Who would you favor over Antonio Silva?

I think he's a real "sleeper" when they talk about the best fighters in the world. IMO, there aren't too many HWs or SHWs who can beat him. Where would you rate him in an open-weight ranking (based on ability to win, not quality of past wins)?

its kind of tough to say where he is because he hasnt fought the best of the best yet although he has beaten tengiz, and cabbage, but the flash ko to pele made me wonder about him a little. the guy is very tough on the feet and has huge power, and he did win by sub in his last fight so he some game on the ground. right now id say hes borderline top ten, with the potential to crack the top 5 but he needs to beat someone that is currently on the radar when it comes to the best HWs out there. i agree that hes a sleeper, and hes very young and trains with a good camp so the potential for him to be a champion is definately there.

I would favor Fedor and Big Nog over him. I think he's about even money with Sylvia, Vera, Barnett and Couture. Everyone else (Hunt, Lesnar, Fujita, CroCop, Kongo, etc.) I think he would beat.

I agree that he seems to have a lot potential. Having only seen a couple of his fights, I'd rate him a 3rd- or 4th-tier Heavyweight right now. Silva should be a handful for Kimbo and Ricco, and if EliteXC continues to do shows with Strikeforce, I think he'd be a tough match for Buentello (I'd pick Overeem over Silva by a mile, at the moment, although Overeem can be inconsistent).

Some other guys I can think of who Silva could beat:

- Soa Palelei was simply awful at UFC 79, and I'm sure Elite XC would love to have him if the UFC cuts him loose.

- Colin Robinson is another guy I'd be surprised to see back in the Octagon, and since he's a UK fighter, I wouldn't be shocked to see him give Cage Rage a try (and Cage Rage was recently brought into the ProElite family).

- Marcio Cruz had one fight in the IFL last Summer, but I don't know if he's signed a long-term contract or if he was a fill-in. He'd be a good signing for EliteXC or Strikeforce.

And "Big Ben" Rothwell is still a free agent, I believe. I'd like to see him give the UFC a go, but he'd be a top-notch signing for EliteXC or Strikeforce. As of today, I would pick Rothwell to beat Silva, but in another six months, who knows..?

Big Foot is a bad mother.... not to many HW's could take him.......

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Posted by AchillesHeel

I agree that he seems to have a lot potential. Having only seen a couple of his fights, I'd rate him a 3rd- or 4th-tier Heavyweight right now. Silva should be a handful for Kimbo and Ricco[...]

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I just remembered that EliteXC signed James Thompson too. That should be another good matchup.

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Posted by AchillesHeel

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Posted by AchillesHeel

I agree that he seems to have a lot potential. Having only seen a couple of his fights, I'd rate him a 3rd- or 4th-tier Heavyweight right now. Silva should be a handful for Kimbo and Ricco[...]

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I just remembered that EliteXC signed James Thompson too. That should be another good matchup.

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that should be a nice test to see where silva is at, id definately choose him over JT, but thompsons bullrush can give anyone trouble.

He's already beaten two fighters (Tengiz Tedoradze and Tom Erikson) who I'd consider bigger tests than James Thompson with first round TKOs. I bet he'll do the same to JT.

i've seen a couple of fights from him, i would favor fedor and Big nof over him, i think i would also take barny over silva, i think he has potential, but there are a handfull of fighter that i think would give him some trouble.......one question, as i've never seen him live, i have never had a chance to see how much he ways in for fights, sherdog has him listed as 300 pounds, with that being said, could he make 265?

Edit (GSPfan corrected me)

Bigfoot made 265 his last fight. Here's a link for the thread.

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Posted by cowcatcher

its kind of tough to say where he is because he hasnt fought the best of the best yet although he has beaten tengiz, and cabbage, but the flash ko to pele made me wonder about him a little. the guy is very tough on the feet and has huge power, and he did win by sub in his last fight so he some game on the ground. right now id say hes borderline top ten, with the potential to crack the top 5 but he needs to beat someone that is currently on the radar when it comes to the best HWs out there. i agree that hes a sleeper, and hes very young and trains with a good camp so the potential for him to be a champion is definately there.

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Completely agree. Good post.

I think he would demolish James Thomspon, he has already beaten better names.

I think Fedor and Nogueira could beat him convincingly and consistently, they are just a skill tier higher than him.

I think Cro Cop might be able to KO him, but if he fought Bigfoot 100 times I'd give him a lower success rate than Fedor or Nogueira, simply because if Cro Cop couldn't KO him as he moved in then his window of oppertunity closes and big foot wins the fight on the ground. Aleksander Emelianenko would have a shot too, good KO power and actually not shabby at all on the ground, plus he is quite a size, which would help against Silva, who is a man-mountain!

I would take Fedor, Couture, Nog, Barnett, and Sylvia over him. The rest I would favor Bigfoot, but as cowcatcher pointed out he very unproven against top competition. I don't worry too much about the flash KO, people get caught. Plus, i felt it was a early stoppage.

he certainly looks impressive but i just havent seen him fight enough tough guys to think that he would be able to handle the likes of fedor, nog, barnett, sylvia. if he were to fight some of the smaller hw's like vera i would think he would give them real problems. this also could be the case with randy imho, because despite his recent success against sylvia and gonzaga really big guys have given him trouble in the past. that said, i never count randy out (doesnt really matter because that fight will never ever ever happen anyways). can he definitely not cut down to 265? 35 pounds is a lot but for someone that big it isnt the insurmountable obstacle it is for someone who weighs less.

the fight id really like to see is with mark hunt. i pick hunt but that fight would be a war, unless hunt catches him.

Fedor, Nog, Hunt, Cro-cop and Barnett id take over Big foot. I think Couture, Kongo, Vera, and Werdum are all too small to handle him physically. Gonzaga and Arlovski both fold when they get hit hard.

Fedor Nog and Cro-cop are all good enough at what they do to finish Bigfoot in the first (at their best). Barnett and Hunt I think could physically hang with him and wear him out.
I dont think he could finish hunt, nor come close to it. HUnt on the other hand hits hard, knock you around like a ragdoll hard. Plus how many huge people has bigfoot actually faced? Could he perform at the same level against someone possibly stronger than him?

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Posted by Pookie

I think Couture, Kongo, Vera, and Werdum are all too small to handle him physically.

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With the possible exception of Vera - and I think it's too early to judge his recovery from the loss to Sylvia - I don't see a lot of evidence to back this up. Couture beat up Tim Sylvia pretty handily, iirc, and pretty much manhandled Gabriel Gonzaga, who's a better grappler than Silva. Kongo hasn't fought anyone his own size recently (Kongo is 6'4", the same as Silva), but his kick-boxing looks much more polished than Silva's to me. Kongo's weakness is clearly his grappling. Vera couldn't do much with Sylvia, but Sylvia is both bigger and better than Silva. Werdum is the same height as Silva, and there's nothing to suggest he can't handle big guys (he submitted Aleks Emelianenko a little over a year ago, although I haven't seen that fight).

Hey, maybe Antonio Silva versus Ben Rothwell "Proving ground"