Has Israel Adesanya surpassed Anderson Silva? Brazilian quickly deleted angry message about comparison after Sean Strickland fight
Anderson Silva recently lashed out at Israel Adesanya for comparing himself to the legendary UFC middleweight. 'The Spider' took to social media to send the Nigerian-born Kiwi a now-deleted fiery message after his shocking title loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in Sydney.
When the Adesanya vs. Strickland matchup was officially announced, not many MMA fans gave 'Tarzan' much of a chance against 'The Last Stylebender.' Given Adesanya's resume, he was highly expected to dominate Strickland and earn the sixth title defense of his career. However, Strickland shockingly defeated Adesanya via unanimous decision to become the new 185-pound king.
Sean Strickland's title win over Israel Adesanya went down as one of the most surprising upsets in MMA history. In the aftermath of the fight, Anderson Silva took to Instagram and brutally slammed Adesanya for considering himself the greatest middleweight champion ever. In a now-deleted post, he wrote:
"I'm the one in charge of this s*** here, and you're not going to open your mouth again to compare yourself to me in this s***. Do you understand? I'm the one in charge of this s*** here." (h/t mirror.co.uk)
As far as UFC records go, 'The Spider' still holds the longest title reign in promotional history and has the most title defenses in middleweight history (10). Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya has five title defenses and is the first two-time middleweight champion in UFC history.
While Adesanya defeated Silva via unanimous decision at UFC 234, it seems 'The Last Stylebender' still has a long way to go before he matches the Brazilian's MMA record.
Michael Bisping names Anderson Silva the middleweight 'GOAT' over Israel Adesanya
Michael Bisping recently weighed in on the "greatest UFC middleweight of all time" debate and named Anderson Silva as his 185-pound GOAT over Israel Adesanya.
'The Count' faced Silva at UFC Fight Night 84 in February 2016 and won the enthralling contest via unanimous decision. Despite their past rivalry, Bisping doesn't believe Adesanya matches up to Silva just yet.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Michael Bisping outlined why he thought Anderson Silva was ahead of Adesanya in the middleweight GOAT debate. He said:
"Right now, Anderson Silva is ahead on all the numbers – knockouts, wins, defenses, length of time, all the rest of it. It all points toward Anderson Silva, and I think he’s got the better style so far... Right now, the greatest middleweight of all time, without question, is Anderson Silva, but Israel Adesanya is still only 34 years old. The man is still in his prime."
Catch Bisping's comments below (8:20):