How good was Anderson Silva when Chris Weidman beat him?

[Tapatio]

the Chris was on the roids, so it didn't matter

 

[Babaganoosh]

I don’t think Silva at anytime would beat That version of Weidman.

 

[TheItalianStallion]

Pre-usada chin in tact weidman would always be a bad matchup for silva.

Pre USADA Weidman is a hard fight for anyone.

30% Kamaru > All

Short Notice Covid Gilbert Burns>30% Usman

 

[bean88]

I was as big an Anderson fan as anybody but I think Chris had his number.

Silva was still a beast but perhaps not quite at his peak, Weidman was on a tear at the time and his wrestling and ground game was always going to be a problem

I’ve hated Weidman ever since but still have to give him his dues...he knocked Anderson Silva the fuck out

 

[Fedor Emelianenko]

Close to prime,
Anderson was always overated tho,
was lucky his division were poor with quality wrestler.
Double digit loses Chael was a bad fighter but a good wrestler and easily won 4 rd in the 1st fight.

He was 38...

 

[fzoid4454]

Weidman did great in the first half of the first round and won the round. But Weidman was no doubt breathing heavy at the end of the first and start of the second round. Silva was chewing that lead leg up. At this point in his career Weidman didn't know how to check kicks.

Weidman has since talked about how he did a horrible job checking those kicks and having a bit of an adrenaline dump after that first takedown. Silva looked fresh as a daisy.

Weidman also shots for two more takedowns after that initial takedown that weren't close. He did land a few jabs that landed but nothing heavy.

It's hard to say what would have happened cause the fight ended so early in the fight. We weren't even halfway through the 2nd when it ended. But I definitely saw Weidman slowing down and Silva still fresh landing heavy leg kicks.

But Weidman was winning, and Silva wasn't, so the speculative narrative that things might have turned around is a bit hypothetical. But the point I was referring to as "revisionist" was, specifically, this mythology that Silva lost because he was arrogantly clowning. He was trying to get Weidman to come to the Spider's web, and he was doing it because Weidman was winning and was fighting a measured, controlled fight, over all.

 

[ShackleMeNot]

Still good, probably good enough to have won the right if he hadn't clowned around.
Him getting KOd was going to happen eventually though unless he retired.
Anderson's style relied heavily on reflexes, which seems to be one of the first attributes to go as you get older.
Also MMA striking IN GENERAL is drastically better than it was in Silvas prime .

I dont even think his reflexes failed him. I think weidman did what nobody had thought of. Instead of a normal right left right combo, he spammed the left and connected at the perfect time. I've always hated that silva lost that way, but that's been my view of it

 

[Willy Knuckles]

not in his prime but he also never fought anyone like Weidman in his prime. Silva fans ignore the losses pre ufc and the losses late in his career too much imo

Hendo was a good win, Okami, Franklin(but that's a great style match up) everyone else was blah

Franklin x2* and he beat Vitor, so I'm not sure what you're saying here. He beat who was there

 

[Fioretti]

Anderson Silva was the best fighter in the world when Weidman beat him. Longest reigning champ in history, #1 MW, and #1 p4p. All at the age of 38.

Was it the best version of Silva? Obviously not. He had been visibly slowing for about a year or two, and it was his 38th pro fight. He also clowned harder and dumber than he ever had before, likely trying to show off excessively to one of his heroes, RJJ, who was in attendance. He closed his eyes and shimmied to mock The Chris (something he never did before or after) pretending to be hurt, then misread the combo and leaned right into a left hook that knocked him out. Very sad way for the GOAT to finally be taken out.

 

[mkt]

Yes. Some people say Silva ALWAYS fought that way as a strategy, but Silva did not ALWAYS clown and when he did it was never to that degree and usually not that early before he had established any meaningful offense.

He was definitely frustrated and couldn't keep his focus against The Chris. Weidman was well prepared.

The best Anderson was the early version who straight up matrixed Leben and Franklin twice without clowning. He had some amazing head movement in the Franklin fights, but it wasn't this stupid "I'll stick my neck out and see if you can hit me" stuff. He was younger then, too with better reflexes.

 

[mkt]

Anderson Silva was the best fighter in the world when Weidman beat him. Longest reigning champ in history, #1 MW, and #1 p4p. All at the age of 38.

Was it the best version of Silva? Obviously not. He had been visibly slowing for about a year or two, and it was his 38th pro fight. He also clowned harder and dumber than he ever had before, likely trying to show off excessively to one of his heroes, RJJ, who was in attendance. He closed his eyes and shimmied to mock The Chris (something he never did before or after) pretending to be hurt, then misread the combo and leaned right into a left hook that knocked him out. Very sad way for the GOAT to finally be taken out.

Yeah, hubris was part of his downfall for sure. I'd say the same was true in a different way for Fedor, who bought into the hype he could beat everyone else at their strengths. Jumping into Werdum's guard wasn't the smartest strategy....

 

[mkt]

Franklin x2* and he beat Vitor, so I'm not sure what you're saying here. He beat who was there

It's funny because Franklin is often considered one of the most underrated fighters in these threads. But bring up Anderson finishing him twice (while Rich was in his true prime) and people dismiss it.

 

[Janne1]

Silva was 6 months away from being the praised super matrix Silva vs Bonnar. All the sudden he mysteriously sucks when he's not fighting Griffin, Bonnar, Lutter, Cote or Leben.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Sonnen had better takedowns and cardio.

Cardio, i'll give him but Weidman had a higher percentage on his takedowns and was better than Sonnen everywhere but Cardio. When Weidman was on his way to the top and at the top Sonnen said Weidman was the worst match up for himself at MW.

 

[Franklin U.]

Still good, probably good enough to have won the right if he hadn't clowned around.
Him getting KOd was going to happen eventually though unless he retired.
Anderson's style relied heavily on reflexes, which seems to be one of the first attributes to go as you get older.
Also MMA striking IN GENERAL is drastically better than it was in Silvas prime .

A fair response. 32-33 year old Anderson dusts the Chris. The one thing that became Chris s bread butter was understanding distance and dictating where opponents were at the end of his punches. This was frustrating Anderson in first fight as he was acting like an ass in goading Chris after first round. I remember the fat man was so pissed and told Chris is stick to what he was doing then " punch a hole in his f-ing chest ". Chris was worked up and " almost " got him off game plan then Anderson( who was ready to lose title whether Xhris or someone else) just over did it with the nonsense and his hands down. SFORCE middles were coming over and they basically- eventually put Chris in the proper pecking order.

Chris said " no" to nobody while making defenses so he gets credit as a true champ but not the kind of credit that weidman backers give him.

 

[Orni]

Pencilneck haters love to dismiss Weidman but the guy beat Anderson twice, give respect where it's due. Yeah if Anderson wasn't clowning yada he did that before and it won him plenty of fights. Weidman didn't get flustered and kept going and won.

The legbreak in the 2nd fight was unfortunate but Weidman was doing well in that fight either way.

Ofc Anderson had been fighting for a long long tume, credit to him he is a specimen not only physically but to stay motivated and hungry that long takes a ridiculously strong minded fighter imo. He is a rare breed indeed.

 

[Fioretti]

It's funny because Franklin is often considered one of the most underrated fighters in these threads. But bring up Anderson finishing him twice (while Rich was in his true prime) and people dismiss it.

Franklin was 22-1 with 21 finishes when Silva took his belt. Losing only to Machida. He has the highest winning and finishing percentage out of any of GSP's or Silva's wins during their reigns. Totally sucked.

 

[Intellidamus]

But Weidman was winning, and Silva wasn't, so the speculative narrative that things might have turned around is a bit hypothetical. But the point I was referring to as "revisionist" was, specifically, this mythology that Silva lost because he was arrogantly clowning. He was trying to get Weidman to come to the Spider's web, and he was doing it because Weidman was winning and was fighting a measured, controlled fight, over all.

Exactly. Silva was frustrated and was clowning in an attempt to get Weidman to abandon his game plan and fight differently.
It was also a tactic to give the perception to the judges that he was in control of the fight.

 

[JoeyJoeJoeJr]

He was way past his prime, but he was still winning so it was hard for people to notice.

 

[kkthx]

Close to prime,
Anderson was always overated tho,
was lucky his division were poor with quality wrestler.
Double digit loses Chael was a bad fighter but a good wrestler and easily won 4 rd in the 1st fight.

are you a comedian?