Tag: quick quote

The UFC middleweight title match between champion Anderson Silva and fellow Brazilian Thales Leites will not go down in fans minds as one of the most memorable bouts inside the Octagon.

Earlier this week ‘The Spider’ revealed that one of the reasons the match was far less exciting than some of his previous bouts was due to him taking it easy on Leites, who he considered a “friend.”

“There’s no such thing as holding back. I want to finish as soon as possible. The only time I did it was because he was a friend of mine. It was against Thales Leites. We went until the last round because he’s a friend of mine and I respect him”, Anderson said.

Now Leites has shot back at the champ, saying in a letter to Tatame.com that he doesn’t know what Silva is talking about because they “we were never friends.”

“First of all, I would like to say Anderson has never been or went to Nova Uniao. I have never seen him around, we were never friends, only professional colleagues. No doubt he is a great fighter. If he says he was easy on me because he considers me to be his ‘friend’, I don’t agree. The fight was not finished because neither of us could do it. People criticized me a lot after the fight with Anderson, I really should have done more and gone for it but the guys who came after me did not do things much different. The ones who tried to stand-up with him got exposed and were knocked out and the one who used the game plan of taking him down was defeated on the judges’ decision, like me. I think it’s funny a champion that always prays on the interviews to respect the other and martial arts to say something like that. I am a fighter and I respect everyone, I know what a fighter goes through to get there. We all have good and bad moments in our career, after all our like is just a big rollercoaster with ups and downs. But we have got to stay humble and stay quiet about subjects that do not add anything. There is no superman, we are all human beings”.

There are more comments from Nova União head-coach, Andre Pederneiras, in the Tatame article if your interested in reading. Basically, Pederneiras says he asked Silva not to “take it easy” on any of their fighters if he should face someone from the Nova União gym again.

Since UFC 97, Silva has gone on to defend his UFC belt six more times, while Leites fought for the UFC one more time and was dismissed after a split decision loss to Alessio Sakara.

Leites is currently 6-1 in his last seven bouts post-UFC, earning a victory over Matt Horwich from a previous loss in this run at a Amazon Forest Combat 2 event in Brazil this past March.

UFC middleweight Brian Stann (12-4) is busy preparing for his next fight versus Michal Bisping on September 22, 2012 as part of the main card for UFC 152.

Stann also has another job, working as an analyst for FOX television, breaking down matches and offering insight into some of the big television bouts.

For the former Marine, it’s a job he’s very happy to have and it’s one that has made him an even bigger fan of mixed martial arts.

Stann offers these details in his recent Blog for Yahoo! Sports, check out some of his comments below.

Calling fights as an analyst on FOX isn’t quite as enjoyable as winning fights in the Octagon, but it’s a close second. In fact, when I got offered the role with FOX, I couldn’t have said ‘yes’ quick enough.

I love the job they have given me and I’m extremely grateful for it. Every job I’ve ever had has been a hard-woking, blue collar-esque job and to get the opportunity to earn money doing something you enjoy is truly a blessing. Ultimately, I’m talking about something I am passionate about and talking about men I have the utmost respect for. I like and admire all of the fighters I speak about and, in many cases, have built bonds and friendships with them. So now you want to give me the chance to discuss and praise them on national television? Great.

….

It’s also made me an even bigger fan and follower of my sport. I was always a big fan of mixed martial arts in the first place, of course, but now I’m watching even more film than ever and have my eye on an even greater field of fighters. Normally when you’re preparing for a fight your sole focus will be on the guy you’re about to face, but since I’ve landed this job with FOX my eyes have been opened to every single fighter in my division, and those in all the other divisions as well. I’m constantly analyzing film in between fights now.

….

I’ve always felt comfortable in front of the camera and this is no different for me. I love being in the studio and I love working with professionals, both in front of the camera and behind it, too. I’ve been part of many genuinely nerve-wracking situations in my life and, when you stack them all up, appearing on television to talk about something I love doesn’t rank very high up there. Believe me, if they were asking me to go on live television and break down how an iPad works, you’d probably see me nervous and in a world of trouble, but that’s not what this FOX job entails. I’m talking about fighting and it’s not particularly complicated. Everything I say is set up for me, in the sense that I’m being asked questions about the sport I love and then answering them. Really, it’s a dream job for any fighter and also any fan out there. I consider myself both a fighter and fan of this sport and, therefore, I’m a really happy man right now…

A number of fighters stepped up last week to fill in at the now cancelled UFC 151 event including UFC middleweight champion Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva (32-4), who offered to face a “light heavyweight” fighter who hadn’t been training for the event.

During a television interview on the Domingao do Faustao show in Brazil on the Rede Globo television network, Silva explained to fans his offer to UFC president Dana White to “save” UFC 151 when asked by a member of the audience to give his thoughts on Jon Jones.

(Transcription via Sherdog.com)

“You have a whole camp preparing to fight a specific athlete,” Silva replied. “When the opponent changes, the preparation changes a bit. I thought he could have fought Chael, but it’s his decision. He prepared to fight Dan Henderson. The whole team thought it was best not to fight.”

Silva also spoke about the rumors that he offered to “save” UFC 151 at the last minute.

“When I heard the event might be canceled, I called [UFC President] Dana White and said I would fight in the light heavyweight division against someone who also wasn’t training for the event,” explained Silva. “Besides the main fight, the event had many other fighters who depended on it. I worried about that, because I have lived through situations like this in smaller events.”

Silva stopped Chael Sonnen this past July to win his sixteenth straight victory and is taking some time off for the rest of the year. Who he’ll return to the Octagon against is up for debate, as far as ‘The Spider’s’ camp is concerned, but the general consensus is that it should be undefeated fighter Chris Weidman.