The UFC looked to book a replacement opponent for Silva, but the Brazilian demanded an interim title fight against No. 1 contender Yoel Romero, vowing to retire if the UFC didn’t grant him his wish.
“The guys (UFC) no give this fight for me for the interim belt, I’m done. I’ll go be with my family. I’m done,” Silva said in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
Dana White, the UFC’s longtime president, has had fall outs with the former champ in the past — the most notable being when he stormed out of Silva’s main event against Demian Maia in 2010 — but Silva has never gone on a public rant against the UFC like he did on The MMA Hour last week.
White promises to meet with Silva face-to-face to settle the issue in private.
“I have to deal with tons of different personalities and egos and lots of different things with all of the athletes that I deal with,” White said yesterday on The Jim Rome Show, per Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie. “Anderson Silva has always been one of those guys that’s been unique to deal with – (but) never at this level. I didn’t make Kelvin Gastelum test positive for marijuana and pull out of the fight, and we tried to make other fights and get other opponents for him.
“You can’t demand a title fight or (threaten), ‘I’m going to retire.’ Especially when you know that my philosophy is this: If you even mention the word ‘retirement,’ you should probably retire. I know he’s not thrilled and happy with me. He and I need to sit down and do a face-to-face.”
With Silva officially removed UFC 212, the most notable Brazilian fighters on the card are Jose Aldo and Vitor Belfort. Aldo will take on Max Holloway in a headlining featherweight title unification bout while Belfort, 40, will face Nate Marquardt in his retirement bout. The pay-per-view takes place on June 3 at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dana White plans to meet with Anderson Silva to help settle his issues with the UFC.
Anderson Silva is not happy with the UFC and the former longtime middleweight champion has made his feelings known publicly.
The UFC looked to book a replacement opponent for Silva, but the Brazilian demanded an interim title fight against No. 1 contender Yoel Romero, vowing to retire if the UFC didn’t grant him his wish.
“The guys (UFC) no give this fight for me for the interim belt, I’m done. I’ll go be with my family. I’m done,” Silva said in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
Dana White, the UFC’s longtime president, has had fall outs with the former champ in the past — the most notable being when he stormed out of Silva’s main event against Demian Maia in 2010 — but Silva has never gone on a public rant against the UFC like he did on The MMA Hour last week.
White promises to meet with Silva face-to-face to settle the issue in private.
“I have to deal with tons of different personalities and egos and lots of different things with all of the athletes that I deal with,” White said yesterday on The Jim Rome Show, per Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie. “Anderson Silva has always been one of those guys that’s been unique to deal with – (but) never at this level. I didn’t make Kelvin Gastelum test positive for marijuana and pull out of the fight, and we tried to make other fights and get other opponents for him.
“You can’t demand a title fight or (threaten), ‘I’m going to retire.’ Especially when you know that my philosophy is this: If you even mention the word ‘retirement,’ you should probably retire. I know he’s not thrilled and happy with me. He and I need to sit down and do a face-to-face.”
With Silva officially removed UFC 212, the most notable Brazilian fighters on the card are Jose Aldo and Vitor Belfort. Aldo will take on Max Holloway in a headlining featherweight title unification bout while Belfort, 40, will face Nate Marquardt in his retirement bout. The pay-per-view takes place on June 3 at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
