They see me trollinnnnnn’. They hatinnnnnn’. Props: Sherdog.
Those of you who have been clinging to the notion that Anderson Silva’s manager Jorge Guimaraes would change his mind about Chris Weidman being an “amateur kid” can officially let that ship sail. Ariel Helwani caught up with Guimaraes yesterday, and even though he clarified that the “amateur kids” comment was a translation error, he still does not see any value in an Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman fight for the time being. Via MMAFighting:
When specifically asked about the “amateur kids” comment:
JG: Well, there was a little lack of communication. I spoke to Tatame Magazine in Brazil and it got lost in translation. I have a lot of respect for Weidman. He’s a great fighter, but what I meant is that the fight doesn’t make sense. He has nine fights – impressive fights – but it’s half of the number of fights that Anderson has in the UFC. I think he’s just a little, you know, not ripe enough, but it’s up to the organization to tell [us] who is a good opponent for Anderson.
I think [Silva vs. Weidman] would be hard to promote. Now everyone is coming out after what they saw [with Chael Sonnen]. Chael Sonnen did an excellent job promoting himself and the fight. I guess a lot of people are coming forward; obviously everyone wants a title shot.
AH: Has the UFC asked you or Anderson to fight Chris Weidman next?
JG: Yeah, they mentioned it, but we don’t think it makes sense.
AH: So you’ve turned it down?
JG: Yeah, true.
Skip to the 1:36 mark for the exact quote.
If you’ve been paying attention for the past two weeks, these comments don’t exactly surprise you. Afterwards, Guimaraes continues to rally for a Georges St. Pierre super fight (emphatically confirming that Jon Jones is out of the question) – claiming that The Spider is prepared to sit out the rest of the year to make this happen – and says that “maybe [Anderson Silva] can make 180″ for the proposed catchweight super fight between Silva and GSP. I’m glad that asking Anderson Silva to drop a whole five pounds isn’t out of the question for this super fight you’re rallying for, Jorge.
Perhaps the most confusing comment from this interview was the revelation that Guimaraes thinks that Rashad Evans would make more sense for a middleweight title shot than Chris Weidman. Aside from the fact that Evans is 0-0 at middleweight and coming off of a unanimous decision loss to Jon Jones, Jorge later ruled out Nick Diaz as a challenger because Diaz lost to Carlos Condit – even though he admits that he thought Diaz beat Condit.
I’d try to make sense out of that, but a “Don’t be scared, homie” joke would be way too easy, and you deserve better than that.
So, just to clarify: It’s up to the UFC to decide what’s next for Anderson Silva, but when the organization suggested Chris Weidman – who is not an amateur kid – Silva’s camp declined. Sitting out and waiting for a catchweight super fight against Georges St. Pierre (potentially at 180 lbs) is easily the most logical option, but Rashad Evans is also logical after losing to Jon Jones and flirting with the idea of dropping to middleweight. And even though Guimaraes feels Nick Diaz beat Carlos Condit, he officially lost that fight, so therefore a fight against Diaz makes no sense because he’s coming off of a controversial decision loss instead of a regular unanimous decision loss.
Any questions?