Silva vs. Weidman: Win Would Solidify the Spider as Greatest Fighter Ever

Rarely is it easy to appreciate greatness in its own time, except in the case of Anderson Silva.

For the most part, it's hard to discuss an athlete's overall legacy while he or she is still competing. There's still more the athlete could accomplish. Conversely, there's still more time for that athlete to hurt the narrative of his or her career with a poor finish.

Regarding Silva, it's not hard to see that he is one of the transcendent fighters of his time.

Mixed martial arts is a bit tricky when it comes to comparing fighters. You've got the early days, when there were few rules and less publicity. It's only over the past couple of decades that you've seen the sport become more regulated and improved overall as a product.

As the sport has grown, so has Silva. The Spider has become one of the biggest stars in UFC. He's yet to lose since joining the company, going 16-0. The 38-year-old is 33-4 over his entire MMA career.

Rather that simply winning, it's been the ruthlessly efficient way in which Silva has downed his opponents that's been the impressive part. Only seven of his wins have gone to a decision.

Occasionally, Silva is tested. For the most part, though, he lurks menacingly around the Octagon, waiting for an opening with which to take his opponent out. You'd be mistaken if you thought the level of competition for Silva was low. He's simply that good and makes even the toughest of challengers look pedestrian.

When any athlete starts to hit his late 30s, he or she begins winding down. Even the most finely tuned athletes can't do the same things at 38 that he or she could at 28.

Only, in the case of Silva, you've got a fighter who is arguably as good now as he was 10 years ago. Even at his age, the Spider has shown little sign of dropping off.

That's what would make a win over Chris Weidman so impressive.

Silva is not taking it easy at this point in his career. He's not hanging on and collecting a couple of paydays before his time in UFC is over.

In Weidman, Silva is facing off with somebody who could be close to his equal in terms of talent and also nine years younger. The 29-year-old has won all nine of his fights as a professional and has the takedown ability and power to give Silva a hard time in the Octagon.

Here's a quick breakdown of the two fighters.

(Note: SLpM is significant strikes landed per minute, while SApM is significant strikes absorbed per minute.)

Should Silva win easily, most will probably say that Weidman was over-hyped and nowhere near the quality of Silva. That would be very unfair to the Spider.

If Silva finishes Weidman off early, it would just embolden his legacy. It takes a supremely skilled fighter to make his opponents look weak. Time and again, that's exactly what Silva has done.

This wouldn't be the case of an experienced veteran using every trick in the book in order to maintain his status. Silva's not going to sit back and hope for a decision. He is going to take the fight to Weidman.

If you're an MMA fan, there's no chance you can miss this fight, for you are truly watching a master of his craft, and there's no telling how much longer Silva will be able to maintain his ridiculously high level of excellence.