Five Fighters That Could Beat Anderson SIlva Today

The following five fighters are more than a match for Anderson Silva. While I could easily make this a list of 10 or 20 fighters that could handle Silva. I don’t have the time or energy to do that so I chose these out of that extremely large group.

You can agree or disagree- but you can’t say for one second that Silva can’t be beaten by these guys—all of them, except for the last has already done so. Yes you read that correctly—the first four fighters on my list have already beaten Silva so I see no reason why they couldn’t do it again.

Makes it kind of hard to argue that it could never be done no?

1. Ryo “The Shark” Chonan

Ryo defeated Silva with one of the most amazing submissions you will ever see in your entire life. A flying scissor kick in the last round of a fight in which Silva dominated. Silva tapped out faster than I can say “Tap Out”.

People can claim that Ryo was getting his but kicked for 14 minutes so he doesn’t deserve to be considered a true victor. Tell that to Frank Mir who defeated Brock “The Megapunk” Lesnar with an ankle lock after getting his face pounded for four minutes. A win is a win people—there are no asterisks in MMA.

Ryo currently is fighting in the UFC and has a fight coming up soon. He hasn’t done very well in the United States. However I see no reason why he shouldn’t be allowed to fight for the championship—Jeremy Horn got to fight Chuck so why can’t Ryo fight Silva?

2. Luis Azerado

Now this is one very interesting fighter. I watched a tape of him fighting Takanori Gomi in Bushido 7 and it was one heck of a fight. He uses highly unconventional methods of attack and is very aggressive. He gave Gomi all he could handle though he was eventually knocked out. Gomi is well known for his striking power but he was so totally frustrated with Luiz that he tried to beat him up—even after the fight was over.

That was the only time I could say Gomi was a tasteless thug. He had kids from his own fight school there watching—nice example.

In any event Luis defeated Silva in May of 2000 by unanimous decision. This was despite giving up 25 pounds to Silva. Doesn’t say much for Silva when he can be beaten by a welterweight.

As I said I could easily make this list much much longer but it would include too many people of higher and lower weight classes. I can think of several 170 lb fighters that could take on Silva—GSP maybe? Anyway that’s for another article at another time.

3. Yushin Okami

Yushin is an anomaly when it comes to what you normaly expect from a Japanese fighter. This guy is a wrestler and a ground and pound specialist. He is large, very strong, and hard to defeat because of his great defensive skills. He lulls opponents into getting tired or even bored then suddenly has them—from behind or on top—either way he almost always wins.

He, unlike many Pride transplants, has had great success in the UFC defeating the likes of  Alan Belcher, Kalib Starnes, Rory Singer, Mike “Quick” Swick, Jason Mcdonald, the Late Great Evan Tanner, and in January of 2006 he defeated Anderson Silva. Silva was disqualified in a fight he was going to lose anyway because of an illegal kick.

It’s not common for fights to be stopped this way—it definitely shows Silva’s desperation and fear of defeat. Well he lost and that’s that. Yushin would beat him I think. I think he was beating him anyway. Yushin’s whole style is based on lulling an opponent and playing possum even. Whatever the case he can beat Silva.

4. Daiju Takase

When Daiju faced Silva for the first and only time, Silva was on a nine fight winning streak. To say that Daiju was an underdog would be an understatement of the greatest degree.

Someone forgot to tell Daiju though, and he handily defeated Silva via triangle choke in the very first round. Think Anderson was asleep during the entire fight. He wasn’t just beaten he was DISMISSED.

Daiju has lost to many good fighters and beaten a few as well but he is by no means spectacular. The game is about match ups though and when someone has your number that’s it—you are done.

There is no doubt in my mind after watching that fight that this man could easily beat Silva again.

5.Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva

 
Now is Anderson Silva is such a man about moving up in weight why doesn’t he fight anyone good? Why not fight a man that can come down in weight to meet him in the middle somewhere? A man that could really beat the ever living snot out of him? Why not face someone so good, so dangerous, that a win against him would truly shut people up about his number one ranking as best pound for pound fighter in the world?

In other words put your money where your mouth is. Andersonhas been fighting guy’s way below his skill level and getting too much credit for doing so—I like “The Crippler” Chris Leban but be real, he’s not on the same level as Silva.

Why not prove something by fighting Wanderlei? Silva already defeated Hendersonwhich is very respectable—but what do you honestly think Wanderlei would do to this guy?

I’m talking about a man that won 25 fights in a row. I’m talking about a man that had no fear, feels no pain, is almost impossible to submit or KO and has extreme power and ferocity. Let Silva fight Wanderlei and we can end all this baloney about Silva being the best pound for pound fighter in the world.