LAS VEGAS – When it comes to MMA fandom, Wilmer Valderrama has been around the block a few times.
When he went to UFC 324, the promotion’s premiere event on Paramount+, he wasn’t just doing it as a new friend of the family, given Valderrama currently stars on “NCIS” on CBS, which is owned by Paramount.
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Valderrama’s fandom goes way back, and in 2018, he even had a one-on-one training session with former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
So really, it would be almost crazy if Valderrama, 45, named anyone other than Silva to his MMA Mt. Rushmore.
“Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre,” Valderrama said about his top fighters of all time at a red carpet arrival for UFC 324 at T-Mobile Arena on Jan. 24. “Randy Couture, of course – it’s the man. ‘Iceman’ (Chuck Liddell), yes. (Quentin) ‘Rampage’ Jackson had a really exciting time. But I would say Anderson Silva was one of the most well-rounded.”
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Valderrama, who first starred as Fez on the popular “That ’70s Show,” can be seen as far back as UFC 60 in Anaheim, Calif., in 2006. In fact, he said Silva, he thinks, changed what it meant to be an MMA superstar.
” He was the guy who was like, ‘Oh, we have a Michael Jordan. We have a Michael Jordan in the sport,'” Valderrama said.
Check out his full red carpet interview above, and don’t miss the photo gallery below.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Wilmer Valderrama says Anderson Silva was the Michael Jordan of MMA
