Who would you say are the 10 greatest middleweight (185 lbs.) fighters in mma history? 10. Murilo Bustamante 9. Paulo Filho 8. Jacare Souza 7. Rich Franklin 6. Luke Rockhold 5. Chael Sonnen 4. Vitor Belfort 3. Dan Henderson 2. Chris Weidman 1. Anderson Silva Thoughts?
I think it's too early to have Weidman at 2. I was going to punch holes in this but realized there just isn't much else to choose from. Good list.
it may be too early to say that weidman is greater than silva, but imo, he beats everyone that silva has fought.
Frank Shamrock deserves a spot in that list too. I can't argue with Weidman being #2. He's dominated everyone he's fought. He has the potential to take over the #1 spot if he stays on top as long as Anderson did.
when shamrock was the middleweight champ, i think it was actually at 205 and they later changed it to light heavy when tito won the vacant belt.
Silva x2 (brutally), Machida, Belfort. Who else has a resume like that other than Silva. Hell, Silva didnt even have that kind of greatness on his middleweight resume.
Silva beat a lot of great fighters. Franklin, Henderson, Marquardt, Belfort also when Vitor was still on steroids. Anderson knocking out Vitor with a front kick to the face was more impressive than anything Weidman has done, except for beating Anderson. Anderson has the better resume so far. Weidman is still in his prime. He might stay on top for a long time.
But it you will probably acknowledge that this is similar to saying there is no one on Ali's resume as great as Ali. But that doesn't mean Leon Spinks was a great HW.
Well one cant even put Ali and Spinks on the same level of primeness when they lost. that being said, Spinks won a split decision and Weidman knocked Silva out. The rematch Ali won a unanimous decisions and Weidman destroyed Silva's leg.
I'm not arguing against Weidman being high up on the list. Anderson is the #1 middleweight in MMA history as of right now. Weidman could pass him if he stays on top as long as Anderson did. I still think of Anderson as the greatest P4P fighter in MMA history. Weidman or Jon Jones have the potential to be greater if they keep winning. Jones had his belt taken away, but he still hasn't been defeated in a fight.
