There's always one.
Suffice it to say that this forum holds Fedor higher than Anderson by a wide margin according to a recent poll of GOAT candidates. And even a Brazilian MMA forum had Fedor as GOAT.
This in spite of the entire Zuffa hype machine selling Anderson for all they're worth! Without that hype there would be no discussion who's GOAT.
Fedor, a small HW, fought the most dangerous men on the planet and was undefeated for a decade. Anderson could easily have done what Shogun, Wand, Hendo and Machida did and fight at LHW.
Instead he took the easiest path at MW. The smart thing to do, but not the stuff of a P4P GOAT.
Peoples opinions don't mean anything to me. It's all subjective to their favorite fighters, and they are blinded by actual facts.
While Fedor dominating HW was impressive, I'll repeat and quote what I've already said: "What legitimate, top wins has Fedor got, other than Cro Cop and Nog?"
At the time, Schilt and Coleman were good wins as well, but not top wins by any means. The time Fedor fought Coleman the first time, Coleman had already reached his physical peak winning the Pride GP. When he fought Fedor a whole 4 years later, his best win out of two was Don Frye (who had completely fallen off by then himself).
HMC, Zulu, MW Lindland, Hunt with zero ground game, Sylvia and Arlovski who's careers were practically dead at the time, Rogers, LHW Arona, MW Sobral, Goodridge, Nagata, Herring, Fujita are all mediocre wins, at the time he fought them.
It's a joke to compare that career to Anderson Silva's who up until Weidman, in the UFC - the biggest MMA org in the world, went 16 - 0, most successful and consecutive title defenses. A top 10 ten fighter in 3 different weight classes, most finishes in UFC title fights, most finishes in UFC history, most consecutive wins in the UFC, tied GSP for most wins in UFC title fights. Highest significant strike accuracy in UFC (67.8%), most knockdowns landed in UFC history, tied Chuck and Randy for third most wins in the UFC, longest UFC title reign.
Moved up in weight, KO'd and embarrassed former champ Griffin who was coming off of back to back wins over Shogun and Rampage, third man to ever submit Hendo (a man who beat Fedor), the Nogs are the others to do it first. First man to legitimately stop Belfort. First man to stop Okami with strikes, second man to stop Franklin, Machida was the first. First man to stop Marquardt, first man to stop Leben, first man to stop Bonnar due to strikes.
And the way he did things in there, Fedor can't hold a candle to. Flying knee KO's, front kick KO's, upward elbow KO's, upkick KO's, head kick KO's.
Fedor was a great fighter, but Anderson is GOAT.