talkSPORT’s MMA pundits believe Anderson Silva is the greatest UFC striker of all time.
However, none of them placed former two-division champion Conor McGregor in their top five.
Silva is considered one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time.
He holds the record for the longest win streak in the promotion’s history, having won 16 fights in a row after his UFC debut in 2006.
The Brazilian held the UFC middleweight title during this period, when he challenged and beat some of the best fighters in the light-heavyweight division too.
“Anderson walks so these others can run,” talkSPORT’s Kweku Afari said on talkMMA.
“If you listen to people talk about strikers in MMA and strikers in UFC, Anderson Silva is just a goat when it comes to that.”
Host of talkMMA and MMA On Point Alex Ritchings agreed.
“I think Anderson, the amount of finishes, the effectiveness of the singular strikes, it wasn’t always an overwhelming amount of offense,” he remarked.
“It was just one shot. The guy’s gone. Like sometimes that’s all it took.
“Anderson Silva, yeah, finishing rate, accuracy, striking acumen, can fight in every direction. We take him as number one.”
Comedian, actor and MMA enthusiast Blake Harrison also chimed in on the conversation.
“Also just, you know, title defenses, winning, a 16-fight win streak. The best the UFC has ever seen.
“Plus he went up and down divisions. He just went up to 205, not even for title fights, not to, you know, chase that double champ status, just because he could.
“And it wasn’t like a ten-pound difference, middleweight to light-heavyweight, 20-pound difference is big.
“He just went up there and was smoking people up there with one punch.
“It was phenomenal stuff for Anderson Silva. He has to be number one.”
Harrison then named Jose Aldo as the second greatest UFC striker of all time, ahead of Israel Adesanya, Max Holloway and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Meanwhile Afari selected UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira as his second best, followed by Adesanya, Holloway and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.
Ritchings went slightly unorthodox by selecting UFC Hall of famer Bas Rutten as the second best striker of all time, before also naming Alexander Volkanovski, Ilia Topuria and Alistair Overeem in his top five.
