While the speculation surrounding a superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre continues to grow, Japanese star Yushin Okami looks to spoil that opportunity, as he will challenge the Brazilian for the UFC middleweight title at UFC Rio this summer.
The recent announcement of Okami and Silva became somewhat of a surprise to most mixed martial arts fans, as UFC president Dana White stated previously that Silva and St-Pierre would meet if both champions were to defeat their opponents, which they did, having essentially cleaned out their respective divisions.
But for now, it appears the UFC boss has other plans.
And for Okami, he seems quite content with being booked against Silva, who, after winning 10 of his last 12 UFC bouts, is ready to get his shot at the title.
“My opponent is the champion Anderson, the fight is in Brazil, and I am the challenger. I’d say that the table has been set,” he said to MMAFighting.com.
Okami has been eagerly awaiting a rematch with the champion ever since his debut in the UFC five years prior. In January, 2006, Okami was awarded the victory via disqualification after Silva landed an illegal kick that left the Japanese star unconscious and unable to continue.
While Okami said he believes Silva’s kick was not intentional, Silva has held a grudge against Okami and he publicly stated his opponent was able to continue the bout, but chose not to.
As a result, Okami is the last man to technically defeat Silva. And regarding Silva’s bad blood towards him, Okami said he could care less about what the Brazilian thinks of him.
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks,” he said. “All I think about is defeating Anderson.”
Okami has evolved since his first bout with Silva and has been paying close attention to the Brazilian’s recent performances, vowing that he will not be able to toy with him like he has done to past opponents.
“I will guarantee that he will not be bored when fighting me,” Okami said.
Although this won’t be their first encounter against one another, it will be the first time Silva defends his middleweight title in his homeland of Brazil, a difficult task Okami must overcome in order to beat the champion again.
Meanwhile, Silva, who will be defending his title for a unprecedented ninth time, is arguably the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter and will look to exact revenge on Okami.
But Okami said he will not let the champion’s home-field advantage nor his mystique overwhelm him.
“He’s got an aura that intimidates any opponent,” he said. “I’m going to take that aura away from him.”
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