Before people angrily pelt me with banana peels, rotten tomatoes, ticket stubs from Pixels and other trash (Zing!) I must qualify the title of this piece.

I love Anderson Silva.

Along with Frank Mir, Anderson ignited my passion for mixed martial arts. Watching his knockouts of Rich Franklin, Chris Leben and James Irvin were breathtaking. And as his run continued, his highlight reel consisted of feats that his peers can only dream of replicating even once. He fought on a level so high that no one could even fathom what his weaknesses were. Until his unexpected loss to Chris Weidman, Anderson was so dominant that no one could even dream of challenging his place as the pound for pound king.

But with his elimination from the p4p rankings after his suspension for steroids, let’s talk about something that everyone knows but no one says: Anderson Silva was never the Greatest of All Time.

He was the greatest in his weight class but not the GoAT. Even while standing in awe of his prodigious skill, I couldn’t help but shake my head every time Dana White walked up and down proclaiming Anderson as the greatest there ever was. In reality, Anderson Silva has experienced what Ronda Rousey experiences now; highlight reel marketability that clouds objective discussion of skill.

Anderson falls at two main hurdles: skill-set and quality of opposition. The easiest way to display both of these is to compare him against the fighter many consider to be the true GoAT, Fedor Emelianenko.

Anderson was prodigiously skilled but he had two very clear holes in his game. One was that his defensive wrestling was almost non-existent; his takedown defense was beating people to death before they got close enough to get him to the canvas. Due to the high cost of closing distance against Anderson and the lack of guard passers in his division, he was never truly punished for it.

The other hole in Anderson’s game was that he couldn’t lead, and this would become a real problem as his career progressed. It wasn’t until fellow writer Jack Slack pointed it out that it became obvious that Anderson truly didn’t know how to generate his own offense. The moment a fighter stopped lunging in to get close, Anderson’s matrix-esque fight style evaporated to be replaced by cringe-worthy antics and no set-up leg kicks.

Now compare that to Fedor.

Fedor in his prime could do it all. He could throw straight punches, hooks, he could fight on offense and defense, he could take fighters down from the clinch or just on a double leg, he had vicious body work and capped it off with a fantastic submission game. Let’s also not forget that if Fedor truly wanted to, he could have cut down to light heavyweight with little trouble; at 5’ 11” and 235 lbs he was always a bit pudgy in the ring. Yet with his skillset, he went on to completely dominate men who had 1-4 inches of height and essentially almost 30 lbs in weight.

But the quality of opposition is where Anderson’s alleged GoAT status truly falls apart. During any dominant title reign there’s always a question of whether the champion is truly great or the division is simply that mediocre.

Who would be his best opponent whom he beat? Rich Franklin? Nate Marquardt? Patrick Cote? Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort win the category but with all due respect to the future Hall-of-Famers wins over them alone cannot catapult Anderson to GoAT status and the rest of his opponents were too mid-tier to even mention.

Even with Pride FC’s notorious habit of producing mismatches, Fedor’s resume is far stronger. He mauled Nogueira on the ground twice with one no contest. He outstruck Mirko Cro Cop and submitted Mark Coleman when both were in their primes. He beat Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski while in the twilight of his career.

If the Fedor comparisons reek of an old fan trying to wax poetic about the “good ol’ days” then how about someone from Anderson’s own era: Georges St. Pierre.

Because of his decidedly displeasing style of fighting, GSP never got the recognition Anderson did despite being a larger PPV draw. That being said, he was far better rounded than Anderson ever was and his record is full of killers. He has two definitive wins over Matt Hughes (the no. 2 welterweight of all time) and smothering decisions against Thiago Alves, Carlos Condit and even Nick Diaz. Hell, it’s easy to forget that in his prime Josh Koscheck possessed the best double leg takedown the game had ever seen and an absolute howitzer of a right hand yet he lost to GSP twice.

If cross-class comparisons aren’t convincing you, then let’s settle on Chris Weidman.

IF Anderson Silva really is the GoAT, then Chris Weidman will eclipse him with two more wins. If he defends his title twice more, his undefeated title reign will consist of Anderson Silva (x2), Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Luke Rockhold and Jacare Souza/Yoel Romero. That is the type of murderer’s row which has yet to be matched in the history of MMA.

So would you be comfortable crowning Chris Weidman the GoAT with two more wins? Especially over candidates like Fedor and GSP? If so, then congratulations on adopting an unorthodox but not entirely indefensible position!

If not, let’s just admit it.

Anderson Silva will always be one of the UFC’s greatest champions and a true fan favorite, but he is simply not the Greatest of All Time.