Anderson Silva: There’s A Lot Of Homosexuals In MMA

Legendary longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has long been both criticized and lauded for his flamboyant style in the octagon, one that has lead to countless highlight reel knockouts along with several accusations that he taunted his opponents with disrespect at times.

“The Spider” is dangerously close to returning for a blockbuster clash with another colorful personality in Stockton bad boy Nick Diaz at January 31’s UFC 183, so the dominant former champion has been in the public eye in a big way recently.

Silva is letting his feelings be known on several different topics, ranging from his desire to win back the belt and Diaz’s trash-talking antics to more in-depth topics concerning MMA.

Speaking up in a recent interview with Fightland, Silva said that his creative and unorthodox style has lead to other fighters teasing him that he’s gay. “The Spider” doesn’t think it matters one way or another, preferring to let people live their lives how they see fit:

“They tease me. Sometimes people think I’m gay. A lot of people have asked me if I’m gay. I answer, “Look, not to my knowledge. But I’m still young, it could be that in the future I’ll find out that I’m gay. I take good care of my things, I put everything in a bag, I use soap, I put on a cream after training. People think it’s capricious. To each his own. Doesn’t mean you’re more man or less man, more gay or less gay.”

Silva opened up about the rarely discussed topic of homosexuality in MMA, a sport that is largely regarded for its macho culture of heavily muscled and tattooed men. According to him, there are more homosexuals in the sport than you would think. While he doesn’t believe there to be prejudice against them in MMA, he believes it would be positive for them to come out:

“I don’t think there’s prejudice, but there’s a lot of homosexuals in mixed martial arts. There are a lot of them who haven’t yet come out.

[If they were to come out,] nowadays it’s so silly to not express your feelings. As long as you respect people’s spaces, and respect their limits. You have to live your life in peace and no one has anything to do with that.”

Silva isn’t afraid to train with gay fighters, a testament to his progressive viewpoints. While his sentiments would most likely not be echoed by all training camps, Silva focused on the mindset that a gay fighter would not accost you simply because he was gay:

“I would train with a gay man. As long as he respected me, it’s all right. I don’t think much of it. The fact that guy is gay doesn’t mean he’s going to accost you. He can be gay, have a relationship, live among guys who aren’t gay. He can do whatever he wants with his private life.”

One of the first to openly address the topic as it pertains to MMA, Silva has broken more ground for the sport he loves so much in a sense. More gay fighters may or may not come out because of his tolerant words, but at least a prominent figure like the all-time great has spoken up for them to have a place in a respectful training environment.

Silva is facing an uphill battle as he attempts to fight back to championship form, and in a way he’s not wholly unlike the fighters he’s spoken up for. Once again, “The Spider” is ahead of his time.

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports