Ultimate Fighting Championship great Anderson
Silva believes his old boss should lace up the gloves and do
some fighting for himself.
UFC head Dana White recently stated that Silva might be inducted to
the UFC Hall of Fame in the future, and Silva had some thoughts
about his former employer he wanted to get out. Silva is planning
on boxing Jake Paul at
the end of October, and White was not entirely sold on the whole
endeavor while expressing his distaste for the
YouTuber-turned-boxer. “The Spider” spoke with Brazilian outlet
Combate this
week, initially to promote his boxing match with Jake Paul,
scheduled for Oct. 29 in Phoenix.
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“If the two of them have a problem, I think Dana should agree to
fight Jake, that would end all this controversy,” Silva remarked.
“Put [on] the gi, do MMA. Jake understands a lot about MMA, so I
think it would be a nice MMA fight for the two of them.”
Getting the topic back on track to his own upcoming fight, Silva
had some thoughts about his meeting with Paul at their Tuesday
press conference. When Paul appeared respectful while still
promising to knock Silva out, the Brazilian legend was not
surprised.
“It’s cool that he promotes and thinks that way,” Silva admitted.
“This will give our team more motivation and for me to keep doing
my best. When you respect, you will receive respect. When you don’t
respect, you will receive disrespect too. It’s a two-way street,
what goes around comes around, and I have a lot of experience
within this game. For me, it doesn’t matter if the guy talks
nonsense or not, what will change is when he goes inside [the
ring]. And when you go inside, where I come from, the talk doesn’t
matter, you go to kill or get killed. Both step in the ring to rip
each other’s head off.”
Silva made sure to specify that he is not fighting on behalf of MMA
fighters everywhere. Paul has earned three wins over ex-UFC talents
Tyron
Woodley and Ben Askren,
but Silva is not appearing to avenge those losses or to fight for
the MMA masses.
“I’m not here to fight Jake for revenge or to represent the MMA
community,” Silva explained. “I’m here to represent my fans, to
represent all the people who enjoy the fight itself. And keep
showing my respect for boxing. Unlike other sports, not belittling
other sports, a lot of people died for boxing. A lot of people lost
their lives fighting [in] boxing. A lot of people live a completely
vegetable [lives] because of boxing, because they gave their lives
for boxing. And I can’t go into this sport and not show my respect,
that’s why I train very seriously, I train every day seriously and
I train with serious people to show my respect for boxing.
Regardless of whether or not I am accepted by the boxing community,
I need to show my respect for this sport.”
Spider also commented on Paul’s statement that his purse for this
fight would be the biggest in his entire career.
“I don’t know, I can’t tell you that,” a cheeky Silva said. “Maybe
after the fight I can talk to you. What I can tell you is that I
was never underpaid inside by UFC, because there was always a fight
there. I have a good life, which I can maintain. Money isn’t even
the most important thing for me. The most important thing is to be
well, doing what I love, with the people I like, being able to
enjoy my life. Playing paintball, video games, having fun with my
kids and my friends. That’s the most important thing for me, to
live my life the best I can.”