Anderson Silva - The greatest athlete you've probably never heard of

'The Spider'

Last Saturday night Anderson Silva defeated Yushin Okami to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship in the 2nd round of 5 with a vicious flurry of strikes. The victory extended Silva's record of successful title defences to 9; a UFC record by some distance.At the same time, the victory increased a general winning streak which dates back some 5 and a half years to 2006. Silva now finds his overall MMA record standing at 31-4 (with 2 of his losses coming as a result of technicalities and submitting the other two times both of which came in his first 10 fights).

Anderson is widely regarded as the Pound - For - Pound best fighter in MMA given this record competing with the likes of Georges St Pierre, Jose Aldo and Jon Jones but this victory now propels Silva into the realm of the greatest mixed martial artist of all time and alongside the likes of Pele, Muhammad Ali and Roger Federer as a one of the greatest sportsman ever.

A record which includes 4 defeats might on the face of it not seem particularly impressive but in the MMA world defeats are not just acceptable but expected. The beauty of MMA is that we get to see many different style competing in the same ring; wrestlers, boxers, jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, muay thai practitioners amongst many others. As a result, styles make fights; a boxer might be able to beat all other boxers but once he comes up against a wrestler, the inability to cope with take downs will be his achilles heel. As a result, mixed martial artists are expected to encounter defeats and to go 14/15-0 is unheard of. Silva's record after his first 10 first is 23-2; simply amazing.

The names that he has beaten amount to a list of who is who of future hall of famers. Guys like Vitor Belfort, Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin. Anderson has even stepped up in weight to light heavyweight and beaten two former UFC champions with ease. The manner in which he has beaten them is equally if not more impressive. Chael Sonnen, a U.S. Olympic wrestler, was forced to submit to a triangle armbar after 4 and a half rounds of dominance. Rich Franklin was destroyed with vicious knees in the clinch and Vitor Belfort was knocked out with a front kick to the chin. Anderon has displayed a full bag of tricks; on the ground, standing up, in the clinch, with his hands, with his feet...pretty much anything.

Roger Federer is widely regarded as the great tennis player ever. What makes so great is the fact that he has been able to make fantastic players (Nadal, Roddick and Agassi) look average. The manner in which he has accumulated all of his grand slam titles puts hi a cut above the rest. The manner of Anderson's victories does the same. In the same way that at times Federer looked like he was playing a different game applies verbatim to Anderson Silva.

He has a larger than life character that seems befitting of Muhammad Ali. The way in which Ali would verbally destroy his opponents both in an out of the ring and then knock them out gave him an aura. Anderson fights with hands down almost begging his opponent to try and do something and then just calmly steps forward and floors them. Such a care free approach renders it easy to draw parallels.

He is a man who has dominated is sport in a  way befitting of Roger Federer, Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan in their primes. He is a man who has made elite world class athletes look like amateurs. He is a man who has done things in the octagon that others simply could not dream of.  Unfortunately he is a man who at the age of 36 may only have another 2 years in him which might not be enough time to see him get the recognition he deserves.

Simply put Anderon Silva is one of the greatest athletes ever.