Should Anderson Still Hold the Title Defense Record?

[Fioretti]

He was robbed of his first, and eventually record setting, title defense. Most still consider him to hold the record with DJ.

That said, most also consider Jones to have them both beat, as he never actually lost his title in a fight. 3 of his title victories should actually be defenses, but it's a lot different when you're stripped of a title than it is for your opponent to miss weight.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

he was 17-4 coming into the ufc (1 loss by dq) with wins over sakurai, newton, horn, murray, rivera. mediocre is definitely not the right word.

No offense, but look at his record closely in the lead-up to entering the UFC: in the 3 prior years he had sub losses to Ryo Chonan and....(gulp...) Daiju Takase... no one who saw those fights at the time would assume Silva was destined for greatness. Meanwhile, look at the guys he did beat in his UFC run-up: Not....impressive. Then or now. So, ignore those details at your own risk, but I hope you can at least see *why* I wasn't very keen on him when he first burst into the UFC.

 

[kflo]

No offense, but look at his record closely in the lead-up to entering the UFC: in the 3 prior years he had sub losses to Ryo Chonan and....(gulp...) Daiju Takase... no one who saw those fights at the time would assume Silva was destined for greatness. Meanwhile, look at the guys he did beat in his UFC run-up: Not....impressive. Then or now. So, ignore those details at your own risk, but I hope you can at least see *why* I wasn't very keen on him when he first burst into the UFC.

how did you just ignore the wins and only look at the 2 losses?

he was a known talent for sure coming into the ufc. i get that people overstate losses, and that that's what you did in determining you weren't keen on him. but watch him in his wins against very good competition and you can see he was a talent.

 

[Superman Elbow]

One thing to take into account : while it's impressive, he got a title shot after his 1st UFC fight.

Then you have guys like Tony Ferg who had to win 10 fights in a row against top competition to get a title shot.

If tony would have been more impressive he would havegotten a quicker shot too

 

[HydraCap3]

cowboy had won 3 straight including a top 5 win. 2 of his losses were to top ww's in competitive fights. he arguably beat robbie lawler 1 fight removed from the title.

Mike Perry and Alexander Hernandez?!?!
If Cowboy is his signature win, then he doesn't have any top competition wins. Cowboy is a glorified journeyman.

 

[Superman Elbow]

I don’t understand. The only time that happens that I’m aware of is a fight for a vacant belt. If one of those participants miss weight, then only the other participant is eligible to win it. But if a challenger misses weight to fight a reigning champ, it’s not a title defense. Never has been, and isn’t now. There’s no possibility of the champ losing the title. Therefore, nothing is being defended.

I guess the reasoning is its not a title defense if the belt isnt on the line and since he missed weight he wouldnt have gotten the belt even if he won, so since silva wasnt risking the belt it doesnt count as a defense. I think its dumb too.

 

[daniel san]

Letter fight should obviously count as a defence.

 

[Gamer007]

Yes, he should not be 2nd to MM.

Anderson stepped into that cage and defended his crown as the #1 MW in the world, despite the fact his opponent didn't even make weight.

If Anderson lost everyone would've just called him the paper champ, it's total bs.

 

[Skarr]

how did you just ignore the wins and only look at the 2 losses?

he was a known talent for sure coming into the ufc. i get that people overstate losses, and that that's what you did in determining you weren't keen on him. but watch him in his wins against very good competition and you can see he was a talent.

lesser known talent^ IMO

he had never really made waves in Pride....was not really hyped or talked about too much
Wand
Shogun
even Ninja were all more popular than Anderson from Chute Boxe

I dont think that the UFC even brought Anderson over after the Pride buy, Anderson was fighting in KOTC ((that elbow KO)) and worked his way into the UFC

 

[BFoe]

I guess the reasoning is its not a title defense if the belt isnt on the line and since he missed weight he wouldnt have gotten the belt even if he won, so since silva wasnt risking the belt it doesnt count as a defense. I think its dumb too.

I dunno, it makes sense to me. There was no way that Anderson could lose the title—so how can it be counted as a defense? He would’ve stayed champ whether he won or lost.

 

[kflo]

Mike Perry and Alexander Hernandez?!?!
If Cowboy is his signature win, then he doesn't have any top competition wins. Cowboy is a glorified journeyman.

again, more hyperbole. you guys are unbelievable with how you label fighters.

cowboy was not a shell of his former self. you can't argue otherwise. that's the point i was making. i never said cowboy was his signature win.

rda is probably his best win, and just winning 12 fights in a row against good competition is pretty unique / rare.

 

[HydraCap3]

again, more hyperbole. you guys are unbelievable with how you label fighters.

cowboy was not a shell of his former self. you can't argue otherwise. that's the point i was making. i never said cowboy was his signature win.

rda is probably his best win, and just winning 12 fights in a row against good competition is pretty unique / rare.

I already addressed why RDA is not a top win. Unless you got something that refutes the facts, like their actual records, which is not hyperbole, then I'm done here.

 

[kflo]

I already addressed why RDA is not a top win. Unless you got something that refutes the facts, like their actual records, which is not hyperbole, then I'm done here.

it's ridiculous. he had won 10 of 12 before tony, losing only to khabib and alvarez. he won his next 3 after tony against good competition. it's absurd to suggest rda wasn't a top win at lw. ridiculous.

 

[Superman Elbow]

I dunno, it makes sense to me. There was no way that Anderson could lose the title—so how can it be counted as a defense? He would’ve stayed champ whether he won or lost.

Its the same situation where Chael Sonnen beat the wec champ Paulo Fhilo for the belt but Fhilo missed weight so he got to keep his title and chael got nothing lol. I think they should offer the champ the opportunity to still fight as a title fight and get some of the opponents purse or not fight at all with no repercussions.

 

[BFoe]

Its the same situation where Chael Sonnen beat the wec champ Paulo Fhilo for the belt but Fhilo missed weight so he got to keep his title and chael got nothing lol. I think they should offer the champ the opportunity to still fight as a title fight and get some of the opponents purse or not fight at all with no repercussions.

That situation was nuts lol. To me it’s different though—in Chael’s situation, he made weight but the champ didn’t. I say fuck it, if a challenger makes weight and beats the champ, they deserve the belt. In Anderson’s case though, it was the challenger who missed. Anderson’s situation was handled correctly I think; Chanel’s was ass-backwards.

 

[finalboss]

 

[cmw43]

I think you're over-valuing some of those wins. By the time he beat Cowboy and Pettis, they were shells of their former selves.

Tibau ended up losing his next three fights. Not impressed.
RDA was coming off a loss and is 4-4 since.
Since 2015, Pettis is 5-8. And was 3-5 when he fought Tony.
Cowboy has lost three straight and before the Tony fight was 4-4 in his previous 8 fights.
Thomspon was on a two fight losing streak and was 4-5 in his previous 9 fights before fighting Tony.


I'm just not seeing the "top competition."

You can take apart anyone's wins if you try.

Let's look at Khahbib.

• Darrel Horcher - straight up can
• Michael Johnson - natural featherweight lost 2 of his previous 3 going into the Khabib fight and went on to lost 5 of his next 7 and should have probably been cut.
• Al Iaquinta - had been working as a realtor the last two years, only win in the last three years was over Diego Sanchez and he went on to get dominated by a shot Cowboy Cerrone.
• McGregor - career featherweight, only one previous fight at lightweight, had two years of ring rust and was heavily drinking fight week, wasted at the press conference
• Poirier - blown up featherweight with poor wrestling, got the shot by beating another featherweight and previously got KOd by that can Johnson
• Gaethje - zero grappling skills, stylistic dream, had already been smashed by Eddie and Dustin quite recently
• Barboza - loses to any one with half decent offensive wrestling, including the Khabib fight is 2-5 in his last 7.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

One thing to take into account : while it's impressive, he got a title shot after his 1st UFC fight.

Then you have guys like Tony Ferg who had to win 10 fights in a row against top competition to get a title shot.

AS was already recognized as one of the best fighters in the world by the time he came to the UFC. Just because the American audience didn't know who he was didn't mean everyone else didn't. FFS when him and Carlos Newton fought people legit called it the best WW fight on the planet at the time.

Tony was an unknown. He won TUF and still was an unknown. He didn't show up on my serious radar until the RDA fight.

You see the difference?

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Agreed, good context to keep in mind. Further context is that he was pretty mediocre in Pride, so when he came to the US/UFC I wasn't expecting much out of him....whoops.

Bro
Silva vs Newton was considered a didn't between the 2 best WW in the world.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

how did you just ignore the wins and only look at the 2 losses?

he was a known talent for sure coming into the ufc. i get that people overstate losses, and that that's what you did in determining you weren't keen on him. but watch him in his wins against very good competition and you can see he was a talent.

And I quote (myself): " look at the guys he did beat in his UFC run-up: Not....impressive." I'm not ignoring his pre-UFC wins, they just weren't against great competition, and he had two losses to Japanese journeymen recently before heading to the UFC. I was watching live, and it wasn't anything to get hyped about.