Anderson Silva post-fight interview at UFC 153
After his dominant UFC 153 victory over Stephan Bonnar at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro (= Silva vs Bonnar), Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva was once again in the middle of the “Jon Jones issue”.
Though the middleweight champion is still against the idea of facing the reigning light heavyweight champion, UFC president Dana White thinks he can change Silva’s mind, not only by words, but using money. A lot of money.
During Saturday night’s post-fight press conference Dana said: “I know he’s been saying ‘no’, but, for the amount of money that would be offered for that fight, I guarantee you I will make Anderson Silva say ‘yes.’”
Silva, however, immediately dismissed the idea that a large paycheck could push him toward fighting Jon ‘Bones’ Jones: “Since I started training martial arts, I never fought for the money. I’m thankful for everything that I am able to get, because when I started, there was no money in this. This is not something that I would like to haggle [over], because Jon Jones has also mentioned that he would not like the fight. I would not like for this to happen because of [the light heavyweights] on my team. We have other athletes in his division that can fight [Jones]. And I’m getting old, guys. Let Jon Jones have [the younger guys in his own division], you know?”
We know well what’s in Siva’s mind. He wants to defend his belt title, and he’s open to a potential super-fight with reigning welterweight king Georges St. Pierre (who is scheduled to face Carlos Condit next month at UFC 154, not exactly an easy match).
During yesterday match, Silva almost seemed mocking Bonnar. He in fact stood flat-footed with his back against the cage, inviting the American to strike him, showing ansteel confidence.
“Rafael ‘Feijao’ [Cavalcante] is the guy who [helps with my takedown defense], and one of the things he told me was that [Bonnar] was so much heavier that I needed to defend myself well from [takedowns],” said Silva. “He told me if I kept my back to the Octagon that it would be much harder for [Bonnar] to take me down, because he would have to use a lot of strength.”
“Everyone in my corner was trying to kill me, but I just felt comfortable with my back against the cage,” continued Silva. “As I’m from the lower weight division, I was much quicker than he was, so I could [slip] past his strikes before he made them. For me, it was easier to have my back to the cage, and it helped me conduct the fight the way I wanted.”
Silva is already 37 years old, but he wants to fight for another 5 years and retire at the top of the game, but it’ll not be easy: “Obviously, I would like to stop at the top. I think that is every athlete’s dream. But as I have the intention of fighting for another five years, it’s still something that is very vague. It’s not a fact, so I have to train a lot and focus. It is truly very difficult to say that I will continue to be at the top for the next five years that I intend to continue fighting.”
Video UFC 153 post-fight Press Conference:
