Daniel Cormier dismisses Israel Adesanya possibly being the middleweight GOAT - "Anderson Silva was to MMA what Muhammad Ali was to boxing"
![Israel Adesanya (left), Daniel Cormier (center) & Anderson Silva (right) [Image Credits- @stylebender and @spiderandersonsilva on Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/02/96ca7-16437958933534-1920.jpg?w=500)
Based on his exploits in the UFC, fans often bring up Israel Adesanya's name in the discussion of middleweight GOATs. However, Daniel Cormier believes fans have been too hasty, citing Anderson Silva as a class apart.
The former dual division champion likened 'The Spider' to Muhammad Ali. He argued that Silva wielded the same influence in MMA circles as Ali did in boxing.
During the segment where Daniel Cormier and Ryan Clark answered questions from fans, 'DC' passionately defended Silva's honor as the middleweight GOAT. Cormier offered some insight into the same on ESPN MMA's DC & RC Show :
"No. Dude, Anderson Silva existed. Anderson Silva existed. Like, I don't get this recency bias that fans have. Honestly RC, I think the word goat gets thrown around way too easy in fight sports. The only person that doesn't get passed is Muhammad Ali and there have been some really impressive fighters, but people recognize what Muhammad Ali was. Anderson Silva was to MMA what Muhammad Ali was to boxing. No, [Israel Adesanya] has some work to do to catch Anderson."
Anderson Silva has an overall record of 34-11-0 in MMA. Over the course of his lenghty and illustrious UFC career, Silva managed to record an unbeaten streak of 17 fights before losing to Chris Weidman in 2013. He also holds the record for the most title defenses (10) in the UFC's middleweight division.
Silva reigned supreme over the 185-lbs division for more than 2,000 days. Although the middleweight legend lost seven of his last nine fights in the UFC, he left the promotion as arguably the greatest middleweight ever.
Watch the full episode of DC & RC below:
Francis Ngannou's recent performance inspired Israel Adesanya to keep evolving as a fighter
Israel Adesanya recently revealed that Francis Ngannou's UFC 270 performance against Ciryl Gane inspired him to keep getting better in all different facets of MMA.
Francis Ngannou managed to outperform the interim UFC heavyweight champion over the course of five rounds. He walked away with the win by way of unanimous decision after dominating the Frenchman on the ground for three rounds.
A popular narrative surrounding Israel Adesanya is that Jan Blachowicz revealed the blueprint for beating the Kiwi with his victory at UFC 259. The 38-year-old relied heavily on wrestling to wring out a unanimous decision win during Adesanya's light heavyweight debut.
However, Adesanya declared that he was determined to prove this notion wrong by presenting his wrestling pedigree. In conversation with Fox Sports' Niko Pajarillo, 'The Last Stylebender' revealed what motivates him to do so at UFC 271:
"To prove to myself. I even take inspiration from someone like [Francis Ngannou] over the weekend. Down two-nil, had to rally up the next three rounds to retain his belt. And he did so with wrestling, something that no one has ever seen before," said Adesanya.
Check out Israel Adesanya's interaction with Niko Pajarillo right here: