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Opinion & Analysis
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Staff Editorials
HYDEN COLUMN: UFC's use of term "pound-for-pound" is an insult to Silva, who could beat anyone any size
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch columnist
Mar 6, 2008, 03:14
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The phrase, "Best, pound-for-pound" is thrown around a lot. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is considered the best "pound-for-pound" boxer in the world right now, with Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, Jr. being slapped with that label previously. A lot of people like to use that term for Anderson Silva right now. And, to be quite honest, I find that an incredibly offensive way to "compliment" a fighter.
To say that a fighter is "the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world" is just a coded way of saying, "He's good, but he'd get crushed by a larger fighter." I find that to be utter B.S. Anderson Silva would take apart men much heavier than him - men such as Andre Arlovski, Cheick Kongo, and Gabriel Gonzaga. Could any of them handle Silva's Thai Clinch or his precision strikes? Ask Rich Franklin or Chris Leben about the power behind those. Chris Leben has one of the hardest heads in MMA and Anderson Silva had him knocked out three times in about 49 seconds. And Rich Franklin got an unwanted nose job courtesy of The Spider.
This brings me to one of my favorite verbal punching bags, Tim Sylvia. Much is made of Sylvia's immense size, and obviously a fight between Sylvia and Silva would be considered a mismatch by many of the proponents of the Pound-For-Pound theory. It's true that Anderson Silva would be giving up 80-plus pounds and several inches in the fight, but Tim has proven time and time again that he's perfectly willing to sit back and try to out-point his opponent for the victory. And that defensive mentality would eventually blow up in Sylvia's face. It'd be like a repeat of that Fight Night match-up between Sylvia and Assuerio Silva where Tim shat his pants. Except, this time it would be Anderson Silva kicking the crap out of Tim instead of Assuerio.
So it's safe to say that striking with these heavier fighters wouldn't be a problem, but what about the ground game? Anderson Silva is a black belt in BJJ. And Silva just dispatched Dan Henderson in a fairly close fight, so it's obvious he can handle elite wrestlers. Plus, Randy Couture is 44 and can only turn back the clock so many times. Perhaps Quinton Jackson could provide a viable challenger. He would be among the very few who could hang in there and throw with Silva, and maybe even out-punch him. But, again, we return to the Thai Clinch of Silva. If Rampage could weather that storm, he might be able to take out the dominant Brazilian.
And as for the fighters in the lower weight divisions, the main contender in my eyes would be GSP. A great combination of speed, strength, and agility sounds like a description of Anderson Silva to me. That'd be an awesome match-up. Another fighter I'd love to see get a chance against Silva would be Urijah Faber. Now, of course, the beauty of MMA is that any fight can be ended in the blink of an eye, no matter the competitors involved. Even Diego Sanchez would have to be given a chance against Silva, despite Silva being light-years beyond the usual tomato cans Diego fights against (the obvious exceptions being Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch). But, ultimately, I would definitely say that Anderson Silva is the best fighter on the planet, regardless of weight. At least, that's my opinion.
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