My personal pick for the best defensive midfielder

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The original "eraser"
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When watching Deportivo matches because of Rivaldo, Mauro Silva often catches the eye unexpectedly.
Watching him play, his physicality is immense—he's like a human weapon—and
his positioning to block passing lanes and his standing tackles are both top-notch.
He was an all-around unit who could also handle pressing and execute high-level passing.
In the case of Makélélé, his dribbling and ability to escape pressure were amazing, but his passing and vision were poor.
Mascherano had good kicking ability, but he was vulnerable to pressing, making it difficult to expect him to handle deep ball distribution or relieve the buildup burden on center-backs.
Redondo had great individual skills, but his mindset seemed to prioritize solo dribbling; it felt like he was wearing a suit that didn't quite fit for a modern defensive midfielder. I wonder if Iniesta would be similar if he played as a DM.
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Anyway, he is a legend at Deportivo, and in Korea, he became somewhat known for playing alongside Dunga to help Brazil win the '94 WC, though the spotlight was honestly focused on Dunga.
Personally, I think Dunga and Silva were the second most important contributors to the title, following Romário and Bebeto.
People criticized Brazil at the time for being "unexciting," but it's also true that such a balanced midfield combination hasn't appeared since.
(Not just in Brazil, but looking at all-time... maybe Xavi-Busquets in Euro 2008 was close).
If I had to find flaws, it would be his meager scoring record with only one career goal and his tendency to collect many cards due to his aggressive nature; however, compared to his yellow cards, his 7 career red cards are actually quite decent.
But as you can see in the video above, it's not that he had zero shooting options; his kicks were actually quite sharp.
In the WC final, he almost scored a powerful long-range goal.
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In the early stages of his career, he often showed himself breaking through the right flank using his great physical abilities and footwork.
So,
I don't know much about the "ancient monsters," but at least among the generations from the 90s onwards,
my conclusion is that it's perfectly reasonable to pick Mauro Silva as the number one defensive midfielder.
As for Dunga... I feel like Roy Keane or Xavi might be slightly better versions, so he's a bit lower on my tier list.
Depending on preference, Pilares, Rodri, or Redondo could be included, but
if I had to pick the most versatile two-midfielder setup, I would personally choose the Xavi-Silva combination without hesitation.