# Is Anderson Silva the best striker in MMA History



## marcthegame (Mar 28, 2009)

Just wondering what is your opinion on the subject. I have seen some great striker but AS is probably the most technical one i have seen. Is there anyone you guys consider better?


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## Can.Opener (Apr 8, 2009)

For me, yes.

He has proven to be the most accurate, and one of the most elusive fighters in MMA. My extremely biased opinion considers Muay Thai to be the best and most comprehensive standup technique and he's done the best job at adapting it to MMA.

Rua would be a very, very close second, followed by Belforts boxing.


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## marcthegame (Mar 28, 2009)

Can.Opener said:


> For me, yes.
> 
> He has proven to be the most accurate, and one of the most elusive fighters in MMA. My extremely biased opinion considers Muay Thai to be the best and most comprehensive standup technique and he's done the best job at adapting it to MMA.
> 
> Rua would be a very, very close second, followed by Belforts boxing.


See my opinion might be a little bias to but the combos silva puts together with his feet is an art. I hate to say this but as good as vitor is now, i will alway consider chuck or fedor the best boxers i have seen, or rampage depends how his career plays out.


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## Hammerlock2.0 (Jun 17, 2009)

When he's not being 'creative' and dancing around at the time I would consider him the best striker in MMA. It's been a while since we've seen it, but his clinch is deadly and so is his counter punching. I don't think anyone on this planet except for Shogun, Machida, Manhoef and Belfort can stand with him and I think he would be favorite against all of them.


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## MikeHawk (Sep 11, 2009)

I wouldn't call him the best. He can be the best when he's in his rhythm. But he's also shown that his striking can be fairly neutralized if you put smart pressure (not Forrest style) on him.

Another thing is, he gets way to cocky on the feet. Sonnen tagged him pretty good a few times because of that.


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## marcthegame (Mar 28, 2009)

MikeHawk said:


> I wouldn't call him the best. He can be the best when he's in his rhythm. But he's also shown that his striking can be fairly neutralized if you put smart pressure (not Forrest style) on him.
> 
> Another thing is, he gets way to cocky on the feet. Sonnen tagged him pretty good a few times because of that.


See i gotta wait until his next fight to see what that Sonnen fight was. Maybe or maybe not its was the "rib injury" but I have seen every silva fight and he has not been dropped like than ever. Hell Lee murray hit him harder than Sonnen did and he was still standing.


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## Can.Opener (Apr 8, 2009)

Sadly Manhoef's conditioning falls short of the other elite level strikers in MMA.

He is a scary guy inside the first round, but as soon as you hit that 3-4 minute mark the hands drop, his technique falters defensively with footwork and head movement. This has occured throughout his kickboxing and MMA career.

Offensively he is a badass, but has never rectified his fundamental problem which is cardio.


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## MikeHawk (Sep 11, 2009)

marcthegame said:


> See i gotta wait until his next fight to see what that Sonnen fight was. Maybe or maybe not its was the "rib injury" but I have seen every silva fight and he has not been dropped like than ever. Hell Lee murray hit him harder than Sonnen did and he was still standing.


It could have been because of the injury. But Chael was also putting a ton of pressure on him and always coming at him.

Cote did something similar to that and you could tell Anderson wasn't comfortable.


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## Alex_DeLarge (Sep 5, 2006)

Yes...and by a large margin.

Haha Anderson was beating the piss out of Cote...he was rather comfortable doing so.

Heh, Shogun a "close close second." Lord...


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## marcthegame (Mar 28, 2009)

MikeHawk said:


> It could have been because of the injury. But Chael was also putting a ton of pressure on him and always coming at him.
> 
> Cote did something similar to that and you could tell Anderson wasn't comfortable.


He was not comfortable but in that cote fight during the stand up u had that feeling that during the stand up cote had no chance standing up. Plus cote was a bigger threat standing up than Sonnen. During the sonnen fight AS stand up looked bad during the first couple of rounds. But the 3-5 when he exchanged he looked okay but u can tell his reaction time and accuracy was gone.


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## Life B Ez (Jan 23, 2010)

marcthegame said:


> See my opinion might be a little bias to but the combos silva puts together with his feet is an art. I hate to say this but as good as vitor is now, i will alway consider chuck or *fedor* the best boxers i have seen, or rampage depends how his career plays out.


Fedor has terrible boxing.....technically speaking. He throws winging punches fro his hips. That's why he breaks his hand just about every other fight. He has a lot of power and is a good striker but his pure boxing is beyond ugly.


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## Hammerlock2.0 (Jun 17, 2009)

Life B Ez said:


> Fedor has terrible boxing.....technically speaking. He throws winging punches fro his hips. That's why he breaks his hand just about every other fight. He has a lot of power and is a good striker but his pure boxing is beyond ugly.


His ***** casting punch is very good though. :thumb02:











BAM!!!


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## Can.Opener (Apr 8, 2009)

Alex_DeLarge said:


> Heh, Shogun a "close close second." Lord...


I'm all for smug comments, but it's a bit lackluster without some form of argument.

Correct, Shoguns Muay Thai is outstanding and would match up well against Anderson.


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## LizaG (May 12, 2008)

I am gonna get flamed BAD! But I think Michael Bisping has the best striking/footwork of any UFC fighter at least. I'm not impressed with Silva, his head movement is very effective, but Bisping has the best striking, maybe not the best KO Power....but the best striking in terms of technique...

.....in my opinion


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## IronMan (May 15, 2006)

marcthegame said:


> Just wondering what is your opinion on the subject. I have seen some great striker but AS is probably the most technical one i have seen. Is there anyone you guys consider better?


See, these questions annoy me.

In terms of his MMA fights, he's displayed some of the best striking we've seen. But there are better strikers who've competed in MMA.

If you want a real question, it needs to be something along the lines of: Based purely on MMA performances, has anyone ever displayed better striking than Anderson Silva?

Because if you ask the question you posed "Is there anyone you guys consider better?" Well, there are strikers who *are* better than Anderson Silva who competed in MMA.

Semmy Schilt may be the best striker in the history of K-1, and he's competed in MMA. Because he's in on that argument, it's pretty easy to assess that he's a better striker than Anderson.

If we're going to speak purely in terms of MMA performances, you can argue that Anderson is the best striker in the sport. Though, I have to say, during the four year undefeated run in Pride, Wanderlei was pretty unbelievable. Stylistically, it's very different, but during that period, Wanderlei did more to display his power.


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## Mckeever (Apr 26, 2009)

Cyrille Diabte would give Andy a run for his money.


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## IronMan (May 15, 2006)

LizaG said:


> I am gonna get flamed BAD! But I think Michael Bisping has the best striking/footwork of any UFC fighter at least. I'm not impressed with Silva, his head movement is very effective, but Bisping has the best striking, maybe not the best KO Power....but the best striking in terms of technique...
> 
> .....in my opinion


You're right. You're also going to be made to look stupid.

So the guy has been outstruck in two of his last five fights, and he's still the best striker in the UFC? Seriously?


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## Alex_DeLarge (Sep 5, 2006)

Can.Opener said:


> I'm all for smug comments, but it's a bit lackluster without some form of argument.
> 
> Correct, Shoguns Muay Thai is outstanding and would match up well against Anderson.


What form of argument do you need? Now I'm assuming you have eyes, isn't that enough?

Shogun has sloppy punches, brawls far too much, and has pretty good muay thai. He's not even in the top 5 in the UFC.


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## DJ Syko (Jan 6, 2008)

Daley, Manhoef and Silva in stand up only MMA fights would be awesome to watch.


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## robby767 (Dec 24, 2006)

Boxing: Bj, Rampage, Fedor

Overall striking: Wandy in his prime, Silva, and Manhoef

AND OF COURSE, CRO COP in prime

i cant believe his name hasnt been mentioned


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## Alex_DeLarge (Sep 5, 2006)

Manhoef has knocked out bums and was knocked out by Robbie Lawler. Top 3, no way. 

And Wanderlei in his prime..maybe, now..no.


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## Life B Ez (Jan 23, 2010)

Are we talking technical striker or effective striker? Because there is a difference.....


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## LizaG (May 12, 2008)

IronMan said:


> You're right. You're also going to be made to look stupid.
> 
> So the guy has been outstruck in two of his last five fights, and he's still the best striker in the UFC? Seriously?


Yes seriously, he won the Wanderlei fight IMO, but in terms of another popular argument... many have called Anderson the P4P best fighter....seriously? He got manhandled like a child at 117, but I won't bring that argument up either.


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## IronMan (May 15, 2006)

LizaG said:


> Yes seriously, he won the Wanderlei fight IMO, but in terms of another popular argument... many have called Anderson the P4P best fighter....seriously? He got manhandled like a child at 117, but I won't bring that argument up either.


He got outstruck by Wanderlei, statistically. Not to mention Wanderlei scored the only knockdown of the fight. Oh, and lets not forget that Henderson knocked the smug out of Bisping, and nobody considers Henderson in this argument at all. And they shouldn't, because (like Bisping) he doesn't dominate everyone he fights standing up.

With Wanderlei far removed from his prime, Bisping went to a split decision after extended periods of striking with a guy who had been knocked out in three of his last ten performances.

If you seriously think that Bisping is has the best "striking/footwork" in the UFC, you should watch his fights. If people were afraid to stand with Bisping, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but it was Bisping, not Wanderlei, who had ten takedown attempts in that fight.

Nobody in that division is intimidated by Bisping's standup. Well, except Demian Maia. But, let's face it, after the fight with Marquardt, that guy is probably afraid of taking a swing at a fly.

Oh, and thanks for putting me in a position to argue that Anderson is the best P4P fighter in the world, something I never said. Classic.


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## LizaG (May 12, 2008)

As I said at the end of my first post....it's only an opinion. But of course I am totally entited aren't I?


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## IronMan (May 15, 2006)

LizaG said:


> As I said at the end of my first post....it's only an opinion. But of course I am totally entited aren't I?


Of course you are, Liza.

And I'm entitled to point out that you're position makes no sense, and your argument was... well... not much of an argument.


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## Squirrelfighter (Oct 28, 2009)

Alex_DeLarge said:


> What form of argument do you need? Now I'm assuming you have eyes, isn't that enough?
> 
> Shogun has *sloppy punches*, *brawls far too much*, and has pretty good muay thai. He's not even in the top 5 in the UFC.


These two I disagree with. "Brawling" is to my perception, throwing sloppy hooks while squared up. What he does to me is better defined as "constantly moving forward" he's the definition of a pressure fighter. 

And "sloppy punches" is a big stretch. I think maybe he throws occassionally from the hips as he's moving forward if he switches stances as he moves. But that's almost impossible to not do when step fghting the way he did in Machida 1.

And yeah, he's definitely not top 5 currently with his lackluster UFC record, though the two Machida fights were great showings. I think if he has 2 or 3 more wins ala Machida vs Shogun 2, calling him a top fiver is very legitimate.


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

Ok, how can he not be top 5 and still be the champion?


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## BrutalKO (Oct 5, 2006)

...Nice voting fellow members. I voted yes as well. Anderson has the highest connect percentage in UFC history. I think in time his fellow training partner and good friend Lyoto Machida will be up there as well. Another notable is Cro-Cop. His striking in Pride was amazing and his connect percentage was in the 80's as well...


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## The Horticulturist (Feb 16, 2009)

There have been way better strikers in mma, he would have to use defence for me to consider him the best striker ever in mma. HOWEVER, those better strikers sucked comparatively at everything else, and Anderson gets to make lesser athletes, brawlers and BJJ guys look foolish.

That's why I want to see him vs Vitor badly. Footwork will get you a long way, but eventually it's going to get you KO'd leaving your hands down like he does. Maybe Vitor gets KO'd, but I'll have to see it to believe it.


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## Hammerlock2.0 (Jun 17, 2009)

kantowrestler said:


> Ok, how can he not be top 5 and still be the champion?


That's exactly what makes these top 10 lists obsolete. Either the winner gets the spot of the loser in the top 10 (if the winner was listed below the winner) or you drop the thing altogether.


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## kritter (Apr 22, 2007)

Anderson and Aldo are my favorites


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