Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Fighters of the 2010s

10. Anderson Silva

There was a lot of competition for 10th place. For a while, Georges St. Pierre looked to have an inside track, with Cristiane Justino “Cyborg” close behind. However, with the last vote, Sherdog's greatest middleweight and best Brazilian fighter ever leapfrogged both of them. He was a very polarizing inclusion, as most voters, myself included, left him off entirely. However, a few voters had him very high, including one fifth-place vote. In his prime, Silva was arguably the greatest striker MMA has ever seen, with excellent BJJ and very good takedown defense to boot. That prime extended into the first few years of the 2010s, as Silva started the decade with six straight wins, five of which were title defenses and a slightly different five of which ended by knockout. Silva’s 2010s began with a dominant decision over Sherdog's second greatest grappler ever, Demian Maia; a legendary Round 5 comeback submission over Chael Sonnen; one of the greatest knockouts ever, a front kick to the face that collapsed Vitor Belfort; a brutal beating of Yushin Okami that was mercifully stopped in Round 2; a much more straightforward knockout of Sonnen in the rematch; and lastly, a first-round knockout of the late Stephan Bonnar in a light heavyweight affair.

Starting in 2013, however, Silva's age finally caught up to him, and he finished the 2010s with an ugly record of 1-6 and 1 no contest, beginning with two stoppage losses for the middleweight crown against Chris Weidman. His only win during that stretch was a decision over Derek Brunson, and even that was considered a robbery, as almost everyone scored it for the American. Silva had a few excellent years during the decade, but even he could not defeat Father Time in the end.

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