Remember a time when Anderson Silva said he would never fight Lyoto Machida, Ronaldo Souza or any other teammate or friend in the UFC? Well, those days are in the past.
A former UFC middleweight champion, Silva used to train with “Jacare” at at X-Gym, in Rio de Janeiro, and Machida at Black House, in Los Angeles, but he won’t force them to accept Team Nogueira’s “code of honor”.
“I always said I wouldn’t fight teammates, but it’s not mutual,” Silva told TV show “Altas Horas” in Brazil. “We take that very seriously at Team Nogueira, but Lyoto is not from Team Nogueira, neither is ‘Jacare’, so it’s a little vague. In every interview they gave, they said they would fight (me), so I can’t be any different.”
In a recent interview, Silva said he doesn’t expect to fight again in 2014 and doesn’t see himself fighting for the title again.
Apparently, he changed his mind a few days later.
“Until I’ll be able to fight for the title again, many things will happen,” he said. “It’s the only title that nobody but myself was able to keep it for so long, and I don’t think it’s going to be different now. I don’t plan to fight any friend of mine, especially Lyoto, but if I earn a title shot in the future and we have to fight each other, we will.”
Machida is set to fight for the middleweight title against Chris Weidman at UFC 173 in Las Vegas, Nev., on May 24, while “Jacare” Souza recovers from an elbow surgery following his unanimous decision victory over Francis Carmont in Brazil.
“There are other (fighters) that will fight for the title,” Silva said. “It’s a shame that Vitor (Belfort) won’t be able to fight now. I’m sure that he would have won. Lyoto that will fight now. I don’t think about fighting against Weidman. If, in the future, I win some fights and earn a shot at the belt, great.”