Anderson Silva is tired. He’s tired of how the UFC treats him. He’s tired of UFC president Dana White’s unfulfilled promises. He’s so tired, in fact, that the former middleweight champion might never fight again.
The mixed martial arts legend unleashed a tirade against White and the UFC in a lengthy, expletive-laden interview with Ariel Helwani on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour.
Silva had been scheduled to fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 212 on June 3 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but Gastelum was removed from the card after testing positive for marijuana metabolites.
The 42-year-old doesn’t understand why the UFC hasn’t gotten him a new opponent for that event.
At the end of the day, Silva doesn’t understand a lot about how the UFC has conducted its business of late.
“When I signed my last contract, Dana White and [former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta] say, ‘Okay, when Georges St-Pierre is back, you go and fight superfight, you and Georges St-Pierre,’” Silva told Helwani in his broken English. “I don’t know what happened. Nothing happened. Georges St-Pierre is back to fight and back to fight for the belt. It’s terrible. It don’t make sense. I know it’s a [expletive] business, but I’m working hard for a long time. I helped UFC a lot.”
The UFC announced current champion Michael Bisping will defend his title against St-Pierre later this year but that fight isn’t expected to take place until the fall, which means the middleweight title is being held up.
Silva lost a unanimous decision to Bisping in February 2016 but he thinks he won the fight. Were it not for Bisping being saved by the bell after Silva dropped him with a flying knee at the end of the third round that would’ve been the case too.
At the end of their five-round tilt, Bisping had taken more damage than Silva but the judges gave the Englishman the nod. Even White said after the bout that he thought Silva won.
“I win my fight in London against Bisping,” Silva said. “Why no putting me for fight with Bisping? I don’t care for the belt, but I win the fight in London. Why no put me in the fight, because Georges no ready for fight with Bisping. What the [expletive] is going on?”
St-Pierre hasn’t fought in nearly four years and has never competed at middleweight yet White and the UFC allowed him to jump in line by booking him against Bisping.
“This does not make sense,” Silva said. “This is disrespectful to all fighters in this category. I don’t know what happened to Dana White. I don’t know. I’m so disappointed in Dana White.”
Silva explained that he thinks White is “a good man” but added that he routinely breaks promises he makes, namely a fight with St-Pierre that has never materialized despite nearly a decade of speculation.
“What the [expletive] has happened to me?” an emotional Silva said. “I win for long time. I’m champion for long time — for years. Nothing happened. I don’t believe in nothing Dana talks, because I’m very disappointed.”
Yoel Romero is currently the No. 1 contender at 185 pounds. White has said Romero is next in line but as mentioned above, the winner of Bisping-GSP won’t be determined for months — not to mention that if St-Pierre beats Bisping it’s unlikely he will choose to defend the title.
Silva is coming off a unanimous decision win over Derek Brunson in February and said he wants to fight Romero at UFC 212 for an interim title. Romero knocked out Chris Weidman in November to improve to 8-0 in the UFC. Ideally, the 40-year-old Cuban doesn’t want to wait on the sidelines until Bisping faces St-Pierre, so he accepted Silva’s challenge but only if there is an interim belt on the line. Otherwise he will continue to wait.
“What I want is to fight him for the title,” Romero, who called into the interview, told Helwani. “That’s it.”
Silva has taken multiple short-notice fights throughout his career to save UFC cards as a favour to the promotion — most recently when he took on Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 on several days notice — but he doesn’t feel that the UFC appreciates him.
“I’m very disappointed. I’m very frustrated. This is crazy. I don’t believe this,” Silva. “The guys don’t respect my story, don’t respect my legacy and everything does not make sense…I respect my fans. I’m sorry, guys. I love the sport. I love fighting. Fighting is my life. But it’s too much [expletive].”
Silva concluded with an ultimatum: “If this fight with me and Yoel Romero doesn’t happen I’m done.”
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