Anderson Silva and Demian Maia each complained that he had been disrespected by the other at UFC 112, but a week later the two appeared on a Brazilian television show, shook hands and were civil – if not exactly warm to each other. And Anderson Silva indicated that he doesn't have anything to apologize for in the way he approached the fight with Demian Maia, which has been criticized by many members of the media, MMA fans and UFC President Dana White.
"I think I fought well, executed my game plan and disrupted Demian's game, I couldn't fall to his game because he's a Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist. Even though I train BJJ as well, I don't even come close to his BJJ level.Said Anderson Silva in an interview.
"I have nothing against any of my opponents, have nothing against Demian. I respect his work a lot." Anderson Silva added.
According to BloodyElbow.com the Silva-Maia fight has gotten more attention in Brazil than any other UFC fight in history. Some of that attention has been negative, but Silva was cheered by the crowd when he was introduced on Domingão do Faustão, and he said his antics in the Octagon shouldn't be interpreted as disrespectful toward Maia.
After Anderson Silva said that, Demian Maia was introduced and brought on stage, where he shook hands with Silva and answered questions from the show's host, declining to say whether he was still angry with Silva over the way the fight transpired.
In the teeth of demonstrating quite the opposite at UFC 112, Aderson Silva maintained that he holds no grudges against his opponents and has no problem with Demain Maia in particular. Demain Maia seemed to be a bit less willing to let bygones be bygones and would not give away his personal feelings towards Silva.
"I don't have much to say, it was what happened, The fans saw what happened." Demain Maia said.
All that there is to be said of the bout has been said by now. What is left is to look forward to and ask questions about Silva's next bout with Chael Sonnen. Questions like, will Anderson Silva have an answer for Sonnen's grinding wrestling offense? Or, can Sonnen get inside Silva's striking range without having his face Picasso'd? With their bout rumored to take place at UFC 117 this summer we won't have to wait too long for the answers.
I'll put here my two cents: Anderson Silva needs to get it straight. It's not about showboating per se. Or about trash talking. What it is about is whether it's all in the nature of the sport and ultimately in good fun. Brock Lesnar obviously didn't understand that w/ Mir, and it remains to be seen if he'll pick up on it. The Diazes obviously didn't understand that with Miller and it was a joke that the Strikeforce event turned into a brawl.
But there are plenty of fighters who are pseudo-psychos in a quirky way that works. If Silva had been coming across this way during the fight, or even said things like this after and congratulated Maia for his gutsiness, it'd have been totally different, showboating or not.
Click the whole interview here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2jv71N2gw&feature=player_embedded
Click the whole interview here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2jv71N2gw&feature=player_embedded
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