Issue 108

December 2013

Anderson silva, the former UFC middleweight champion, talks up his rematch with Chris Weidman.

A fight is a fight. I go back to the UFC Octagon in December and we will see. But a fight is a fight, sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. This is normal. 

Sometimes you have a good day sometimes you don’t have a good day. It’s like a normal job. Sometimes you are working good and other times you aren’t. It was just a bad day for me. But yeah I still love it. Fighting is part of my legacy and my story: I love it. I am tired of it but I love it.

As always, I will spend three months in training camp for this next fight, six days a week with one day off. And despite not talking about the rematch afterwards in the first fight, I am very happy to fight Chris Weidman again.

 When I signed the contract to have 10 more fights in the UFC, Dana said to me, ‘When you fight Weidman or other guys, you get an automatic rematch.’ But when we finished the fight I didn’t remember. Then Dana talked to me and said, ‘Hey relax, you get another fight, you got another chance at the belt.’

And I agree with what Michael Bisping said, about Weidman reverting to his wrestling in the rematch. Chris Weidman is a good boy but he doesn’t have good technique in stand-up and he doesn’t have experience in the Octagon. 

God gave Weidman the chance to win and gave me the chance to change my life, to change the way Anderson Silva approaches the fight. For me Michael Bisping, Dan Henderson, Thales Leites – these guys deserve a chance for the belt too.

This time I have more experience. When you win and win you aren’t looking at the problems. You are with your team and you are training the same things. Now I have more experience for the next fight and this is very important. But motivation is not an issue. It has never been an issue. My big motivation is my family. I talk to my family, I talk to my wife all the time, my family give me support all the time.

I had energy for the first fight and I was prepared. But I was also tired because I had the belt for a long time. I was fighting for a long time even before I went to the UFC. I’ve been fighting for a long time and sometimes you need to stop because it’s too much energy. Bad energy, good energy. And people talk too much. Sometimes it’s very important to take your time and take time with your family, to relax. This is very important.

I would like to take more time, to go and train in Thailand perhaps. I like the energy of the Muay Thai boxing, but I never had the chance to go because I have always been busy with the UFC, training and fighting and doing media and stuff. I didn’t make it there yet. But one day I hope.

I also hope to one day fight in the boxing ring. This is my big dream, a fight with Roy Jones Jr. It’s because I like Roy Jones. I understand that he doesn’t fight anymore and he is no longer a champion in boxing, but I remember once talking to my father and saying, ‘Dad, one day I will test my boxing against Roy Jones Jr. One day I will do it.’ But I don’t know when it will happen, I need to speak to Dana White.

I also want to thank the fans for their support. The fans make good energy for me. Not just me but all the guys who fight in the cage. I have a great responsibility to my fans. I am training hard to win the fight every time, but sometimes my fans don’t like the fight because… I don’t know. 

‘Oh Anderson won, but this guy didn’t have a chance against Anderson.’ But I am just a normal guy, the same as you: a regular guy. Sometimes I am good, sometimes I am not. Sometimes I have problems in my family or problems outside the Octagon. It’s normal. But sometimes people don’t understand this.