The UFC’s No. 1 heavyweight contender, Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, feels he is ready to “put his hands” on the champion’s face in a match he promises won’t go the same bloody way as last time.
Silva, who is scheduled to face Cain Velasquez for a second time in a year on May 25 at UFC 160, was pummelled into oblivion the first time the pair met.
Velasquez forced a referee stoppage in the match in less than four minutes after taking the helpless Brazilian down and pummeling him with vicious elbows. This time, says Silva, things will be different.
“The first fight I was very nervous because it was my first fight in the UFC,” said Silva. “There was a lot of adrenaline in my body and my coach give me strategy and I didn’t put strategy in the cage. But, now I have two more fights in the UFC, I got in these two fights, two wins, good knockouts and now I’m very, very confident. I need to train everything. Cain Velasquez is a tough guy, he’s a complete fighter. He has great stand up, he fights jiu-jitsu and wrestling, but, I believe in my hands. Every fight makes me better and any opportunity I am going to put my hands on his face.”
Silva joined the UFC last year after the promotion absorbed Strikeforce and dissolved its heavyweight division. Alongside Fabricio Werdum and Daniel Cormier, Silva was perhaps the best-known heavyweight fighting for Strikeforce at the time.
However, he was shown far out of his depths when he met Velasquez, who made short work of him in that fight, before he went on to take his belt back from Junior Dos Santos later in the year.
Silva, for his part, has come back strong. He defeated Travis Browne in October via a first round TKO, though some have speculated that was due to a Browne injury.
More impressively, Silva knocked out Alistair Overeem in embarrassing fashion in the third round – a man who was meant to crush the Brazilian before being set-up to fight Velasquez for the belt himself.
That win has put Silva back in the spotlight quicker than he anticipated. His fight against Velasquez will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com