Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, was promised a middleweight title shot if he agreed to fight — and beat — Israel Adesanya at the upcoming UFC 234 pay-per-view (PPV) event this February in Australia.
Sure, Silva has recorded just one victory over the last six years, a period that also saw him fail a pair of separate drug tests (details here), but “The Spider” has name recognition and is widely-considered the best middleweight to ever lace up the gloves.
Top-ranked contender Ronaldo Souza, fresh off his knockout victory over ex-champion Chris Weidman, is calling bullshit.
“Inside the Octagon, Chris and I fought hard, we put our hearts in there to win, and that’s what people want to see,” Souza told PVT (via MMA Fighting). “It’s not someone coming from doping, who is outside the ranking, who is famous because he’s one of the best in the world, to jump the line. The reality is everybody is seeing that and thinking it’s crap. And that’s the truth, it’s crap.”
The 185-pound title is up for grabs in the UFC 234 pay-per-view (PPV) main event. That’s where reigning division kingpin, Robert Whittaker, goes head-to-head with fellow Ultimate Fighter coach, Kelvin Gastelum.
Should “Jacare” start talking trash and injecting himself with steroids to secure a shot at the winner?
”The reality is, Anderson is coming off doping,” Souza said. “Anderson is out of the ranking. I think I’ll start doping, I’ll start doing a bunch of shit, call everyone names. Maybe I’ll fight for the belt. But my perception is this, my principles and values are unnegotiable. If I deserve it or not, if they will give me (a title shot) or not, I won’t change. That’s the way I am and that’s my point of view.”
Silva, who turns 44 in April, has not competed since UFC 208 in early 2017.