Recently inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame, Wanderlei
Silva participated this week on the Combate Podcast, Mundo da
Luta, and spoke of his desire to do a “real” boxing challenge.
Advertisement
Silva expressed disappointment with the recent duel between
Anderson
Silva and Chael
Sonnen, an exhibition that ended in a draw.
“It is a new range of entertainment that is opening up,” Silva
said. “What I can say is this: when Wanderlei Silva has an
exhibition fight, you will see what a real exhibition is. It has to
be real. If I had the opportunity to beat up Chael Sonnen, what do
you think I would do? I was going to beat Sonnen up, the guys had
to give me that opportunity (laughs). I’m not his friend, I’m just
an acquaintance.”
While the Pride Fighting Championships veteran had some intense
moments with Sonnen on the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter:
Brazil” in 2014, he makes it clear that he now has a good
relationship with the American.
„He’s a nice guy. I like him, the rivalry is over,” Silva said.
Still considering the idea of returning from MMA retirement to
fight under boxing rules, Silva suggested two former rivals he
would like to fight.
“I would like to get an athlete that I have already faced, a
rematch,” Silva said. “Quinton
Jackson, for example, would be cool. It’s 2-2 and we could do a
rubber match in boxing. Ricardo
Arona, too. He hasn’t fought in a while. I’ve already fought
Arona in jiu-jitsu (meaning he fought Arona on the ground during
their two Pride confrontations), but he hasn’t fought me in boxing
yet. Why not? I’m training, but I’m in no rush. Let’s promote
first. It would be cool to do it in Brazil. I haven’t fought here
in a while. It would be nice to fight for my audience.”
“The Ax Murderer” also spoke of the emotion of receiving the Hall
of Fame trophy from his son alongside his friend and Chute Boxe
training partner, Mauricio
Rua.
„Everything happens at the right time. If I had received this award
sooner, it wouldn’t have been presented by my son,” he said. “It
was a unique emotion to be presented by him and alongside ‘Shogun,’
who is a guy I admire so much and have followed since the
beginning. He says that at some point he was inspired by me, but I
was also inspired by him. Before that fight against ‘Rampage’
Jackson at Pride, I said that he just needed a great fight to show
his power. He overcame ‘Rampage’ and after that, he won Pride 2005
and had great victories that made him reach the Hall of Fame.”