The only man with top 5 wins in 3 weight classes!

[Fioretti]

He didn't beat BJ at LW though. Anderson beat Sakurai at WW, bunch of top 5 MWs at 185, and of course Forest at 205.

And IIRC Forest technically beat the #1 fighter in his division in two fights in a row. I think Shogun was ranked #! but when Forest upset him Rampage was moved to the #1 spot since no one believed Forest was the best despite upsetting the top ranked guy. So he had to do it again.

Correct, he had to do it twice to earn his rank. They were both #1 LHW and #2 p4p when Forest beat them.

Bj Penn

Uno - LW
Hughes - WW
Gracie - MW

Spoiler

Not saying its better / worse
But Silva isn't the only one

Gracie wasn't top 5. Wtf?

 

[Rationality]

Anderson is a legend. Most of the time I could care less about roids and just appreciate his incredible skill.

It's not hard to think of others that have done it though, sorry.
BJ Penn, GSP, DC, Edgar, etc etc

 

[jeff7b9]

Anderson is a legend. Most of the time I could care less about roids and just appreciate his incredible skill.

It's not hard to think of others that have done it though, sorry.
BJ Penn, GSP, DC, Edgar, etc etc

Well sadly it is harder than you realize, as GSP and DC never even fought in 3 weight classes let alone have top 5 wins in 3 weight classes.

 

[Fioretti]

Anderson is a legend. Most of the time I could care less about roids and just appreciate his incredible skill.

It's not hard to think of others that have done it though, sorry.
BJ Penn, GSP, DC, Edgar, etc etc

Nobody but Anderson Silva has done it. Edgar came really close, but barely missed the cut.

He was in K1 during that time frame when he fought BJ

Was a top prospect in Pride MW division before that with undefeated record as well.

Rodrigo Gracie was never a top 5 MW in the world. Promotional rankings are not the same as world rankings, and I'm not even sure if Gracie was top 5 in K-1.

 

[tequilaboy]

And Forrest being top 5 win lmfao.

You do know he eventually did hold the belt..

 

[Johnnny]

LW: multiple
FW: Mendez
BW: Munhoz (ranked #5 when they fought)

The #5 contender is not in the Top 5. It's the champion plus contenders #1 through #4.

 

[mjfan23]

Also caught in multiple weight PED testing or only in MW?

 

[StonedLemur]

Also caught in multiple weight PED testing or only in MW?

I love how they conveniently leave stuff like that out sir.

 

[mmadeewana]

Henderson beat Big Nog. Big Nog started his career 28-3 with his only losses to Fedor (x2) and Hendo. He was top 5.

He also KTFO Fedor, who even on a two fight losing streak would still be ranked top 5, if rankings like we have today existed back then.

In conclusion, Hendo is a bad ass

Dan Henderson is amazing
Beat future Pride HW Champ Big Nog
Former Pride HW champ Fedor
Beat Pride champ Wanderlei for the belt
Beat former pride Middleweight Grand Prix champ twice.
He beat like all pride champs ever.

 

[mjfan23]

I love how they conveniently leave stuff like that out sir.

It’s a @Fioretti special

 

[StonedLemur]

It’s a @Fioretti special

I see lol

 

[Omirhs]

And Forrest being top 5 win lmfao.

Forrest was the former champ and had just lost his belt going into the Silva fight

 

[Richard Fannin]

How about Lyoto Machida? It's hard to find rankings from 2003, but he has victories =>
At HW against Rich Franklin (14-0 before their fight, with win over Evan Tanner who would then go on a badass run and become UFC MW champ) and BJ Penn
At LHW against Rashad Evans
At MW against Gegard Mousasi

Pretty impressive... I doubt "Ace" was a top 5 HW but it was still a great win, same for BJ Penn.

 

[Natural Order]

It's crazy to go back and watch his bone-thin ass in Pride. Had some amazing moments (ie Sakurai, Newton) and biggest lows of career (steamrolled by Daiju).

Absolute legend of the game no matter how you slice it. A real competitor with the soul of a warrior.

Made a guy who just fought for the LHW title look like he'd never fought a day in his life. That's how good Anderson Silva was.

 

[Fioretti]

The #5 contender is not in the Top 5. It's the champion plus contenders #1 through #4.

Correct. Munhoz was #6 in the world, Frankie barely missed the cut.

It’s a @Fioretti special

Says the girl with a PRIDE AV? You don't deserve that username.

How about Lyoto Machida? It's hard to find rankings from 2003, but he has victories =>
At HW against Rich Franklin (14-0 before their fight, with win over Evan Tanner who would then go on a badass run and become UFC MW champ) and BJ Penn
At LHW against Rashad Evans
At MW against Gegard Mousasi

Pretty impressive... I doubt "Ace" was a top 5 HW but it was still a great win, same for BJ Penn.

Nope, Machida doesn't make the cut. He does, however, have the most wins against future/former/current UFC champions because of that W against BJ.

 

[jjjjjjjjjjohnny]

• Hayato Sakurai - WW
• Multiple - MW
• Forrest Griffin - LHW

PS: Hendo doesn't have top 5 wins in 3 divisions. He, Frankie, Pettis, and Vitor are the only ones who come close, but nobody else makes the cut. Spider Bless.

GSP!

 

[Fioretti]

GSP!

Nope

 

[Mark McMichael]

They all write it off as a fluke win, and think it's solidified by them being tied at one fight a piece. No rubber match needed, of course.

Well said. Although there is a case to be made for it being a fluke, it's hard to say so when the purpose of throwing a punch is to hurt, rock, drop, stagger, or KO your opponent. It wasn't just one punch either, it was a shitload of punches.

No such thing as a fluke punch.

Everyone from Kos to Alves to Serra in the second fight wanted to land that punch.

It is just a low odds win.

If you run one hundred fights where champs are 100:1 favorites to win where the opponent really has a punchers chance, then one of those fights, by the odds will see a Champ get caught and lose.

MMA fans are very naive of the concept of getting caught and thus don't really think it is a thing.

Serra earned his win and it was a low odds win. Both are true. The odds of him catching GSP again are lower than Kos, Alves or others doing same.

No one needs to run the rubber match as it would be ridiculous to do so when GSP proved Serra has nothing for GSP outside hoping to catch him and GSP showed how easily he could shut that option down and dominate him.