I want to finally put this subject to rest, because there is no real debate to be had imo. Most people rate Silva as one of the greatest of all time, and almost nobody puts Izzy near that discussion. Recently it’s become a popular hot take for people to say that Izzy has a better title run than Silva, because “quality beats quantity”. I’d like to compare the two by rating each of their title wins. Israel Adesanya: 1. Kelvin Gastelum 1/10 Kelvin is still in his physical prime today, and hasn’t been nearly a ranked level fighter in a long time. Worthless win. “People forget man Kelvin beat 40yo Souza by split decision that was arguably a robbery” not impressive. 2. Robert Whittaker 8/10 Whittaker is one of the few guys on this list that has shown he can still hang with the top of today’s division. Great win. 3. Yoel Romero 0/10 Izzy fought Yoel Romero a month before his 43rd birthday and arguably lost. Romero was on a 2 fight losing streak going into this. He never should have had the title shot in the first place, and the fact that he almost won is crazy embarrassing for Izzy. 4. Paulo Costa 3/10 Another title win for Izzy that despite still being prime, can’t hang with the top of today’s division. I’m giving it a 3 because he’s still technically ranked and actually had an argument for the title shot back then, but still a bad win. 5. Marvin Vettori 3/10 Another guy who is still in his prime and can’t hang with today’s division. Same reasoning as costa, bad win 6. Whittaker 2. 7.5/10 Great win again, take half a point because it was more competitive and didn’t end in finish this time 7. Jared Cannonier. 7/10 Cannonier is older den a mug but still hanging with the top of the division. I don’t think he is or ever was one of the divisions best, but a good win nonetheless. 8. Alex Pereira 2. 9/10 Izzy’s best win and not close. He won the rematch by KO. Overall, Izzy has a few great wins, 1 good win, and a lot of unbelievably awful wins. Anderson Silva 1. Rich Franklin. 7/10 Silva ended Rich’s hot streak, as he was the 3 time defending champ at the time and only had one loss on his career. Great win for the time. 2. Nate Marquardt. 5/10 Nate was on a good win streak going into this and would later go on to beat prime Maia and up and coming Woodley. Solid win 3. Rich Franklin 2. 6/10 After Silva became his second loss, Rich fought his way back to the title and got his 3rd career loss. Good win 4. Dan Henderson 5/10 Old Pride legend with some great wins on his resume, fought successfully at multiple weight classes. Slightly overrated imo, but still a solid win 5. Patrick Cote 2/10 Deserved the title shot at the time but his resume is bad. 6. Thales Leites. 3/10 Slightly better than Cote but still not great 7. Demian Maia. 7/10 Maia is a legend with really good Jiu Jitsu and very good names on his resume. He stayed good for a long time after this too. Great win 8. Chael Sonnen. 4.5/10 Undefeated haha get it. In actuality this is a decent win, and Chael was a legitimate talent with some good wins on the resume. 9. Vitor Belfort. 6.5/10 Another Pride legend with some insanely good wins on his resume. He had a bit of an up and down career so I took a couple points. 10. Yushin Okami. 1/10 Who tf is that guy 11. Chael Sonnen 2. 4/10 Decent again. Other factors. Izzy had some (very good) losses mixed in his title reign, whereas Silva had a 16 fight win streak. Silva had wins at multiple weight classes, Izzy lost his only fight outside of 185. All but 2 of Silvas wins were finishes, all but 3 of Izzy’s title wins were decisions. Silva fell out of prime much harder, and even lost to Izzy late in his career. Conclusion: you need to be really ignorant and or delusional to think Izzy comes close to Silvas legacy. Izzy’s best few wins are better than Silvas best few, but almost all of Silvas title wins are better than the majority of Izzy’s title wins. Silva fought mostly mid-good guys, whereas Izzy fought either great or mind blowingly bad guys. Quality can beat quantity, but when the quantity is this much higher in favor of Silva, Izzy’s couple of great wins don’t come close to overwhelming that. Hopefully nobody ever pretends Gastelum is an elite win again.