Coaches: Lack of motivation caused Silva loss to Weidman

Trainer Diogenes Assahida knew Anderson Silva when “The Spider” was doing Vale Tudo in the 90s. By the mid 2000s, Assahida was cornering Silva in the UK’s Cage Rage. He cornered Silva for his first UFC fight, and when he took the title from Rich Franklin.

In short, Diogenes knows Silva. And he says he knows why Anderson Silva lost his UFC middleweight title to Chris Weidman at UFC 162.

Lack of motivation, Assahida told ESPN.com.

Assahida was seen less frequently in Silva’s corner the last few years, but that changed for this fight, with the coach spending six weeks with “The Spider” for this camp, working primarily on reaching the optimal mental state.

Since he started training in the beginning, he’s always worked hard to be the best, to be the champion, said Assahida. In my personal opinion, I don’t know how much it matters to him to be the champion anymore, but it matters to win this fight.

I think for a few fights, he’s had a little bit of a lack of motivation. He was tired. His mindset and his focus now look good. I’ve been with him since the beginning of this camp and I am very confident.

Another of Silva’s coaches, former UFC heavyweight contender Pedro Rizzo also said the problem Silva’s last fight was a lack of motivation.

“I don’t think of it just for 16 fights, but for all of his career,” Rizzo told MMA Fighting.. “Anderson is 38 years old, and sometimes you feel tired of training, feel tired of all the pressure on your back. You feel like every time you step in the ring you have to prove something, and to keep your belt. So it’s a lot of pressure, and sometimes you get tired of that.”

Rizzo reiterated too that Silva’s goal now is not so much to win the title as it to beat the man who beat him.

“Anderson changed himself,” said Rizzo. “He’s really motivated for this. He can take the good from losing, and it motivated him. He’s ready to fight somebody who beat him, and I think it was good for him. I’ve never seen him in as great a shape as he is now.”

“I think after that Weidman fight, after he lost the title, he put away the pressure and now he’s motivated to win this fight. He wants to beat Chris Weidman because he was the guy who beat him. Anderson started his career, he wanted to beat each fighter. He doesn’t care about the belt, he just wants to beat the guy who beat him.”

Where the two coaches perhaps differed to a degree was in predicting what was going to happen.

“We never know with Anderson,” said Rizzo. “He’s spectacular. In the gym he wasn’t doing this, but whenever you’re in the ring with all the pressure and emotions? Anything can happen. But I think he’s going to do his strategy, and our strategy is to get in there, beat Chris Weidman, get away from the cage and go back home.”

What do you think UG? Is a motivated Silva going to show up? And if he does, is it enough to beat Weidman?