Undefeated since 2007 and winner of five bouts in the UFC, welterweight Silva will fight James Krause at Saturday night’s Fight Night card in Abu Dhabi. “Hannibal” guarantees he’s done “everything and beyond” in camp to prepare for whomever entered the eight-sided cage with him, but he isn’t sure a win earns him a spot in the top-15.
“I think my biggest goal is to end this f*cking politics that only gives attention to clowns, those who do sh*t in the streets, and give me someone in the top-10 already,” a fired-up Silva said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “You come back after four years and beat everyone, but they only give attention to idiots and clowns. I’m mad at the Brazilian media and the UFC media because they only pay attention to those alcoholic clowns who beat up old people in the streets.”
Silva started his UFC run in 2014 with decision victories over Brad Scott and Leon Edwards, but he didn’t re-enter the cage until May 2018 when submitted Nordine Taleb. Since then, he’s scored back-to-back finishes over Danny Roberts and Cole Williams.
“I couldn’t care less about the ranking, because if being 5-0 means nothing, why the hell am I fighting? It’s only for the money,” Silva said. “Fighting someone in the top-5 would be nice. There’s someone there that lost to me already and no one says anything. People ignore him, fans laugh at him. There’s no respect anymore. It’s only about clowns and idiots now. I just want to fight and f*ck the rest. I don’t care. The UFC is about who’s the dumbest now.
“I’m training, I’m focused, and I cause no trouble in the streets like some little popular fighters do, so I don’t know what to think. I just wanna fight. I wish we could go back to the PRIDE days where people looked up to the fighters, but it’s quite complicated nowadays. I fight for myself and for my beliefs now. I go in there and make my money. It’s kinda hard to earn the respect and recognition now.”
Silva can’t wrap his head around the logic behind how fans decide to push certain fighters over others, but he thinks it could be viewed as racism and xenophobia.
“If you’re American or English, a blond white man, you can do whatever you want,” Silva said. “You can hit an old man in the streets, you can hit someone that refused to try your whisky, you can do whatever you want. But if you’re Brazilian, you’re f*cked.
“There are several Brazilians on winning streaks that never had a chance in the rankings. If a Brazilian tries to talk trash their own people attack the guy. And the American and English people will ignore you because you’re Brazilian, even if you speak English. I tried to talk trash once and got nothing in return, so it’s a bit complicated.
“Look at Leon Edwards, 8-0, and who talks about him? No one talks about him. Where was he born? Right, Jamaica. Why don’t people talk about winners? There’s a bunch of losers that come and talk trash and people still talk about them, win or lose. It’s complicated, man.”
Silva-Krause will go down in the main card portion of UFC Fight Island 6, and the Brazilian welterweight hopes to finally get a shot at the division’s elite with a win in Abu Dhabi.
{feed:enclosure_href }
More...
