Anderson Silva considers BJ Penn the GOAT in MMA

In the opinion of Anderson Silva — a former UFC middleweight champion that many consider the best fighter ever — MMA’s true Greatest of All Time is BJ Penn.

Anderson Silva called Penn the GOAT in a recent interview with CBS Sports.

“In my personal opinion, it’s BJ Penn,” Silva said, when asked who he considers the GOAT in MMA. “First of all because I’m a big fan and second one because BJ I believe and agree that he’s the best fighter of all time — ever.”

In this same interview, Silva also replied to some recent comments from Daniel Cormier, in which Cormier stated that Silva and Jon Jones should not be mentioned in the GOAT debate.

“It’s very interesting because I take the fight against Daniel [on two days’ notice at UFC 200 in 2016] and I had been training absolutely nothing for months and I had surgery already in my body and I took the fight in saving Daniel money because Jon Jones failed the test,” Silva said. “But it’s very interesting Daniel talking about that because when you have problems, everybody has problems. When you talk about people, you need to be careful because you never know about your life. You never know about your future. I think Daniel is very lucky and completely lucky because never beating Jon Jones, of course, because Jon Jones in my opinion is the best fighter at 205 [pounds]. When I took the fight, Daniel didn’t do nothing. He was completely lucky. He was more lucky because I didn’t take the fight for five rounds and just three, and he don’t do nothing but just hit the ground and use his weight. Why are you talking? Why does Daniel talk? I respect, but Daniel don’t have to talk about that because I’m very sad about that. That’s the first time I saw this news. I respect Daniel, but when he is talking about me and Jon Jones, he’s completely crazy because Jon Jones is the best fighter. I tried to make everything perfect inside the cage for my fans. I don’t know… but it’s OK … this is Daniel Cormier.”