Tensions appear to be very much frayed between Anderson Silva and the UFC.
The Brazilian legend has been at odds with the company which he has represented for more than a decade, bemoaning the UFC’s apparent lack of action for securing an opponent for the UFC 212 card Silva was slated to appear on. Kelvin Gastelum, Silva’s original opponent, was removed from the card for failing a USADA mandated test for marijuana metabolites.
In a heated interview on The MMA Hour last week, Silva requested a 185-pound interim title bout against #1 contender Yoel Romero and suggested he may consider retirement if the request wasn’t granted. UFC president Dana White swiftly quashed the possibility of this happening and commented that “if [Silva] is considering retirement, [he] should probably do it.”
Somewhat unsurprisingly, Silva isn’t satisfied with that response. In an Instagram live posting, as reported by MMAFighting, Silva fired another salvo in the direction of White and the UFC.
“Now the almighty one, who everybody knows who it is, has to calm down and put Yoel Romero to fight,” Silva said. “Now he has to put Yoel Romero to fight, and there is no excuse. He has no excuse to give. He has to put Yoel Romero to fight, because Yoel Romero is the No. 1 in the ranking, and [Michael] Bisping said he’s ready to fight. So, there’s no more talk. He has to put Yoel Romero to fight. Period.
“In a way, I helped a fellow fighter, and I think that’s what we should do,” Silva said. “It’s not about cursing at Dana White or fighting the [UFC bosses]. It’s not. It’s using what they are doing to us back against them. Dana, the almighty, shot himself in the foot.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Silva went on. “I don’t have any personal problem with him, but the problem is when it affects the fighters, when it affects the fighters that leave home for three months to train, who train hard, who train injured, and who make it all happen … we are the ones who make the show happen, not him. No. He sits there and only books fights and stays there, brother. The truth is that this is a big joke that is happening, and it has to stop.
“This is what I love doing. That’s what I love the most in my life, but I can’t accept this bullsh*t with athletes in our division and athletes in the entire sport. People have to understand that the UFC is not a sport, the UFC is a company. The UFC is not a sport. MMA is a sport. The UFC is just a brand that produces MMA fights.
“One for all, all for one.”
