The Coffee Boy Returns - Silva, Sonnen and Hendo

Quickthoughts: …GOAT’s & Sh*t Talking

There is almost no doubt anymore that Anderson Silva is an all-time great:

 He’s undefeated in the UFC with the longest win-streak, most title defenses (10), and has beaten everyone the UFC has thrown at him with ease (save one or two fights). Before the UFC, he was the Cage Rage Middleweight Champion, and Shooto Middleweight Champion.

 He was Sports Illustrated’s Fighter of the Year (2008), World MMA Award’s Fighter of the Year (2008), among a bunch of other accolades.

He’s widely considered the best striker in MMA today – according to FightMetric, he lands 3.17 significant strikes per minute, has a 67% significant striking accuracy (making him the most accurate in the UFC), and absorbs only 1.41 significant strikes per minute, successfully defending against 63% of all significant strikes against him, and he has knocked down 17 opponents (the most in the UFC).

He has beaten MMA legends Rich Franklin (x2), Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort, and had one of the greatest feuds against MMA’s biggest trash talker Chael Sonnen, defeating him twice.

There is little left for Anderson Silva to prove. Sure, a fight with Georges St. Pierre would be a money-maker, and he would likely be the favorite to win that fight. A fight with Jon Jones would almost certainly sell out any stadium in North America. And he could stick around and defend his belt against up-and-comers (Chris Weidman, anyone?).

Whatever Silva decides to do at this point in his career, no one can doubt that he is one of, if not the greatest, mixed martial artist of all time. Few have been honored with such a title, the most recent being Fedor Emelianenko before dropping three fights in a row.

Maybe we’ll see a big fight here and there from Anderson Silva, maybe he’ll fight for another five years, maybe he’ll retire tomorrow. Whatever it is, Anderson Silva is THE king of MMA, and one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.

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It was recently announced that Jon Jones will be a coach on a season of The Ultimate Fighter next year, and his opponent is none other than Chael Sonnen. 

Sonnen was scheduled to face Forrest Griffin later this year in a rematch, but it appears that fight is now off, and he’ll be on the sidelines until TUF, where he’ll face Jones for the title after the show is over.

Dan Henderson was originally supposed to face Jones for the title after beating “Shogun” Rua in an epic five-round fight, but had to pull out due to an injury. He didn’t seem too pleased to hear about Chael Sonnen getting the shot before him, and had this to say to UFC president Dana White:

No one can really blame Henderson for being upset. After all, he was promised a title shot, and Sonnen is coming off a loss to Anderson Silva after being TKO’d in the second round. Sonnen has managed to work his way up to “better things” by being loud and brash, and honestly it’s no real surprise that the UFC wants to cash in on a fight that would definitely sell between him and Jon Jones.

Dan Henderson is currently in Singapore training. Expect to see the UFC set up a title-eliminator match between Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida, who is coming off an impressive knockout victory over Ryan Bader.