RIO DE JANEIRO — Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman landed in Brazil on Saturday night to continue the “world tour” to promote UFC 168, and the former middleweight champion had a revelation to make during a media scrum on Sunday.
Prior to their first bout at UFC 162, the Brazilian website Esporte Interativo reported that Silva had injured his ribs during his training camp.
Silva and his team denied the reports at the time. But Sunday, Silva told the media he was actually hurt.
“It was good that you mentioned this because I was really hurt,” Silva told the media. “Nobody mentioned this yet, but that’s not an excuse for my performance. It was a below where I was injured for my first fight with Chael Sonnen. That’s it. I was at 85 percent of my physical condition.”
Silva declined to explain how he injured his ribs, but guaranteed it won’t be a problem for his next fight against Weidman on Dec. 28.
“I can’t talk about this because anything I say can be used against me,” he said. “It’s in the past. I’m okay now.”
After a busy week with interviews and travel, Silva plans to start his training camp Wednesday.
“I’ll start my camp for this fight on Wednesday then I’ll go to the United States to meet the rest of the team,” he said. “Some friends are coming from Cuba to help me in the wrestling part and I’ll finish the preparation in Los Angeles.”
Silva said he will be aggressive in the rematch, but that doesn’t mean Weidman will have lots of openings for takedowns.
“Of course he wants me to go straight forward so he would take me down,” Silva said. “But a different Anderson is coming. He will have to train well for this fight.”