Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Fighters of the 2000s

3. Anderson Silva

Sherdog's greatest middleweight ever garners a bronze medal finish here. Ranking him strictly for his work in the 2000s was tricky. I personally had him ninth, though I can understand an argument for having him higher. While Silva is considered a candidate for the greatest fighter of all time, what gets rarely discussed is that even at the age of 29, he was the most unlikely GOAT candidate imaginable. At age 28, in June 2003, he was submitted via triangle choke by Daiju Takase, a very limited fighter who was 4-7-1 coming into their fight and would remain below .500 for the rest of his career. This was actually a much bigger upset than Georges St. Pierre losing to Matt Serra, as Silva was an astounding -1500 favorite. At the age of 29, Silva was stunned again by Ryo Chonan with a flying scissor heel hook in December 2004. Chonan was a pretty good fighter, unlike Takase, but aside from an exotic submission game, there was nothing special about him. Silva was a -300 favorite for that one. Both those losses seemed to reinforce the idea that as tremendously talented a striker as Silva was, he was just too easy to take down or submit. Luckily for both him and MMA fans around the world, Silva perfected his style, fully realizing his amazing potential. It wasn't immediately smooth sailing; after Silva left Pride, he went 3-1 with jaw-dropping knockouts of Tony Fryklund—still one of my favorite ever, with an upwards elbow strike—Curtis Stout and Jorge Rivera, but also a disqualification loss to Yushin Okami for an illegal upkick.

However, when Silva joined the UFC in 2006, everything came together perfectly. He went a perfect 10-0 to finish the decade, an incredible nine of which were finishes. That includes a gorgeous knee to knock out Rich Franklin for the middleweight crown in October 2006 as well as a further five title defenses: a first-round knockout of perennial top middleweight Nate Marquardt, another knee knockout of Franklin, a second-round submission of legendary Dan Henderson, a third-round finish of Patrick Cote and a decision over very talented grappler Thales Leites, which Silva was ridiculously criticized for. Silva also had success at light heavyweight, taking just 61 seconds to starch James Irvin and then requiring less than three and half minutes to stretch out former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin unconscious across the canvas. Silva may have started the decade slow, but he finished it with a vengeance, as great as anyone over its final three years.

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