.

 

[MTL]

Whittaker, Romero and Jacare would all give a prime spider problems. But I think he beats the rest of the division. In his prime I think he’s capable of beating any of those 3 fighters I named, but they’re all tough matchups.

 

[HUGHPHUG]

There may be a few ugly decision wins but I don't see any reason why the best Anderson Silva would not find a way to beat all of them

 

[sirmorbach]

Whittaker, Romero and Jacare would all give a prime spider problems. But I think he beats the rest of the division. In his prime I think he’s capable of beating any of those 3 fighters I named, but they’re all tough matchups.

Nailed it.

 

[cyrusthevyrus]

I think we can all agree that fighters like Whittaker, Romero etc are better than most of the Spider's best wins, not to discredit Anderson Silva, he is the greatest striker we have seen in the UFC.

Here is the current top 10:-

Whittaker (C)
Romero
Jacare
Rocksalt
Weidman
Kelvin
Bisping
Brunson
Branch
Hall
Vitor

Would Silva still be the champ if he had to face these fighters, if not who would he lose to and why?

dude, different eras. wtf. its like asking prime rickson vs stipe. the fuck.

 

[Kung Fu bb]

We´re talking about Matrix Silva

 

[Starkist]

Prime Anderson as in Pre usada

 

[Shamrockftw]

Whittaker (C) - Silva via KO
Romero - Romero via decision
Jacare - Jacare via sub
Rocksalt - Silva via KO
Weidman - Silva via KO
Kelvin - Silva via KO
Bisping - Silva via KO
Brunson - Silva via KO
Branch - Silva via KO
Hall - Silva via KO
Vitor - Silva via Front kick KO

 

[hugemmafan22]

Well we all no what happens when he fights Weidman...prime Silva wouldn’t be top 5 nowadays.

 

[Dozer .]

Prime Anderson finishes them all within 3 rounds.

 

[Readybodisready]

Anderson finishes them all out without even suffering a scratch on that handsome face.

 

[AleYeah]

These kinda threads that are popping up lately make me think some of you Sherbros haven't seen prime Spider.

 

[GaveOverForYou]

Whittaker (C) - Silva via KO
Romero - Romero via decision
Jacare - Jacare via sub
Rocksalt - Silva via KO
Weidman - Silva via KO
Kelvin - Silva via KO
Bisping - Silva via KO
Brunson - Silva via KO
Branch - Silva via KO
Hall - Silva via KO
Vitor - Silva via Front kick KO

I don’t agree with Romero by decision. Silva KOs him. Romero can take down Silva if he wants to. But he doesn’t possess great control on the ground or in the clinch. He isn’t a type of guy to advance positions and threaten opponents with subs

 

[MikeMcMann]

Look, no one should deny tha Prime Anderson was a unique beast standing and striking and only an elite few should engage with him in what would be primarily a striking match. The key to beating Prime Silva was to have a real TD threat that he had to fear because you could beat him on the ground if you got it there.

Also no one should deny that for most of Anderson's prime the MW division was very weak and this current line up is not.

If Chael with a TD threat and no real ability to finish from there was able to neutralize Anderson striking game and out strike him on the feet and land dozens of hammer fists from the guard in the first fight I think we know many on this list would finish Anderson in the same spot. No shame in that, Anderson was just lucky to fight so many years without that type of opponent who posed a massive TD and finish threat which let him focus on his striking.

We all saw what happened when Anderson faced Weidman and had to deal with a guy with a real TD threat and legit striking both. A truly balanced top contender.



Here is the current top 10:-

Whittaker (C) - (Anderson wins a mostly stand up fight)
Romero - (Romero wins by TD and vicious GnP. This is not Chael landing Hammerfists )
Jacare - (Jacare wins if he can get his TDs but loses if he cannot)
Rocksalt - (Luke wins via TD and vicious GnP. Again not Chael landing hammerfists)
Weidman - (we all know how that went down)
Kelvin - (Anderson wins)
Bisping - (Anderson should always win but he could lose if he lets Bisping survive to decision as Bisping outpoints him almost every round despite Anderson doing faar more damage)

Anderson beats the rest

Brunson
Branch
Hall
Vitor

 

[JosephTessaro]

Prime Silva would most likely wipe out the current MW division and get bored, kind of like he did at the tail end of his dominance. The only two that give him difficulties would be Jacare and Romero based on their bjj or grappling.

 

[Sapp]

Whittaker (C) - Anderson KO - Whittaker's karate style and darting movement will work against him here.
Romero - Romero, KO or decision. Horrible matchup for Anderson.
Jacare - Either a terrible 5 round decision for Anderson a la Maia or Jacare gets him down and works him.
Rockhold - Anderson KO, but it's a winnable fight for Rockhold if he fights intelligently,
Weidman - Weidman beats him again. He has Silva's number.
Kelvin - Anderson KO
Bisping - Anderson KO
Brunson - Anderson KO
Branch -Anderson KO
Hall - Anderson KO
Vitor - Anderson KO

 

[BigMuffler]

Look, no one should deny tha Prime Anderson was a unique beast standing and striking and only an elite few should engage with him in what would be primarily a striking match. The key to beating Prime Silva was to have a real TD threat that he had to fear because you could beat him on the ground if you got it there.

Also no one should deny that for most of Anderson's prime the MW division was very weak and this current line up is not.

If Chael with a TD threat and no real ability to finish from there was able to neutralize Anderson striking game and out strike him on the feet and land dozens of hammer fists from the guard in the first fight I think we know many on this list would finish Anderson in the same spot. No shame in that, Anderson was just lucky to fight so many years without that type of opponent who posed a massive TD and finish threat which let him focus on his striking.

We all saw what happened when Anderson faced Weidman and had to deal with a guy with a real TD threat and legit striking both. A truly balanced top contender.



Here is the current top 10:-

Whittaker (C) - (Anderson wins a mostly stand up fight)
Romero - (Romero wins by TD and vicious GnP. This is not Chael landing Hammerfists )
Jacare - (Jacare wins if he can get his TDs but loses if he cannot)
Rocksalt - (Luke wins via TD and vicious GnP. Again not Chael landing hammerfists)
Weidman - (we all know how that went down)
Kelvin - (Anderson wins)
Bisping - (Anderson should always win but he could lose if he lets Bisping survive to decision as Bisping outpoints him almost every round despite Anderson doing faar more damage)

Anderson beats the rest

Brunson
Branch
Hall
Vitor

The thing about Luke is that his takedowns aren't very good, his offensive wrestling seems mid tier more akin to the Maia that fought Andy than Chael.

 

[QueenVitor]

The only ones I see prime Silva beating is Brunson and maybe Branch.

Whitaker KOs him
Yoel KOs him
Jacare and Luke sub him
Weidman KOs him again
Kelvin KOs him
Bisping UD again
Hall is 50/50 KO either way
Current Vitor UDs him

 

[BigMuffler]

The only ones I see prime Silva beating is Brunson and maybe Branch.

Whitaker KOs him
Yoel KOs him
Jacare and Luke sub him
Weidman KOs him again
Kelvin KOs him
Bisping UD again
Hall is 50/50 KO either way
Current Vitor UDs him

Current Vitor UDs a prime Silva? How, Vitor is ancient now lol