Anderson Silva’s ‘Doctor’ Says It Would Be ‘A Crime’ for Him to Drop to Welterweight


(The “doctor” in question. No joke, this is seriously the guy we’re talking about. / Props: Blog do Olivar)

In the U.S., a doctor is simply the person you visit when you need more prescription medication. In Brazil, a doctor is a parent, priest, and boss rolled into one — they know what’s best for you, and damned if you’ll try to defy them.

At least that’s how it seems lately. Two weeks after Cris Cyborg explained that she couldn’t possibly cut ten pounds of her freakish muscle mass because DOCTOR’S ORDERS, we have this translated report by Eduardo Cruz at FightersOnly, in which Anderson Silva‘s “personal physician” [Ed. note: referred here only as ‘Camoes,’ but we’ll get to that after the jump] had a lot to say about Silva dropping a weight class to face Georges St. Pierre at 170, which is something that I didn’t think was even being considered by anybody, but nevertheless:

“It would be a crime for Anderson to try and fight at 77kg. He could maybe make the weight but the physical loss that he would suffer would be too much…For me this fight should happen at 80kg, since that would already be a sacrifice for Anderson. It would be his first shot at this weight and we would have to implement a very specific work for him to be able to perform at 100% of his capacity…Anderson losing 3gk and St-Pierre going up 3kg would be more fair for both of them and for the public, who would watch a great fight.”


(The “doctor” in question. No joke, this is seriously the guy we’re talking about. / Props: Blog do Olivar)

In the U.S., a doctor is simply the person you visit when you need more prescription medication. In Brazil, a doctor is a parent, priest, and boss rolled into one — they know what’s best for you, and damned if you’ll try to defy them.

At least that’s how it seems lately. Two weeks after Cris Cyborg explained that she couldn’t possibly cut ten pounds of her freakish muscle mass because DOCTOR’S ORDERS, we have this translated report by Eduardo Cruz at FightersOnly, in which Anderson Silva‘s “personal physician” [Ed. note: referred here only as ‘Camoes,’ but we’ll get to that after the jump] had a lot to say about Silva dropping a weight class to face Georges St. Pierre at 170, which is something that I didn’t think was even being considered by anybody, but nevertheless:

“It would be a crime for Anderson to try and fight at 77kg. He could maybe make the weight but the physical loss that he would suffer would be too much…For me this fight should happen at 80kg, since that would already be a sacrifice for Anderson. It would be his first shot at this weight and we would have to implement a very specific work for him to be able to perform at 100% of his capacity…Anderson losing 3gk and St-Pierre going up 3kg would be more fair for both of them and for the public, who would watch a great fight.”

It turns out that those quotes were sourced from this TerraMagazine interview with Rogério Camões, who is referred to as the “preparador físico de Anderson Silva.” (He’s simply called a “strength and conditioning coach” here.) Plus, in photos like this and this, he looks less like a doctor, and more like the guy who hangs around the gym trying to sell imported human growth hormone out of his briefcase. Doctor Feelgood? Sure. “Doctor, I need you to look at this rash?” No. Although he’s clearly trained in ice-clump therapy.

Even if Camões walked around in O.R. scrubs rather than a Throwdown t-shirt and aviators, the point remains the same: A doctor (or “doctor”) is there to give advice to his patient, not act as a mouthpiece to Brazilian media. Look, nobody really expects Anderson to cut to welterweight in order to fight GSP, except perhaps Firas Zahabi. But it’s up to Anderson to take the responsibility for that decision. We don’t really need the S&C coach telling us what’s “criminal,” in his professional opinion — or, “professional” opinion, whichever the case may be.