After taking a closer look and comparing Izzy and Silva's MW record, there is no doubt that Izzy is the MW GOAT.

[justmark]

Izzy still has by far the best record at MW. Silva may have more wins, but he fought in a terrible era. I mean, he has low level wins over the likes of Patrick Cote, Leites,Travis Lutter, Maia, Chris leben, Okami, Marquardt etc. Now, take a look at Izzy's record and you will see that 90% of his wins are against high level fighters.

Truth is, Anderson's MW era sucked. It was filled with low level fighters. MW division has come a long way since then. None of the above fighters will make it to the top 10 in today MW division.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

Izzy has zero submission wins, he will always be less than Silva.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Imagine prime Anderson losing to Strickland

 

[justmark]

Imagine prime Anderson losing to Strickland

Imagine Adesanya getting dropped twice and outstruck my Chael. Imagine Adesanya going to -ARGUABLY- draw decision against Maia, in a fight that was exclusively on the feet.

 

[kingmob6]

Izzy still has by far the best record at MW. Silva may have more wins, but he fought in a terrible era. I mean, he has low level wins over the likes of Patrick Cote, Leites,Travis Lutter, Maia, Chris leben, Okami, Marquardt etc. Now, take a look at Izzy's record and you will see that 90% of his wins are against high level fighters.

Truth is, Anderson's MW era sucked. It was filled with low level fighters. MW division has come a long way since then. None of the above fighters will make it to the top 10 in today MW division.

Who are these top tier MW prospects?
MW is still trash.
Whittaker is a good fighter, but I've never thought of him as a legend, he is good for the MW division, because it's so shallow.
Romero was old as dirt, and Izzy was running all fight, and that was an all time stinker.
Paulo is a middling average fighter, just gets hype because he is a bodybuilder
Vettori is an average fighter
Gastelum is a bum
Brunson is a middling fighter, average.
Who else?

 

[RockyLockridge]

Imagine prime Anderson losing to Strickland

he lost to bisping.


I think Strickland in reality, Is a lot harder of a fight than many of the people silva beat.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Who are these top tier MW prospects?
MW is still trash.
Whittaker is a good fighter, but I've never thought of him as a legend, he is good for the MW division, because it's so shallow.
Romero was old as dirt, and Izzy was running all fight, and that was an all time stinker.
Paulo is a middling average fighter, just gets hype because he is a bodybuilder
Vettori is an average fighter
Gastelum is a bum
Brunson is a middling fighter, average.
Who else?

Alex, Cannonier

 

[TheMadHatter]

only one of these two is brought up in GOAT conversations

 

[kingmob6]

Alex, Cannonier

He lost to Alex. And won one 1/2. OK, and Alex was somewhat untested at MW. But let's just say he is top-tier.
Cannonier another average fighter.
Anyone else?

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

Silva has double the amount of title defenses.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Andersons UFC unbeaten run was like twice as long and he was typically much more dominant and impressive in his wins. Hendo and Vitor were as good as (arguably better than) anyone Izzy has ever faced too.

 

[13Seconds]

Imagine Adesanya getting dropped twice and outstruck my Chael. Imagine Adesanya going to -ARGUABLY- draw decision against Maia, in a fight that was exclusively on the feet.

Draw decision?

Why are you giving your opinion on fights you haven't even watched?

 

[13Seconds]

Andersons UFC unbeaten run was like twice as long and he was typically much more dominant and impressive in his wins. Hendo and Vitor were as good as (arguably better than) anyone Izzy has ever faced too.

He also always took risks. Something Izzy hates doing.

 

[Dreyga_King of Sherbums]

Brunson is a middling fighter, average.
Who else?

Average? Middling? This Brunson disrespect is ridiculous. The guy is was consistent TOP 10- TOP 5 MW. Thats not middling. The overwhelming majority of fighters never get ranked

 

[kingmob6]

Average? Middling? This Brunson disrespect is ridiculous. The guy is was consistent TOP 10- TOP 5 MW. Thats not middling. The overwhelming majority of fighters never get ranked

Yea, top 10 middleweight prospect is AVG, because MW division is trash. See the logic?

 

[Dreyga_King of Sherbums]

Cannonier another average fighter.
Anyone else?

Cannonier is not average. He is a consistent TOP 10 -TOP 5 MW

Stop using the word average. You obviously don’t know what it means

 

[bean88]

Imagine Adesanya getting dropped twice and outstruck my Chael. Imagine Adesanya going to -ARGUABLY- draw decision against Maia, in a fight that was exclusively on the feet.

Chael would have smoked Adesanya

Maia probably would too

Did you see even watch Anderson fight Maia? He was hiding behind the ref mocking his opponent

 

[Dreyga_King of Sherbums]

Yea, top 10 middleweight prospect is AVG, because MW division is trash. See the logic?

Not logical at all. It is the actually the absence of objectivity in place of completely made up criteria

 

[wildchild88]

Okami and Marquardt were good.

 

[kingmob6]

Cannonier is not average. He is a consistent TOP 10 -TOP 5 MW

Stop using the word average. You obviously don’t know what it means

yea, coming from izzy's biggest nut licker...OK. Cannonier is average - he lost to every goodish fighter he has ever faced, all of them inmw division are average, there are like 3 fighters that can be considered good or above. All of these guys in other divisions(ww and below) would struggle to crack top ten .