Just how good was Wanderlei Silva?

[DeathStroke]

Wand is one of those guys who've become underrated on here because most posters weren't even watching MMA when Wand was considered the consensus #1 205er in the world for nearly half a decade. Dude was a natural MW who took fights at HW and held his own

Lol at using the word natural anywhere in the same sentence as Wanderlei....

 

[Stoupe]

He had really good timing and wild strikes. His fight vs Jardine is a great example of his technical awareness. Jardine had just beat Chuck via low kicks which were very effective against Chuck. He tried it against Wand who was more familiar with the timing necessitated to counter the low kick and Jardine got KOed.

A lot of people might think of him as just a wild striker but he had some technical proficiency as well.

 

[mjfan23]

His prime reign of terror was epic

 

[Cpt Migraine]

Very, very good.. some people only see records..

He held his own against mark hunt and cro cop and fought at mw..

Probably one of the worst motherfuckers in history to face in a bar fight..

 

[MMAProfessional]

Pretty much the UFC swooped in and got all the past prime pride fighters. Either that or they didn't have free reign AS MUCH to use their special supplements

 

[mahavishnunj]

Elite level Aggression + loads of roids

very much this

 

[Medical Marijuana Man]

List of fights for you to watch

Mezger
Hendo I
Saku I
Crocop I
Saku 3
Yoshida I
Rampage I
Minowa
Kondo
Rampage II
Hunt
Fujita

 

[Foppa21]

He was very good, but he did beat a lot of guys with out and out aggression. Those that could meet him in the middle or could bullfight him for a bit had better success.

It's not a knock against him because he won a heck of a lot more than he lost and you can only beat who they put in front of you

 

[HHJ]

One of the most homicidal violent fighters in mma history.When hurt,he just kept coming. Def lost something from those back to back ko losses to crocop and hendo,but he showed some glimpses of his old self in the cung le,jardine and Brian stann fights. When he has you hurt he KNOWS how to put you up in that room in the sky with jesus.

 

[Joshuagilbert91]

Oh sheet, did the guy get busted for them? Or you just assuming he was on them cause he was that good?

Pride didn't test for steroids.... a lot of fighters were on them then

 

[MuayThaiBX]

For his era very good. He lacked refined skills but fought in an era where beaucoup aggression and violence were enough be at the top. He had plenty of violence and aggression as a younger man.

 

[wilKO]

Oh sheet, did the guy get busted for them? Or you just assuming he was on them cause he was that good?

Maybe it was because he ran away from a drug test while in the UFC...

 

[Savage]

He was a monster, but he was not known for being a technical striker. He was ferocious, throwing wild hay makers and doing damage with knees, stomps and soccer kicks. He was the Pride MW champion for a long time, destroying everybody but IMO he's not worthy to mention when you're starting the GOAT talks ...

Seeing as he has the most wins of all time when you combine UFC/Pride/Strikeforce records he is definitely in the discussion. Seeing as he also beat the best LHWs of the time that also puts him in the discussion. His major loses came at the end of his career.

Looking back it might be hard to tell, but if you followed the sport at the time you’d know. He was the most feared fighter of his time.

 

[Rea_ctor]

Oh sheet, did the guy get busted for them? Or you just assuming he was on them cause he was that good?

He was that good and was on them haha we don't need a test to see that, no pot could handle his piss without melting my friend.

 

[jk.rock]

Wanderlei silva was a force of nature, although i saw more skilled fighters when you look at his prime and combine his style , the ring , pride rule set he was the best LHW ive ever seen until jon jones.

 

[613]

Wand is one of those guys who've become underrated on here because most posters weren't even watching MMA when Wand was considered the consensus #1 205er in the world for nearly half a decade. Dude was a natural MW who took fights at HW and held his own

Wandy was 235LBs at times in the ring. He was bigger then Cro Cop

 

[613]

Wanderlei silva was a force of nature, although i saw more skilled fighters when you look at his prime and combine his style , the ring , pride rule set he was the best LHW ive ever seen until jon jones.

Shogun was better in the ring then Wandy

 

[613]

Seeing as he has the most wins of all time when you combine UFC/Pride/Strikeforce records he is definitely in the discussion. Seeing as he also beat the best LHWs of the time that also puts him in the discussion. His major loses came at the end of his career.

Looking back it might be hard to tell, but if you followed the sport at the time you’d know. He was the most feared fighter of his time.

No one has Wandy in GOAT talks. LHW GOAT tallks? Sure, but GOAT? No! 99% of Wandy fans don't even think he is the GOAT. Most of them say Fedor

 

[CerebralKnievel]

I'd say he was on something in PRIDE, but the same can be said about 99% of fighters in PRIDE. It wasn't illegal to juice there, so the argument of Wanderlei being on steroids while in PRIDE is dumb

Basically no different in the UFC at that time. They employed random drug tests on a few fighters per card, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

Got fight pass, someone on here recommended me to go watch pride stuff, so I watched a documentary on pride and man that wanderlei Silva looked vicious! His staredowns alone looked scary af! Almost on the same level as mike Tyson! No one really mentions this guy in the goat talk but just how good was he, was he a level just below the goat status or something

Plus pride itself looked insane, some of the fights, Damn!

By todays standards he isn't very good. He isn't as good as say Glover Texeira for example - but for the time he was one of the premier strikers in MMA - he didn't have quite the finess of Shogun Rua but he was respectable