As Wanderlei Silva heads into his highly anticipated third clash with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson tonight at UFC 92, I've been thinking a lot about everything Silva has accomplished in mixed martial arts. And I think it's safe to say this: Silva is the best knockout artist in MMA history.MMA doesn't have any statistical milestones like 3,000 hits -- there's not a simple number you can use as shorthand to describe a fighter's career. But if we wanted to create such a number, 20 knockouts would be a good one. And from what I've been able to determine, Silva is one of only five fighters in history to win at least 20 fights by KO or TKO.
Silva has 23 KOs or TKOs in his MMA career. I'm aware of just four other fighters in history who have 20 or more: Gilbert Yvel has 30, Igor Vovchanchyn has 25, Melvin Manhoef has 21 and Dave Dalgliesh has 21. None of those other four has fought anything close to the quality of opposition that Silva has.
At age 32, Silva might not have quite the knockout power he once had (although you'd have a hard time convincing Keith Jardine of that), but I think he has at least a few more knockouts left in him. He might just get the 24th tonight.
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