bro...what are you talking about? are you seriously making an apologetic argument for how age does not matter? Anderson Silva wasn't inconveniently past his prime, he had been considered past his prime for a long time and had not won for a long time other than Derek Brunson, which most thought was a bad decision.
Silva had many fights and many surgeries. Israel Adesanya was significantly younger and did not have major operations. Why are we talking about evolution when there is a undeniable, gigantic, variable like Silva being past his prime? Do you think Jake Paul beat Anderson Silva due to evolution as well?
Jake Paul beat Silva on boxing. Izzy did it on MMA. Who's to say that was peak Izzy, either? I mean, do you know what's 80 fights in kickboxing? One of them being KO'd by Pereira's left hook on their second kickboxing match. Generally, when a fighter lost there, they wouldn't have won either way. Adesanya was better and marked an up in skill level form Silva. Silva is better as far as legacy goes. If we put them against each other though, Adesanya was better.
Silva himself said that Alex Poatan helped him to train for Izzy, and that he was in awe at Alex's ability to mimick Izzy's style to a point it'd be just like Izzy lol. Not only that, Silva said even before, when he'd spar a little harder with Poatan, but Silva was the one going harder as he had the fight vs Izzy, that Poatan was just scary. That even when he thought he got in good shots, it seemed like touching Pereira would hurt him instead... And that he'd himself ask to pause the sparring, noticing Alex Pereira is a monster.
Silva also lived together with Khalil Rountree, and was pretty close to him. He'd call Khalil a brother (as well as he calls JJ, a little brother) and Silva had said Khalil's Muay Thai skills and improved takedown is the material for a dominant champion in the makes of LHW. After sometime, when Alex defeated Khalil, Silva wrote:
"It's hard to watch a fight between a brother and a friend. To my friend, Alex, you were just perfect today, if there's close to perfection when fighting, it is you. And to my brother Khalil, you fought so well and gave everything you had in this opportunity that was a dream that I know one day will come true. Best recovery to you"...
Izzy and mainly, Alex Pereira... As great and memorable as Silva was, that Silva can't be a match for them, specially Pereira. The level is another one altogether. Let's say Dominick Reyes is ~ Jiri Prochakza level... Jon Jones at his last LHW days, was slightly above Reyes and Jiri. Alex Pereira had already shown a new level when destroying Jiri like no opponent ever did, in that way, against a very good shape Jiri that was the same as the one who smashed Rakić. Alex Gustaffson in fact, after being beaten by JJ, lost to Anthony Smith and then other fighters that were ranked lower than Jiri and Reyes. Alex fell, sure, but not to an extent big enough that he rot. He was still competitive, but Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos... Then Reyes (who didn't fight him but was dominating evey fighter from when Gus could no longer be competitive)... They were already imo a level above the best Alexander Gustafsson. Gus couldn't keep up with the new era. JJ is more obsessed, and even without the picograms, he studied the new killers like Thiago, Reyes over and over too, to compensate for the rule of "next generation takes the old one" and managed to defeat both those new prospects, albeit he needed to dig deep to win. Later on, after the 3 years, I believe is the moment JJ studied the new generation trends and techniques over and over, horned his skills and when allowed to take picograms, which was not before, and apparently unfairly forbidden as there was admitting that they screwed up top.
