#2 – Georges St. Pierre
Georges St. Pierre has gone through some of the most legendary fighters ever in the welterweight division. He is an elite wrestler with knockout ability. As a matter of fact, after retiring from the UFC in 2013, GSP returned in 2017 to fight Michael Bisping for the Middleweight title. GSP had his way with Bisping knocking him down with a powerful right hand before finishing him with a rear naked choke.
His 9 straight title defenses rank 3rd in UFC history as he went through names such as BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Matt Sera and Nick Diaz. If he didn’t retire I am very confident that he would have become the record holder.
I was very close to putting GSP first on this list because unlike some of the greats he never once tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. He was always by the books and from a pure physic standpoint you could see his fitness was on another level.
The next fighter though has a special place in my heart.
#1 – Anderson Silva
Let me preface this by saying this one might be a little bias. His front kick knockout against Vitor Belfort is one my favorite memories ever. I had only seen a couple of UFC events up to that point and it did not disappoint. I was hooked and Anderson Silva became my favorite fighter.
That front kick is exactly why Silva is so great. Unlike most robotic fighters, he was out there revolutionizing the sport with his strikes and kicks that nobody had seen before. There would not be fighters like Conor McGregor or Israel Adesanya without Anderson Silva. He was transcendent.
Don’t let the 10 losses on the record fool you. In recent time what makes me love Silva even more is that he is more than willing to accept fights well into his 40s. A 44 year old Anderson Silva even accepted a fight against Israel Adesanya on short notice. He is clearly out of his prime, but his life is fighting which leads me to believe we haven’t seen the last of him in the octagon.
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