Is Anderson Silva Still the Greatest of All Time After Loss to Chris Weidman?

Anderson Silva, the single most dominant champion in UFC history, the most fearsome striker in MMA and the greatest of all time, has been defeated.

That idea still hasn't settled in the minds of many MMA fans, and it may not for a long while. Even though the UFC's entire marketing pitch for this event was “no, really, Chris Weidman has a serious shot to beat Anderson Silva," not many took the bait.

While there were certainly hints that this could happen, given the lingering questions of Silva's takedown defense as well as Weidman's unique blend of wrestling and raw knockout power, the only appropriate reaction to this sort of loss is shock.

Now, inevitably, come the questions. Was Silva ever really that good? Has he only lasted this long due to the middleweight division's historically weak roster? Is he really the greatest of all time?

The first two will eventually fade, but the third one is worth tackling.

The lovely and talented Damon Martin discussed Silva's GOAT status at length recently and accurately stated that, at this point, there are three men fighting for that title: Silva, Fedor Emelianenko and Georges St-Pierre.

While on paper a single “L” on a 38-fight record shouldn't be an especially big deal, we know that every fighter is only as good as their last fight, and when you are dealing with three all-time greats, it's hard to view a comparison of the three as anything other than neck-and-neck from start to finish.

So does Silva still hold that title after losing his belt to Weidman?

While Emelianenko's omnipresent faithful may be ready to re-crown him, “The Last Emperor” has not taken back any territory in that battle.

While the Russian's run as the single best heavyweight in MMA from 2002-09 was nothing but amazing, there is no ignoring how it ended; with three consecutive stoppage losses to Fabricio Werdum, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Dan Henderson.

Even if Anderson Silva loses another fight, and probably even another after that, it's impossible to look past the way Emelianenko hit the wall as soon as he came up against serious competition that wasn't from the heavyweight division's dark ages of 2006.

That alone keeps Emelianenko definitively behind Anderson Silva when discussing who the greatest of all time is.

St-Pierre is where things start getting interesting.

St-Pierre can reasonably be slotted over Emelianenko as-is. St-Pierre, unlike Emelianenko, dominated all the best in his division from the 2000s, including Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn and Frank Trigg, but he has convincingly beaten fighters who are relevant today.

While Emelianenko lost to Antonio Silva and Werdum (who have both lost since), St-Pierre continues to handily beat the best in the sport today.

Should Anderson Silva lose another fight, St-Pierre starts to have a really strong claim for the GOAT title. Granted, it's still hard to fathom Anderson Silva losing when it just happened right in front of us, never even mind again.

Still, St-Pierre seems almost as unbeatable as Anderson Silva, and he has an edge in strength of competition, and another Anderson Silva loss might just be enough to climb to the top.

That is how things stand right now, but as we all know after Weidman's win, this can change in an instant.