Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Brazilian Fighters

(Tie) 4. Wanderlei Silva

A tie for fourth on this list is a tremendous accomplishment, but it is actually Silva’s lowest finish in this series of articles so far, as he finished third on Sherdog's list of the greatest light heavyweights and second on Sherdog's Top 10 Pride FC fighters. A lot of people remember Silva during his time in the UFC, during which he had some great battles and scored a few great knockouts, including memorable finishes of Keith Jardine and Brian Stann, but alternated wins and losses, including dropping decisions to UFC poster boys Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin, who defeated Silva twice in catchweight contests. The reality is that Silva was already well past his prime at that point, which was clear even in Pride, where Silva had been knocked out in his last fight by Dan Henderson, a man he had beaten previously, and had lost three of his last five, including splitting two very close fights against Ricardo Arona in which he looked noticeably declined. One can blame that on the tremendous damage Silva had already received, not only from his fights but from the infamous Chute Boxe sparring sessions, where guys were regularly concussed, and became washed-up long before their time, with Murilo Rua being the most notorious example.

Of course, Silva's first stint in the UFC, when he was in his early 20s, featured the famous knockout loss to Vitor Belfort and being losing soundly by decision to Tito Ortiz. However, Silva was undefeated from 1999 until New Year's Eve 2004 in Pride, when he dropped a split decision to Mark Hunt, having gone undefeated in 20 outings, with 18 wins, an incredible 14 by stoppage, a draw against Mirko Filipovic and an abbreviated no contest against Gilbert Yvel. Truly a marvelous run during which time he was arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the entire sport. Silva's grappling during his prime was always underrated, as he had good takedown defense and excellent BJJ for the time. However, his bread-and-butter was his seek-and-destroy muay thai striking, which came to define his team, Chute Boxe, as a whole. He eschewed jabs for vicious power punches, especially hooks and overhands, and was especially lethal in the clinch. Pride’s rules worked to his advantage too, as Silva loved to soccer-kick and head-stomp downed opponents. Highlights during that time include knockouts of Quinton Jackson twice, Guy Mezger, Yuki Kondo and three finishes of all-time legend Kazushi Sakuraba, plus decision wins over iron-chinned Dan Henderson and previously undefeated Olympic heavyweight judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. It's one of the great runs in the sport.

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