For once in his decorated career, Anderson Silva is saying no to his longtime bosses at the UFC.
The longtime former UFC champion was recently denied an interim middleweight title fight against top contender Yoel Romero after his original opponent for June’s UFC 212, rising prospect Kelvin Gastelum, was forced out with a failed drug test for marijuana metabolites.
“The Spider” revealed he’d retire if he didn’t get it, yet UFC President Dana White essentially dared his onetime top draw to retire by calling his bluff. Silva spoke of his own value to a company who needs nothing more than big names like his in a video he posted to his official Instagram account:
“To say yes when you want to say no is to give more value to others than to ourselves, it is not to put your value in the right place, it is to impose no limits, and that is not to respect yourself. It is the same as saying that what we feel Is not worth anything, that others can pass over you at will. And they pass, if you permit it, they will pass without mercy, forgetting all that you have conquered through honor and dedication. If we allow it will destroy our values. This is the way to say no. When I do not want something, I simply say no. With no anger or emotion. It is not just a negative. It’s our limit. A right that we have to decide what we want or do not do. It is a way to make people respect our value, this is the name of dignity. When we put ourselves sincerely, saying what we feel, we are respected. People like it or not. So if you know your worth, do not let anything destroy it nothing and no one. If you take a $100 and knead it, step on it, throw it on the floor and then dismantle, pick it up, ask someone how much it’s worth, smart people will respond that the note is worth $ 100, so no matter how much they step on you, How much they will knead you, your worth no one can change.”
It’s wholly understandable as to why “The Spider” is miffed at not receiving the bout he requested after saving Daniel Cormier’s appearance on three days’ notice at last summer’s UFC 200 and also saving an event in his native Brazil when he decimated Stephan Bonnar in 2012. It doesn’t help that White essentially threw him under the bus in public, making it seem like he has respect for few if any fighters if he won’t reach an agreement with one of his biggest stars.
However, with a record of 1-4(1) in his last six bouts, its also tough to even attempt to justify being booked in a title fight of any sort. Yet star power has certainly appeared to take presedence over any merit under new ownership, and it’s something the promotion is clearly struggling to display in the early part of 2017.
In fact, Silva is probably the biggest star who is willing and able to fight, so perhaps the UFC should deal him some of the respect he’s been speaking out for in the media as of late.
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