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#3. Anderson Silva
Before you start spitting out expletives, let me just say that Anderson Silva is one of my two favourite fighters of all time (guess who the other is?), and my mind was torn in two deciding if The Spider deserves this.
All said and done, he does. This isn't a Shakespearean backstabbing, but a dispassionate acknowledgement of facts. Conspiracy theorists might say that the signs were always there, floating in the edges of the picture - a "questionable substance" was spotted in Silva's house on an episode of UFC Cribs.
More than once has Silva been ordered to be wiped down for slicking his limbs and body during the course of a fight. But these were trivial in the face of his wizardry in the octagon and the fact that many of his opponents (James Irvin, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Chael Sonnen) failed drug tests after falling to him.
But what is untenable is the fact that he has failed two drug tests in the USADA era. He tested positive for steroids before and after his win over Nick Diaz at UFC 183; his moment of redemption after two humiliating defeats was blackened and he was suspended for a year, not to mention fined $380,000.
The toll of time was evident in the 41-year-old Silva's lopsided defeats to Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier in his 2016 return. He pulled one back against Dereck Brunson, but failed a drug test just a week ago and was pulled from his fight against Kelvin Gastelum.
Just 2 weeks after losing the Middleweight belt to GSP (yes, he's the other one), Michael Bisping stepped up to save the main event of UFC's maiden voyage to Shanghai. You can't help but turn your eyes down when hearing Bisping (who is one among Silva's thousands of fans) say that Silva, considered the GOAT, has completely destroyed his legacy.
