Report: Welterweights Involved In Slur-Filled Altercation Following UFC Liverpool

Two UFC welterweights reportedly saw their match-up at UFC Liverpool extend past the event.

According to Claudio Silva, his opponent Nordine Taleb, whom he submitted at last weekend’s (Sun., May 27, 2018) UFC Liverpool from the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, confronted him at the fighter hotel after the event.

There, Taleb allegedly assaulted him with a physical attack and a bevy of slurs, forcing his team to pull him away. Silva told MMAjunkie he believes the UFC should punish him for the altercation:

“The UFC has to take notice. He needs to be punished.”

Silva revealed that Taleb thought his loss was illegitimate after Silva told the referee that Taleb supposedly grabbed his gloves during the fight-ending rear-naked choke:

“He kicked me in the leg as I was sitting on the ground,” Silva said. “He said, ‘(Expletive) you, you’re a (expletive). You robbed me. You didn’t win that fight. You told the referee I was holding your gloves and then you got the choke.’”

Silva said he tried to calm his former opponent down, but when he did he was called a homophobic slur, to which Taleb further goaded him with the following:

“If someone talked to me like that, I would kill the person.”

Shortly thereafter, however, Taleb’s team restrained him and he soon left, marring an otherwise victorious evening for Silva after a four-year layoff due to injuries. To the Brazilian, Taleb’s reaction was one that should not be witnessed by professionals:

“I’m a professional fighter at the end of the day,” Silva said. “It’s not professional to say those kinds of words. And man, I feel really bad for the sport. I come to fight. I don’t hate anyone. I just came there and did my job.

“I just looked at him and laughed, because we don’t have to do these kinds of things. We are professional fighters. We get paid to fight. It’s really bad for the sport. I’ve never experienced it before.”

Taleb didn’t respond when asked to comment on the alleged altercation but did voice his displeasure at the outcome on Twitter. The TriStar-trained combatant may want a rematch with his former opponent to prove he can produce a better bout, but Silva said that Taleb was now in the past and wouldn’t be getting a rematch:

“I don’t have to give him a rematch, because he’s not relevant,” Silva said. “There’s nothing to do with him any more. He’s in the past now.”