How good was Anderson Silva when Chris Weidman beat him?

[GoshiShun17]

It all depends. Anderson at 38 was still an above average MMA fighter athletically.
Some people believe his takedown defense improved after the first Sonnen fight. He did improve his defense progressively through his career but I'm not sure if that was the specific point.

According to Anderson, a rib injury was the reason he struggled so bad in the first fight. So it depends on what you believe. If you watch the fight, it's free on YouTube for now, you will see that Anderson offered absolutely NO resistance to the takedowns. It was weird.

I believe Anderson had been falling out of his prime progressively with each fight. He was not that sharp against Sonnen2x, Okami, and against Weidman he couldn't find his range at all. That is also in large part to what Weidman was doing.

People say Anderson's is overrated. People say Weidman is overrated. I guess it depends who is rating them. I don't know how anyone can say Anderson was overrated after winning 16 straight. Wiyh so many ways to lose in MMA, Anderson always found a way to win against all styles.

 

[JustBleed69]

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

Vitor was a good win too, although it was pre-trt final final form Vitor

 

[jptmma]

 

[Perrichet]

I think he was still close to his prime. A lot of people also forget that Anderson's TDD got much better after the first Sonnen fight when Anderson was 35.

When Anderson was in his physical prime his TDD and submission defense wasn't as good nor was his ability to get back up when taken down. I think the Weidman that Anderson fought would have beaten a younger Anderson as well just more likely by submission or TKO on the ground.

Pretty much this

 

[MrFeeny]

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

 

[janipt]

I think all those KO wins got little too much into his head and he got careless, also seemed he was losing a step. Out of all people Bonnar was tagging him a lot with dirty boxing but he had no KO power.

I was concerned when fight against Chris was announced and I believe he knew he was facing dangerous opponent so he put mind games to maximum.

 

[King in the North]

He had been slipping for a few years but still good, obviously. Chris was a solid fighter and very skilled, but he benefitted from being in the right place at the right time.

 

[King in the North]

Also, I don’t recall the exact odds but Weidman was not a massive underdog against Silva. An underdog but only a slight one.

This was a big red flag to me as a Silva fan. I thought Chris might pull it off, but I never imagined it would go down the way it did.

 

[Intellidamus]

Clearly not in his prime but still a high quality win for The Chris. Anderson had just dominated Chael the year before.

That was far from domination. Chael won the first round 10-8 and outstruck Andy 78-0. Andy finished Chael in the next round following some shorts grabbing and one of the worst spinning moves in mma history.

 

[Shaddows]

For the longest time I've always wondered how good he was. I know he was 38 and past his peak fighting prime I won't argue that he wasn't, however he didn't look nearly as slow or past it as several other fighters normally are at that age and destroyed both Chael and LHW Bonnar not long prior. So imo even though Silva was coming to the end of his career he was still by Far the best middleweight at the time and I believe even that version of Anderson would have beat many of today's middleweights and even Israel given what current Silva was able to do against him.

I don't believe SIlva was as good as people thought he was throughout the time he was the Top dog.
But he did things no one else would dare try.
But now that he lost, you see fighters are not so afraid, so they react differently.

This has nothing to do with peak or non-peak and it works for both fighters.

Silva is more tentative since now losing is more real. And his opponents truly believe they can beat him.

Add on top of this the fact he is old, his reflexes not as great, his speed not as fast, etc, and you got the reason he is not winning.

But you can say the same for Fedor (while he was unbeaten), Aldo (before Conor), or even GSP.
Their dominance makes us think they are better than they truly are.

 

[Sirwastealot]

He was exactly 77% of his best version.

For reference, Fedor was 68% against werdum.

GSP was 83% against hendricks.

These are all facts.

 

[mkt]

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

Revisionist history much? Hendo had just gone 5 hard rounds with Rampage for the LHW belt. He went on to beat Fedor not long after that. Silva destroying him in the 2nd round was AMAZING, not a "good" win. He was WAY past his fighting prime at 38, too. Everyone here gives Fedor, Big Nog and Cro Cop incredible slack and excuses for every fight they lost after age 32...think about that. Other great wins
Chael (who beat Okami)-twice
Franklin who was in his prime-twice
TRT Belfort, the same one who destroyed prime Rockhold, Franklin, Bisping and Rumble (even though the reffing was screwy for Rumble-Belfort)
Some other good fighters, but those are the main ones.

 

[MuayThaiBX]

I think he was just out of prime but he was getting bored because the long win streak went to his head. He thought he was untouchable and was starting to fight carelessly because of it.

 

[mkt]

Vitor was a good win too, although it was pre-trt final final form Vitor

Uh, no, look at Vitor in that fight. He was in TRT form. It was the same Vitor who finished Franklin, Bisping, Rockhold and Rumble.

 

[mkt]

I think he was just out of prime but he was getting bored because the long win streak went to his head. He thought he was untouchable and was starting to fight carelessly because of it.

Yeah, and the drop in reflexes at age 38 vs. 31 is a big deal.

 

[HatKick]

Like most people ITT have said, he was still very good, maybe slightly past his best but not by much. He beat himself by acting a fool, then had a freak injury in the rematch, and that's probably where his prime ended.

 

[Iron Nick]

Not in his prime anymore, but not far removed from it either.

Yes, he was not far away from being 40 and has also had a lot of fights, but he took very little damage over the course of his career and he seems to be among the guys who just don't decline as fast as others - be it due to him taking PEDs, having great genetics or both.

St-Pierre, Jones and Aldo arguably declined faster.

 

[thobra]

I think it was one of the Worst versions we have ever seen of Anderson. Not just the loss of his reflexes, And the weakened chin, but his whole appeoach to fighting. He was just so full of himself that he thought he was invincible, just sticking his chin out. Even years past his prime, he should be able to beat a guy like Weidman, so I think even todays old man Anderson that is actually trying, would do better.

 

[BFoe]

I was at that fight, and man it was insane. Silva had a bit of trouble with Bonnar before that, so I think he was declining but close to prime. I disagree with some saying he’d have won if he didn’t clown around. I think he was clowning around because he was having trouble. Weidman was fighting a very good fight, and Silva was trying to piss him off and bait him into making a mistake. Unfortunately it was Silva who made a series of mistakes.

 

[0-2]

Even still, I think that version of Anderson could be a top contender maybe even champ in today's MW landscape

Today’s landscape would’ve been great for Anderson. Top 5 guys are all strikers. Anderson would’ve excelled in this era. Romero barely uses his wrestling to the point I consider him a striker than wrestler now