neXus

He isnt as relevant as he was in Pride. Sure he still main events, but hasnt he lost 4 straight fights? Kind of ironic he is main eventing a ppv titled "The Comback", dont chu fink! His UFC career hasnt been anywhere near as successful as his Pride career, it all went downhill when Rampage knocked him out.

Dmac

He lost 3 in a row but come on, it was to Cro Cop, Hendo and Chuck, hardly scrubs, you know?

Then he knocked out Jardine in just over 30 seconds and got knock out of the night, showing he still has it, but then got caught himself by Rampage. He is has only lost his previous fight right now, there is no streak.

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Bigpapa42

Wait, what? Dmac already addressed the fact that he's not on a losing streak. But how has it gone "downhill" since losing to Rampage... when that was his last fight? That's like saying Rashad Evans or Forrest Griffin are going downhill because they lost their last fight...

Yes, he is only 1-2 in the UFC. But those two losses came against Chuck Liddell and Rampage Jackson, two of the best (well, Liddell was, not so much now) who are both former LHW champions. And the two fight losing streak he came into the UFC was against two of the best, too. Unless you're Fedor, if you fight enough top level guys, you are going to lose some fights.

As for his lone UFC win, that was over Keith Jardine. In spectacular fashion. Not a huge Jardine fan, but he does have wins over Forrest Griffen and Chuck Liddell. And Jardine went the distance with Rampage, which isn't an easy thing.

I don't think Wanderlei is the same fighter he was in Pride because he doesn't have the chin he once did. But its not like its a complete liability - he stood in there with Chuck and the KO from Rampage was from one of the hardest hitters at the weight class.

When Wanderlei starts losing to mid-level fighters, then you can say he's done and irrelevent.

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RaiZ-R

As I've said many a time, I'm hugely uneducated in MMA so my knowledge of Wanderlei is limited at best. He's shown me nothing in the UFC to make me think he could beat Anderson at all. I know that in Pride he was a force to be reckoned with and all, and I'm happy to be educated on his history, but surely, the fact that before his win against Jardine he was on a three fight losing streak says something about the fighter he is now. There's no shame in the fact that he's getting older and less able to own everybody. That just comes with age.

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Bigpapa42

No, it doesn't necessarily say all that much. Because all three of those fights were against top level competition. Yes, both Crocop and Liddell looked to be a decline after those respective fights, but they were considered still top fighters at the time. So while a three-fight losing streak is never a good thing, losing those three fights to three top fighters is about as impressive as a losing streak can be. If Rich Franklin had three fights at Light Heavyweight and lose them all, but they were against Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, and Rampage Jackson, would you have to say have to say he's done as a fighter? No, obviously not.

Look at Wanderlei's losses...

Mirko Crocop - when he fought Fedor in August 2005, he was the #2 HW in the world. When Wanderlei fought him, he was still top 5. And after beating Wanderlei, he also beat Barnett, who is another top HW. Don't forget that the 2006 Pride Openweight Grand Prix was primarily heavyweights - Wanderlei came in as Fedor's replacement. So Silva was facing a significant size disadvantage aginst Crocop - somewhere about 25-40 pounds.

Dan Henderson - great fighter who's been in there against some of the best. Though he was fighting at Middleweight prior to his fight with Wanderlei, Hendo makes a solid LHW, so there was a size advantage for Silva but not a huge one. Some people tend to underrate Henderson since he's 2-2 in the UFC... but those two losses are against elite fighters (Anderson Silva and Rampage Jackson) and he has two solid wins (Palhares, and more notably Rich Franklin).

Chuck Liddell - this one looks worse in retrospect, given Liddell's losses since. At the time, Liddell was still a top LHW contender. And this was a helluva fight.

Its easy to look at wins and losses and judge a fighter based on them. I've always been of the belief that its more accurate to look at the context of a win or loss than simply whether its a W or an L.

Now, I do actually think that Wanderlei has declined from his peak. But that's based on a few things, not just the fact that he had a three-fight losing streak and lost another fight since. If that's all you are looking at, then you are goign to be making assumptions and that's always dangerous. To say he isn't relevant at this point is pretty inaccurate, in my opinion.

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RaiZ-R

No, but then considering my personal low opinion of Franklin as a fighter (I didn't see anything in him until the loss to Henderson to be honest) using him as an example is a little pointless... But you weren't to know that, so I won't hold it against you.
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As for Wanderlei, I would never presume to call a fighter irrelevent, unless they were seriously past it, and even then their relevence would be directly connected to their past accomplishment. Silva's history speaks for itself, and the fact that he still has so many loyal fans, during such a rocky period in his career goes even further to show how dangerous he used to be. I'm also a big believer in the idea that a fighter can return to their glory days unexpectedly, as well as that ever precious luck-factor in a fight... Especially a fight involving a striker.

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Dmac

...

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RaiZ-R

Doesn't Anderson only have two fights left on his contract though? With the confirmed fight with Griffin that would mean he'd be facing Wanderlai in his last ever fight, wouldn't it?

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Bigpapa42

Pretty sure that UFC contracts have a clause (of apparent questionable legality) that allows them to continually extent the contract by one fight if they hold a belt. No idea if that's true, but its been mentioned a few times from a few sources.

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Sir Nicky Talent

I actually don't see who could favor in this. Both have dangerous clinch and grapple manuevers. A.Silva has lost a bit of his technique over the past two months, and Wandi is pretty hot. As much as Wandi isn't in his prime, I still see a toss-up.

I'm now actually praying for Wandi to beat Franklin tonight.

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