‘Spider’ Silva Rebuffs ‘Shogun,’ Speculates on Jones Jr. Fight

In an interview conducted with Brazil’s Gazeta Do Povo that was picked up the Examiner’s Bryan Levick, controversial middleweight champion Anderson Silva made a few statements worthy of the translation hassle.

Silva -- who fights Forrest Griffin in a light-heavyweight contest August 8 -- declared that “we already signed some of the contracts” for a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. once his UFC obligations expire. “We will await for her to happen the fastest possible, not for the money or for the media, but for my will,” he said. “I accompanied Roy Jones since he struggled in the amateur boxing, that went to the Olympic Games and it lost.” (Fractured English courtesy the Internet.)

Silva appears to have four fights left on his UFC contract, but those papers usually come with a barnacle: if you’re champion at the end of the term, you’re obligated to stick around. Whether that applies to boxing is another matter. Either way, I can’t imagine the UFC being ecstatic over any outside negotiations or contracts taking place with one of their tethered athletes.

The fighter also dismissed Mauricio "Shogun" Rua’s October 24 title shot against friend Lyoto Machida, saying that “’Shogun’ didn’t deserve to struggle for the belt. [He] took luck because two faces that could struggle with Lyoto [Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson] are making the reality show.”

My thoughts exactly. On wrapping up a career in the sport: “My contribution to MMA is reaching the end, which I had to prove for me same I already proved. I still want to participate in kimono competitions and without kimono.”