Anderson Silva Says He Was At 85 Percent Against Chris Weidman
Jon Jones ruffled some feathers last week when he stated that he was only fighting at seventy percent in his rousing five round war against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165. Many thought it was a weak attempt by the champ to downplay his challenger’s success in a fight that was much, much closer than any bout we’ve seen ‘Bones’ participate in.
And apparently, there’s another champ who was fighting at less than optimal conditions this summer, and that man is Anderson Silva. Speaking at this weekend’s ‘UFC World Tour’ stop in Rio de Janeiro, ‘The Spider’ reportedly had a rib injury heading into his bout with Chris Weidman at UFC 162, a bout where he was knocked silly:
“It was good that you mentioned this because I was really hurt,” Silva told the media. “Nobody mentioned this yet, but that’s not an excuse for my performance. It was a below where I was injured for my first fight with Chael Sonnen. That’s it. I was at 85 percent of my physical condition. I can’t talk about this because anything I say can be used against me. It’s in the past. I’m okay now.” – transcribed by MMA Fighting
Silva also cited injured ribs for his wholly one-sided performance against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 in 2010, a fight where he was taken down repeatedly and dominated until pulling out an unlikely triangle in the final frame. Perhaps citing a rib injury is Silva’s go-to tactic for close bouts, or maybe he was hurt prior to fighting Weidman. Regardless, injured ribs didn’t cause him to keep his guard down and underestimate Weidman’s striking capabilities.
Silva states he doesn’t want to discuss the injury because it will use against him, but he brought the cat out of the bag. I suppose the only thing that matters now is that he’s healthy for the rematch this December so we can see a full strength Silva take on Weidman. He says he is, so I don’t see the point of citing a past injury.
Maybe it’s just some psychology from Silva’s camp; maybe it’s the truth. Weidman isn’t the kind of fighter to be rattled mentally by whatever his opponent says in the media. We may see a newly motivated Silva at UFC 168; truthfully, it’s going to take just that to unseat Weidman. What do you make of Silva’s injury comments?
Outer Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea for USA TODAY Sports
