Media Jon Jones says Andersson Silva was so far ahead of the game he'd still Be a top fighter today

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

I mean DDP is the current champ and Strickland before that. These are not some super evolved ATG talents compared to Anderson or a lot of the guys he beat.

Khamzat would have been a very tough fight stylistically though. So would Izzy before he fell off.

 

[Domitian]

With modern training who knows, he was obviously extremely fast with great power and reflexes so physically he’d be up there but maybe he wouldn’t absorb all the extra training.

The version we actually saw when he was a champion? Doesn’t make it to the top 5

Which version? The Anderson who lost to Weidman was 38 years old. The Anderson who won the title at 31 would beast mode today's division. Someone like Khamzat or DDP would be tough fights but other than that he's definitely a Top 5.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Guys like Chael and Weidman would have been able to out wrestle a lot of the modern day division too. Not much has changed. Athletes get old and injured.

 

[bjjwar]

Rewatch DDP vs Strickland and tell me how Silva doesnt absolutely clown both slower, smaller, worse versions of Forredt Griffin Its funny i actually rewatched that fight last week and thought about that, damn, they’d have been murdered by Silva. Strickland standing straight, no head movement in that weird stance, walking forward and DDP plodding forward throwing wild hooks, Silva wouldve killed them

 

[bjjwar]

I don’t think he’d be champ today.

MMA is so wrestling/grappling centric nowadays.

These wrestlers would pin him down and grind him out. Pause.

What wrestlers? Perreira, Adesanya, Strickland, DDP, Whittaker,etc are all standing the whole fight lol.

 

[is a]

In his prime? His career would follow a path very similar to Izzy's, who is known for his championship level striking.

But fighters these days train more effectively + adapt to different fighting styles of their opponents better so Silva's approach to his career might need to take a more rounded approach here.

Calf kicks and leg kicks can make Silva's life a nightmare if he decides to showboat a bit in an attempt to dodge punches.

 

[PeterGriffin]

With modern training who knows, he was obviously extremely fast with great power and reflexes so physically he’d be up there but maybe he wouldn’t absorb all the extra training.

The version we actually saw when he was a champion? Doesn’t make it to the top 5

He meant Anderson Silva, not Thiago.

Other than Khamzat one round of hell, Anderson would fuck everyone up.

Actually this MW era has the worst grappling ever witnessed in the sport. Adesanya faced nothing but strikers his entire reign, and please don't give me Romero with his broken 40yo body and fused neck who stopped wrestling.

Anderson's HL reel in this era would be even crazier.

To put things into perspective... Cannonier is ranked 8th in the current UFC MW rankings (I know, I know), and he TKO'd a way past his prime Silva over 5 years ago, who was about 5 years past his prime at that time.

The current UFC MW lineup? Prime Silva walks through pretty much every one of them, save for maybe Khamzat.

Any fight that Anderson Silva wanted to fight or wanted to prove a point, he fucked people up. And he legitimately had a solid chin until it decided to retire on him. SIlva became a victim of his own success, and Weidman capitalized on it. GSP even saw it coming ahead of time, he said it was going to be Weidman to do it.