Anderson Silva is the greatest middleweight in mixed martial arts history. He is also, arguably, the MMA GOAT, but that discussion gets complex, and the asterisk associated with PED use comes into play, among other factors. However, during an online media day with Brazilian media, “The Spider” said the whole discussion is pretty meaningless.

To me, this discussion doesn’t exist, said Silva, as translated by Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting. There are moments, people that were better in certain times. [Georges] St-Pierre had his moment when he was the best, Royce [Gracie] was the best, Jon Jones, Khabib and other athletes… Matt Serra, Pedro Rizzo, Vitor Belfort, BJ Penn… Damn, so many people were good, the best in their moments. This pound-for-pound thing doesn’t exist.

You have the best momentarily. It will pass and someone else will come, and someone else. I think this [debate] of best in the world or greatest of all times is very premature and kind of meaningless. Someone good comes from time to time, a new talent, someone ahead of the curve. There’s no ‘The’ best in the world.

Some day undefeated Israel Adesanya may eclipse Silva as the middleweight GOAT, but for now the other contenders aren’t close. Who else would it be? You can’t make a coherent case for the other contenders like Vitor Belfort, Michael Bisping, Murilo Bustamante, Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, Luke Rockhold, Frank Shamrock, Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen, Chris Weidman, Robert Whittaker, etc.

The MMA GOAT is of course another matter. You can make a great case for a number of fighters including Fedor Emelianenko, Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Silva’s most frequently cited GOAT BJ Penn, Anderson Silva himself, and Georges St-Pierre, among others.

Silva fights Uriah Hall in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 39 on Saturday, and the debate will go on indefinitely. So, as meaningless and ephemeral as it is, UG, who’s your GOAT?