Is Anderson Silva towards the end of his prime?

[$Bullsfam$]

I feel like he is. The man's 36 years old. He gets hit more often then he used too. Belfort wasn't doing to bad until the front kick. The man's 36, so when is it gonna end? I'm afraid of the Roy Jones Jr effect happening because their similar strikers who rely on speed, timing, accuracy and reflex. Once that gone it's over.

I don't believe he had a rib injury against Sonnen. He's never had great takedown defense and I feel like he just got dropped because he was so worried about the takedowns he didn't expect it. It'll be a sad day when he's done and over with. Arguably the greatest P4P fighter to ever live along with Fedor...

[fathergll]

Logically he probably is towards the end of his prime. The question is what fight will it actual take place. As far as Belfort not doing bad, well Belfort is probably the best guy he has faced in years(obviously him and Sonnen). Tough to really say if he lost a step in that fight. Im still up in the air about the Sonnen fight. A rematch would tell me a lot more. Either way he's still a top tier guy and I don't know if hes going to slowly fade or hit a wall like CroCop.



I can confidently say he was in his prime up until the Maia fight(April 2010). Just watching that first round against Maia you can tell he had every bit of speed that he was capable of. Obviously he ended up goofing off and the fight was a disaster.

[BKM-2010]

I've been wondering that for the past 3 years, but every time he actually gets better in a way. So unless it happens overnight, he is gonna stay at this peak for a few more years.

[blaze778]

It's really hard to say.

He is 36 and has a lot of fights under his belt, but Silva really hasn't seemed to slow down much and hasn't had any performance to tell me otherwise.

The Sonnen fight comes to mind, but there are too many factors coming into that fight such as the rib injury, Sonnen on roids, and Silva looks more human against tough wrestlers like Sonnen to begin with.

That's a rematch I really want to see, a lot more than an Okami fight and even GSP at the moment.

Other than his age on paper, nothing else really points to Silva being past his best days.

[ZombieProphet]

whomever thinks anderson is in his "twilight of his prime" doesnt know what they're talking about. the difference between anderson and other 36 year old fighters is that he has not taken the punishment that others have. forget the fact that he gets better and better as his career progresses. i can see anderson fighting successfully for another 4-5 years depending if he stays at MW or moves up. if he moves up he will more than likely receive more punishment from bigger fighter than the 180 MW's. then his career could be shorten by maybe 2-3 years.

guys a beast no way around it. his gonna run over okami and i wouldnt be surprised if bispring wins his next fight we could very well see anderson vs bispring. that should give you an idea of the different level anderson is on compared to other fighters in his weight class. oh and GSP is just a pipe dream.

[$Bullsfam$]

whomever thinks anderson is in his "twilight of his prime" doesnt know what they're talking about. the difference between anderson and other 36 year old fighters is that he has not taken the punishment that others have. forget the fact that he gets better and better as his career progresses. i can see anderson fighting successfully for another 4-5 years depending if he stays at MW or moves up. if he moves up he will more than likely receive more punishment from bigger fighter than the 180 MW's. then his career could be shorten by maybe 2-3 years.

guys a beast no way around it. his gonna run over okami and i wouldnt be surprised if bispring wins his next fight we could very well see anderson vs bispring. that should give you an idea of the different level anderson is on compared to other fighters in his weight class. oh and GSP is just a pipe dream.

Dude, Anderson relies too much on speed and reflex like Roy Jones and Roy didn't take a lot of punishment either. Once that speed's gone he's done. He relies too much on reflex to defend punches. I think he can remain champ for another 2 years at the most, but 3 years is pushing it nevertheless 4-5 years which will put him in his 40's.

And if you think he won't have any difficulty with Okami then you obviously don't know what your talking about because OKami could easily take him down and hold him there like Sonnen and not get submitted because he's never been submitted in MMA. I really hope not though.

[ZombieProphet]

4-5 years would put him at 40-41 years old.


roy jones jr had already been through 50 fights before losing to tarver. where silva has only fought in 32 fights and iirc only he's only gone the distance 4 or 5 times. he's got ALOT of fight in him and tbh the only thing i can see beating is him is him losing the desire to fight from crushing all his opponents.

[fathergll]

whomever thinks anderson is in his "twilight of his prime" doesnt know what they're talking about.

Anyone who thinks they know exactly how much time a 36 year old guy who started his pro fighting career 11 years ago has left clearly doesn't know what they are talking. Thats when you know people are full of ****, when they state facts with things that are impossible to predict. The general theme of the thread is he's still in his prime but probably coming towards the end of it.

Silva isn't young. He started his pro fighting career a week after Fedor. Theres a lot more to wear and tear that just damage from fights. Guys go through a lot in training and sparring. It adds up.

Most likely you won't even see it coming if he does go down hill. Its usually a monday morning quarterback thing when a guy losses you then go back and analyze where it started falling apart.

[$Bullsfam$]

Anyone who thinks they know exactly how much time a 36 year old guy who started his pro fighting career 11 years ago has left clearly doesn't know what they are talking. Thats when you know people are full of ****, when they state facts with things that are impossible to predict. The general theme of the thread is he's still in his prime but probably coming towards the end of it.

Silva isn't young. He started his pro fighting career a week after Fedor. Theres a lot more to wear and tear that just damage from fights. Guys go through a lot in training and sparring. It adds up.

Most likely you won't even see it coming if he does go down hill. Its usually a monday morning quarterback thing when a guy losses you then go back and analyze where it started falling apart.

I totally agree here. Lets not forget he comes from motha****in Chutebox. Those crazy motha****as went H.A.M in the gym!!! I think I heard some times they just threw you in the ring and ran a gauntlet which were full out fights. People got knocked out on the regular in that crazy ass gym haha

[chiguy91]

i think he is...but i don't think it will happen overnight...he'll probably start showing some signs of his age by 2012 imo...he is 36, but so is the guy in my avatar. time will tell, looking forward to seeing him whoop okami. so far he hasn't shown a real sign of his age, so let's enjoy it while it lasts