Silva fed up with politics, wants fight
“The president of Strikeforce should have the last word of it, and dictate who fights who, and if you don’t…
“The president of Strikeforce should have the last word of it, and dictate who fights who, and if you don’t like it you can lump it,” Silva stated.
The biggest factor for Silva is simply putting food on the table. As a professional fighter, this is his only job and sitting out for several months starts to lessen the amount of steaks in the freezer. The American Top Team fighter wants to fight, he wants to fight soon, and he will fight whomever they put in front of him.
“It’s always hard for a pro to not know when he’s fighting next,” Silva said. “It’s training, it’s supplements, it’s a bunch of stuff, and I hope to fight as soon as possible. Maybe here, maybe in Japan, I really want to fight as soon as possible.”
Going to Dream is a distinct possibility for Silva, who has fought in Japan before. The promotion actually had the offer on the table for a major heavyweight fight involving Silva, but Strikeforce didn’t allow it to happen.
“We actually had an offer to fight Overeem in Dream, but Strikeforce didn’t let that happen because he’s obviously the champion. So they didn’t want that fight to happen in Dream,” Silva explained. “I want to keep on fighting. I’m among the ten best in the world and I want to go 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
Silva doesn’t stop short of saying that he’d love a shot at the heavyweight title, but he feels that’s a long shot right now. Not because he doesn’t deserve it, but because the champion wants no part of it.
“If Overeem doesn’t keep on picking opponents, I’d love to fight him,” he said.
Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, explains that there are always many working parts to putting a fight together, but it’s also sometimes just a matter of the promoter telling someone what to do, and at the end of the day they have to do it.
“There’s a financial side, the guy has to pay his bills. I’ve been doing this a long time, I’ve been doing this over a decade, and I know the characteristics of our sport is uncertainty,” Davis explained. “It takes a little while to get the fights lined up, and you’ve got to be a little bit patient, but at the same time I do think the Strikeforce situation has to be straightened out in the politics department.
“Because it’s not fair to one fighter if other fighters don’t agree to fight. I don’t want to point fingers at Strikeforce, but in the UFC you don’t have that opportunity. You can’t go denying fights, and I agree with Antonio that Strikeforce has to have a stronger hold on the way they match make.”
Davis doesn’t say Strikeforce is at fault with situations like the one with Fedor Emelianenko, but ultimately he believes the fighters are there to fight, not play games.
“They should have more of a say than the athletes,” Davis commented about Strikeforce.
