UFC middleweight legend Anderson Silva has been reflecting on some of his biggest wins ahead of what many expect to be the final fight of his career at UFC Vegas 12.
‘The Spider’ highlighted three key opponents while talking with media before his main event match-up against Uriah Hall.
Forrest Griffin
“First of all, I need to say thank you to Forrest Griffin,” Silva said. “What’s special about this fight is I was watching whole tapes about Muhammad Ali fights and I remember I watched a lot of Muhammad Ali fights and I just said you know I think that’s the secret to make something good in this fight. The magic moment happened.
“I just need to say thank you to Forrest. This is the best moment in my life. Of course I have a lot of best moments but this is a very special moment, too.”
“First of all in this fight in particular with Chael, I’m very comfortable for talking about and I’m very happy to talk because Chael give me the energy for training hard for this fight,” Silva said. “I give the good energy for Chael for training hard. I think Chael complete me and I complete Chael in this fight. The best fight for the fans and especially in Brazil. It’s special for me and Chael, too.
“Thank you Chael. Thank you for everything. You’re an amazing guy. Hopefully I see you very soon and talk together about life, about kids. I know you have a kid right now. He starts to fight, I have two. Let’s go talk. This is an amazing sport. I’m so happy to stay here talking about us and thank you for giving me the great opportunity for fight with you, Chael.”
Vitor Belfort
“I think the fight with Vitor opened a lot of doors for Brazilian fighters,” Silva said. “This fight in particular help us to make the sport very popular in Brazil and help the future of the sport in Brazil. Vitor is a legendary fighter, a very good fighter.
“I just say thank you to Vitor because Vitor made the sport famous for a long, long time ago. Vitor is the first guy to come to the UFC and win and become champion in UFC. Of course Royce Gracie is the best ever but Vitor has a great story in the UFC and a great memory in the UFC. I need to say thank you to Vitor, too.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
What is your favourite Anderson Silva fight?