Anderson Silva reveals it was his duty to catch Sonnen in a submission after pre-fight remarks
UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva said it was a matter of honour when it came to catching his latest challenger, Chael Sonnen in a submission after the man from Oregon made a number of inflammatory comments about his friend and training partner, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Speaking via Tatame Magazine, Silva said:
“There’s not much to talk about. It’s over and now I have to think about my next bout. It was a good fight, it was different than we all expected. Everybody is used to see Anderson winning every time he fights, without being at risk in any time, but it was good, that made me stronger. We trained a lot, we trained different situations and, thanks God, everything we’ve been working on the trainings work out just fine during the fight. This time, Jiu-Jitsu was my priority and thanks Gods it worked out. We have to thank everybody that helped me train, to my coaches and God.”
“I had some good opportunities while standing, but I couldn’t use them as I wish because I was injured. We trained a lot the movements of the stand-up game, with the coaches standing, but I only hit him few times. On the ground, I believe everything worked out just fine… I wanted to thank Rodrigo (Minotauro), Rogério (Minotouro), (Rafael) Feijão, André Galvão, (Ronaldo) Jacaré, Ramon (Lemos) and all the guys that helped us. We always have to rethink about our concepts about things so we can know what we can improve and what we can’t and I’m always trying to get better on what I have more difficulties, which is the ground game and that was something which helped me a lot so I could bring this win home. You have to train, keep training and move on.”
“I’m very happy. It’s like I said: I believe that, if it happened, it was a good thing for people to get to know it better. Saying like this, it seems that I’m making some kind of propaganda to the Church of some religion, but that’s not it… It’s just like I feel it, I think that the overcoming process, that thing of being a Brazilian and being there and I said it in some interviews before, on which they’ve asked me what I thought about Sonnen’s comments about Rodrigo and all… I can say and I’d like that you published it on the magazine so that everyone can read it: he spoke about the wrong person. He could have said anything about anyone, but he chose the wrong guy to talk about, in any matter. He talked about people he couldn’t have. I entered there wearing a kimono in a tribute to Rodrigo and, before the fight, I told him: “Rodrigo, I’ll get this guy because it’s a matter of honor to me, as your black-belt, to catch this guy”. Thanks God, I went there and caught him.”
“Everything went right and I believe that Jiu-Jitsu’s community is to be congratulated, Jiu-Jitsu saved me and that’s what I train the most, I always train with the gi, my student help me a lot, like Ramon from Atos, who also is to be congratulated and all the athletes who helped me. I think it’s very great the Jiu-Jitsu that we, Brazilians, have, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is a part of all of us and I’d also like to thank all the black belts who made history inside MMA and on our sport, because this we can call ours and I feel honored of being a black belt on a martial art which is as efficient as any other, both standing and on the ground. I’m a black belt on Muay Thai, but I also hold a black belt of Jiu-Jitsu and, on Saturday, what moved me and gave me the strength to win was all I’ve learned from Jiu-Jitsu in all those years, during all this time.”
Silva will now head into 2011 with a potential showdown with former light heavyweight champion, Vitor Belfort hanging over him. Will “The Spider” survive against his fellow countryman to set up a rematch with Sonenn? Let us know what you think…
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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