Anderson Silva Gives More Details on His Fight With Demian Maia

This Fan Post was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

Q: But don’t you think you exaggerated with the provocations?

Silva: You dump, inside the octagon, all the tensions that have build up in the months prior to the fight. This is not an excuse, you let all that go inside the ring. The way that I found to do that is what’s causing all these controversies. I did things that I never saw me doing. That’s when people started saying: "This guy is crazy, he’s just fooling around!". There, at that moment, it was me letting go of three or four months of accumulations.

Q: So Demian must have said something that really offended you…

Silva: I didn’t get to the top, I didn’t become a champion without being humble. But there was really a lot of talk. He said he respected me as a fighter, but as a person he questioned my attitude, my character. He said a spider had eight legs and he would rip one of them in the ring. Of course this is just hype to promote the fight. I even had fights where the talk was even worse, but on this particular one I really needed to let everything out.

Q: Did Anderson Silva lose control of the Spider? Does he regret what he did today?

Silva: I wouldn’t say I lost control. From the bottom of my heart, I wouldn’t do it again. Better yet, I would do it differently. I tried to show people and, especially to Demian, that I’m not fooling around, I didn’t get there by chance. I am four times world champion. I have the capacity, conditions, I know who I am. There are a lot of people who talks about [the] fight [game] and don’t know what they say. I didn’t intend to disrespect Demian, I only imposed my game, my strategy and tried to make him frustrated. I respect all fighters.

Sorry if this is getting repetitive, but for those who are interested Anderson goes a bit deeper on what happened with his fight with Demian and on his personal life. Interview from "O Globo". Please note that some expressions made by Anderson would not translate well into English, therefore I gave the equivalent English expressions for those cases.

photo via fightmagazine.com

Q: After all, what got into you to fight that way against Demian, in Abu Dhabi? 

Silva: Dude, I always try to reflect [on what I do]. I try to improve, inside and out of the ring. Those who watched the fight from the outside, from another angle, might have seen something completely different. When they judge you as the best in the world, even though I don’t think I am, people change their judgment for an attitude that you take in a [given] second. They start thinking that you’re not humble. I learned a lot with this fight, a lot more than in any other. I think what happened was valid. I won, I kept the belt and the fight is in the past. Regardless, I know they’ll continue to say a lot of things.

Q: But beyond the little dances, it was noticeble in the transmission you call him a "playboy"…

Silva: "There was a moment that I ended up taking the fight as a brawl and I said things; didn’t you say a spider has eight legs and you were going to take one? Let’s go than, get up, playboy! I called Demian a playboy, yes. Mike Tyson also used to provoke and was always criticized. Every big athlete is going to be criticized. It’s the same with Ronaldinho, Romário, Bebeto, Adriano, Júlio César… If there was all these repercussions and I lost the fight, it would be worse. Maybe I’d lose my job. But I came back home with the belt, without getting pinched, without getting a scratch, nothing. The Spider did what he always does: I went there, fought and won."

Q: After all, where does your nickname "Spider" come from?

Silva: this thing of "Spider" started during Pride. The funny thing about this story is that I have always been a big fan of Spider-Man. Shit, he’s the only superhero who have bills to pay, right? Batman, for example, was a playboy, Super-man pretends to work, but he comes from outer space. Meanwhile, Spider-man is always working hard, delivering pizza, with rent overdue… He’s more like us. I love comic books. I have more than 60 classic editions. And I really like the duels. Iron-man versus the Hulk, Spider-man versus Batman, Wolverine… I don’t even allow my four sons to get close to them.

Q: How was your growing up and where did you get your appetite for martial arts?

Silva: I was raised by my uncles, Edith and Benedito, since I was four years old. I was born in São Paulo, but I went to Curitiba very young. My parents were very young and were separated. So, my aunt bought my "noise" and took me to Curitiba. I was always a bit crazy, energetic. This is how I started training martial arts at eight years old. Only then I was able to calm myself down. I was terrible, an agitated child.

Q: Did you beat or get beat in the streets?

Silva: I got beat more than I gave beatings. I was skinny and daring. I would get around kids that were bigger than me, I wanted to play football.

Q: A fighter wanting to play ball usually irritates a lot of people…

Silva: Dude, my biggest frustration was not being able to be a professional football player. No joke, I could play well. But, while training martial arts, no one has the time to play and improve. But I played well.

Q: Were your family supportive of your fighting career?

Silva: They did not like the fight game too much, because everyone was a cop. My uncle was a cop. They wanted me to follow their footsteps. But what my uncle didn’t like was to do dumb things in the streets. Shit would get real then. Funny how he never spanked me, he would put fear into me with his look. He’d stare at me and I’d know it immediately that things would get bad for me. As for my aunt, the flip flops were her favorite weapon.

Q: Intimidating with a stare has a lot to do with fighting…

Silva: ah, for sure, that’s true. It looks like a staring contest for those who are on the outside, but the look [on someone’s face] is a fundamental. There are no mistakes; every time you stare at someone, you know what to expect from them. You feel what’s about to happen, you know it won’t be easy.

Q: Were you ever scared when staring at an opponent?

Silva: Not scared, but respectful. If you have fear, you end up doing things that you shouldn’t. When you have respect, you have more caution. This is why I stare a lot. When I got my first world title, in Shooto, against Hayato Sakurai, when I fixed my eyes on him, I thought to myself "shit, this is going to be a war", and it was. Against Carlos Newton, it was the same thing. The opposite has happened as well, when I stared at someone and saw that they were not well.

Q: This thing about fighters having to do abstinence weeks before a fight, is it true or myth?

Silva: Dude, that’s not a myth. Energy is energy, you have to save it because you may need it inside the ring. I have gone 23 days without sex before a fight, and I won. Now, it was two weeks before going to Abu Dhabi without getting any action, its part [of my lifestyle]. After the fight, you find your girl and everything is cool.

Q: Even though people associate MMA with violence, big fighters such as yourself, the Nogueira brothers and Lyoto Machida don’t get into trouble at night, as football players do. Do you guys resist the temptations of fame?

Silva: what we have different from other athletes, such as football players, is the philosophy in martial arts, the discipline, the mutual respect between apprentice and master. There is also the issue of going to sleep early, of dieting well to support the trainings. Why is this? After going inside the octagon, it’s just a fighter against his opponent. There is no one to run for you, or to pass the ball to the side. If you go partying at night and you’re not prepared, you’ll get a beating. Partying at night, women, people looking for trouble to show off, these things will always exist. But we have to lead by example.

Q: Why is Brazil, as in football, a Mecca for MMA [talent], but there is only money overseas for it? Is it lack of support for the sport or are there still preconceptions?

Silva: This image of violence, thank God, is changing. People had another image for us. Overseas, we are seen as idols of the sport and a vehicle for commercials. Any company wants to be associated with a champion. That’s why everybody goes there [overseas], to live there or for competing. In Brazil, I got tired of taking my resumé to places and get the response that I did not fit their profile. To this day, I have no sponsorship from a Brazilian company.