Sean Strickland says he would beat a prime Anderson Silva, arguing that the sport has evolved to a level where Silva’s game from his era would not hold up today.
Strickland reclaimed the UFC middleweight title by upsetting Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 earlier this month. Speaking to Nina Drama, he was asked about a fantasy matchup with Silva, who holds the record for most consecutive UFC middleweight title defenses at 10.
“I’d f*ck him up. I think there’s a big level difference now. If you could take Anderson Silva and bring him into modern time, you know what I’m saying? Every generation gets better and better and better. So it’s kind of one of those hard fights to say, ‘Would I beat this guy up?’ Well, yeah, like naturally the sport is getting better.”
Strickland has built a resume that includes wins over Chimaev, Israel Adesanya, Nassourdine Imavov, Brendan Allen, Paulo Costa, and Anthony Hernandez.