Wanderlei Silva on Bisping, Nerves, Mending Ties with Anderson

LAS VEGAS -- Wanderlei Silva fielded questions from fans before Friday’s weigh-ins for UFC 108 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder discussed his upcoming fight against Michael Bisping at UFC 110 on Feb. 21 in Sydney, Australia, some of his biggest wins and losses and the reason he still fights after accomplishing so much in his storied MMA career.

Surprisingly, the 32-year-old Silva also talked about the jitters he still feels every time he gets ready to make the trek to the cage. After 44 professional fights over a 13-year span, Silva, who had his first fight at age 13, said any fighter who tells you he doesn’t get nervous is not being truthful.

“The fans give you the energy,” he said, noting the fan’s passion and appreciation as his continued impetus for fighting. “Every time I go into the street people come up to me and the energy… this is great for me.”

More from Silva:

• Silva said Bisping-Kang at UFC 105 last November was an amazing fight.

• Silva thought he defeated Rich Franklin and wants to fight him again, even though he couldn’t remember his name.

• Silva thinks the Mauricio “Shogun” Rua-Lyoto Machida rematch, scheduled for May 1 in Montreal, will determine the “real” UFC light heavyweight champion. Silva his former teammate was robbed in the first fight.

• His decision to move down to 185 pounds was because fighters are cutting so much weight and are so much bigger than him since coming to UFC. He still wants to compete at light heavyweight on occasion.

• Silva noted that one of his favorite memories from his fight career was when he knocked out Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (at Pride 28 in October 2004) and watched him fall into the ropes.

• He feels it is easier for him to fight the “bad” guys like Bisping than the nice guys like Rich Franklin.

• Silva agrees with his boss Dana White and sees MMA eventually becoming the biggest sport in the world.

• Silva made it clear he trains jiu-jitsu more for defense than anything else.

• Silva stated that he has repaired his strained relationship with middleweight champion Anderson Silva and does not want to fight him. The two trained together at the Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil and Wanderlei doesn’t see a fight with Anderson happening anytime soon. He did leave the possibility open though, saying he could change his mind after a few fights at middleweight since he wants to be a champion again.

• Silva said the knockout loss he suffered to Jackson was very tough on him. Losing is tough but even worse to lose to Jackson because of how much he likes to talk. Silva added that he is still up 2-1 on him though.

• Silva said he is still upset about how bad he got beat up in the second Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic fight in Pride’s open-weight tournament semi-finals in September 2006. He laughed and said he begged officials not to stop the fight when he was bloodied up because he hadn’t even hit Cro Cop yet.