Anderson Silva reflects on why Brazilian fighters lost three UFC titles

RIO DE JANEIRO — Two years ago today, Brazil had four of the eight UFC titles. Two years have passed, and Jose Aldo is the only Brazilian left at the top.

Anderson Silva, who dominated the middleweight division inside the Octagon from 2006 to 2013, believes that one of the reasons why fighters like Renan Barao, Junior dos Santos and himself lost the UFC gold is because they stopped evolving.

“It’s natural. Brazilians forgot some things to focus more on other things. We forgot the evolution,” Silva said in a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday. “It’s important. I speak for myself. In my last two fights, I should have evolved more, but I didn’t follow this evolution.”

Silva suffered his only losses under the UFC banner to current middleweight champion Chris Weidman in 2013, and he decided to change a few things in his training camp for his upcoming bout against Nick Diaz, scheduled for UFC 183 on Jan. 31.

“That’s why I brought in (Ricardo) De La Riva, (Luiz Carlos) Dorea, (that’s why) Rogerio Camoes is always seeking evolution, (Josuel) Distak and the whole X-Gym team, to see how we can evolve,” he said.

Brazil has a couple fighters competing for UFC titles in the near future, Fabricio Werdum and Vitor Belfort, and several others close to a shot at the gold, like Raphael Assuncao, “Jacare” Souza, John Lineker, Rafael dos Anjos and Bethe Correia.

Silva says Aldo will successfully defend his title against Chad Mendes on Oct. 25.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Two years ago today, Brazil had four of the eight UFC titles. Two years have passed, and Jose Aldo is the only Brazilian left at the top.

Anderson Silva, who dominated the middleweight division inside the Octagon from 2006 to 2013, believes that one of the reasons why fighters like Renan Barao, Junior dos Santos and himself lost the UFC gold is because they stopped evolving.

“It’s natural. Brazilians forgot some things to focus more on other things. We forgot the evolution,” Silva said in a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday. “It’s important. I speak for myself. In my last two fights, I should have evolved more, but I didn’t follow this evolution.”

Silva suffered his only losses under the UFC banner to current middleweight champion Chris Weidman in 2013, and he decided to change a few things in his training camp for his upcoming bout against Nick Diaz, scheduled for UFC 183 on Jan. 31.

“That’s why I brought in (Ricardo) De La Riva, (Luiz Carlos) Dorea, (that’s why) Rogerio Camoes is always seeking evolution, (Josuel) Distak and the whole X-Gym team, to see how we can evolve,” he said.

Brazil has a couple fighters competing for UFC titles in the near future, Fabricio Werdum and Vitor Belfort, and several others close to a shot at the gold, like Raphael Assuncao, “Jacare” Souza, John Lineker, Rafael dos Anjos and Bethe Correia.

Silva says Aldo will successfully defend his title against Chad Mendes on Oct. 25.