As others have pointed out, Silva fights far more often than most other fighters (particularly UFC fighters), and has a far better record -- even if you only include the "serious" opponents -- than anyone but Randy, Chuck, and Rampage. And of course he beat Rampage (tired or not, them's the breaks in a tournament).
As for not evolving -- where else can he go? He KO'd Minowa from the guard; he fought Crocop to a draw in a match that limited ground fighting (and that many think Silva won anyway); he came closer to subbing Sakuraba than anyone but Rogerio Nogueira, and came close to subbing Judo gold medalist Yoshida; he has never shown even a hint of needing better conditioning; he's strong, he's fast, he's good on the ground, he's good on his feet. He's shown he can be overwhelmingly aggressive (Sak I, Mezger, Rampage) or play it smart and look for his shots (Mirko, Sak III).
The only fighter possibly more "complete" than Silva is Fedor.
Yes, there are some worthy contenders in Pride that are getting pushed aside in favor of Japanese fighters who haven't worked their way up in the division -- Randleman, Rogerio, Arona, now Bustamante. But as has also already been pointed out, you can't fight a top 5 fighter every fight of your career, even if the promotion you're in didn't have very sound business reasons for doing otherwise.
If any UFC champion could manage to hold a belt for more than one show (Matt Hughes being the exception, of course), I'm sure he's not going to keep fighting top guys every show. How many top guys did Tito fight as champion to "earn" his #1 in the world status? How many times did he fight PERIOD as champion?
lol
In the Mezger fight, Silva blatantly headbutted Guy just prior to the KO.
"goddamn this Ghost guy is a dumb motherfucker isn't he?"
There go your two cents for the day.
"your Silva point can be made on any fighter (except Randy)"
Guys like Tito... Cro Cop recently (Dos Caras Jr???? Come on)... I agree completely.
who cares, you cant fight top of the line dudes all the time. eat a few tomatoes between your burgers or you will die an early death.
killed him with one shot to the body....haha...mirko barely landed his toes on that shot....wand has taken straight up knees to the face and not flinched....sorry ghost....you need to stop watching point sparring karate and try watching pride...real men fight there....real men watch....and bitches hate...case closed.
"you need to stop watching point sparring karate and try watching pride...real men fight there....real men watch....and bitches hate...case closed" haha, best comment ive seen here in a long time.
""your Silva point can be made on any fighter (except Randy)"
Guys like Tito... Cro Cop recently (Dos Caras Jr???? Come on)... I agree completely."
There really are very few examples of fighters who take all tough fights. Couture, Sakuraba and Liddell are almost the only ones I can think of. Even Rampage had Minowa, Iloukhine (not necessarily a can, but definitely not in the top 20, probably, at this point); Fedor's had Nagata, Fujita (was supposed to be a walk in the park); Nogueira had Yokoi, Henderson (obviously a top fighter but far from HW).
"who cares, you cant fight top of the line dudes all the time. eat a few tomatoes between your burgers or you will die an early death."
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
"sorry ghost....you need to stop watching point sparring karate and try watching pride...real men fight there....real men watch....and bitches hate...case closed."
I'd fuck you up, poorboy. And let's not get to who's feminine here, you're the one with the bitch name, Devon.
Man, some of you guys get waaaaay too defensive. Take a deep breath. Ghost's point was made pages ago, and I can't believe how many times he has had to say "I am not trashing Silva" in hope to shut you guys up. You guys don't need to stick up for Silva, nobody is saying he is a horrible fighter. He has fought more tomatoes than most.. agreed, its great that he keeps fighting and is always staying active... cant trash him there coz it is true... you fight whoever the promoters put in front of you...
My take:
I agree, he is one of the best fighters out there due to his wars with Cro Cop, Rampage, Hendo and a few others. I used to think Silva was a joke due to his actual fights (not beatdowns against nobodies) against guys like Tito and Belfort. However, he made a statement by beating Rampage. He beat him fair in square, whether Rampage was more tired than him or not, whatever.... thats not the point, because Rampage showed how good of a fighter he is by taking all those knees and smiling, its not like Rampage was'nt there. He had a war with Liddell, and Silva had a long fight against Yoshida... which one would be more tiring... that depends on their cardio. They'll fight again, so making predictions on a "fresh" Rampage and a "fresh" Silva is fuckin stupid IMO....coz 20 minutes of grappling with Yoshida is strenuous in itself and having an all out war with Liddell would be mad strenuous too. However, I am agreeing that PRIDE does'nt give Silva the best opponents, maybe coz they love having him as a champion.... however, on the flip side they have given him some of the best and rolled the dice..... Cro Cop (giving Cro Cop the advange due to rules), putting him in the GP in the first place with guys like Liddell, Rampage and Busta while he is still the MW champ, Hendo (one of the best P4P fighters in the world), etc. Sure he lost to Tito and Belfort, but whatever... nobody is indestructable.... everyone can be beaten on any given day in MMA, just hope its your day and not your opponents.
So does that means that you agree to my above post? :-!
Ghost it takes balls to post something like that here. The legions of Silva groupies tend to strike you down when any argument about the credibility of his opponents comes up. You're right, they're wrong is the bottom line.
People, go take a look at the current LHW rankings and tell me who Silva has fought from that list. Yep, three people, two of them already beat Silva, and one had to face him after a VERY crueling fight that same evening. Case closed. Until Silva starts defeating fighters in the top 10 of his weight class defending his belt, his record means jack shit. What other champion in any weight class, in any organization has had such easy title defenses as Silva? Answer, none.
Top LHW fighters Silva has beaten: Sakuraba, Henderson, Rampage. Lost to Tito and Belfort.
Top LHW fighters Couture has beaten: Tito, Chuck.
Top LHW fighters Tito has beaten: Kondo, if you consider him top 10 at the time, otherwise that's it (unless MAYBE you count Silva as top 10 when Tito beat him, though I'm pretty sure he wasn't). Lost to Liddell and Couture.
Top LHW fighters Liddell has beaten: Randleman, Tito, Belfort (shouldn't be considered top, but for the sake of argument...), Bustamante. Lost to Rampage and Couture.
Top LHW fighters Belfort has beaten: zero. Lost to Liddell, Sakuraba, and Couture.
Top LHW fighters Rampage has beaten: Bustamante, Randleman, Liddell. Lost to Silva and Sakuraba.
*****
I'm not sure how you can look at that and argue that Silva is so "less qualified" than the others.
"What other champion in any weight class, in any organization has had such easy title defenses as Silva? Answer, none."
What other champion in any weight class, in any organization, has fought a top K-1 guy at a heavier weight class under modified rules that limited ground fighting? What other current champion, etc, has put his reputation on the line in an 8-man tournament with some of the best fighters in the world?
damn. some good arguement here. thats why i stay neutral.
I hate Silva, he's a cheating fuck...
But to discount all of his wins like that?
Look at Gator Man gettin all pissy over there.
Way to be, sport. Takin shit hard on the net is definitely the way to live life. BTW, if you spouted off like that to my face, you'd be wearing your jaw up your fuckin asshole.
Have a good one, BRO.
You're also a piece of shit who gets all bent over the net.
Golden gloves, purple belt, I give a fuck... I'd knock you the fuck out, faggot. Keep talkin.
"Ghost- Your a fool."
... and who the fuck are YOU?????
Don't you people have anything better to do???? I thought I saw another Rickson topic a couple topics down.... sic' em, UG'ers. Can't a mother fucker speak his mind up in here without the cheerleaders gettin all girly?
Another thing... I've earned that green name the way you've earned me calling you a bitch. BITCH. So be cool.
ttt
lol