Spider vs Dragon in future?
Machida Talk Gets a Little Louder Anderson Silva was shaking his head no before the reporter finished his question. Silva…
Machida Talk Gets a Little Louder
Anderson Silva was shaking his head no before the reporter finished his question. Silva was shaking his index finger, too.
The UFC middleweight champion didn’t need his interpreter to tell him that his knockout win Saturday over Forrest Griffin would only crank up the calls for a dream matchup against Lyoto Machida. So as soon as Silva heard Machida — the name of a friend, occasional training partner and UFC 205-pound titleholder — at the UFC 101 postfight news conference, he began dismissing the possibility of ever fighting him.
Then UFC President Dana White intervened.
These two are friends, White said, quick to remark on the matter before Silva. It has nothing to do with friendship. It’s about who’s the best. It’s about competing against somebody else, no different than a basketball game or a football game. If Anderson gets to that point where he starts taking out 205-pounders, I’ll make that fight. I promise you, I’ll make that fight.
White turned to Silva and Ed Soares, the Brazilian’s manager and interpreter.
Go ahead, he told them, half-jokingly. What’d you want to say?
Everyone laughed. Everyone waited.