The UFC is embroiled in some pretty intense battles with current UFC Interim Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo and Khabib Nurmagomedov. You can add another fighter to that list in former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.
Silva recently spoke to the UOL media outlet out of Brazil, where he stated he didn't event get a thank you from UFC brass for stepping in on short notice to fight UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 200.
"Man, it’s complicated to talk about it…I didn’t even get a ‘thank you’ from Dana or Lorenzo after my last fight. I was the one who wanted to fight, of course, I took the fight, but I know what I’m worth, my importance. I was really disappointed with the lack of respect from the UFC towards Brazilian athletes. I’m an athlete who took the sport to another level. I don’t get or ever got the respect from people. That made me really upset, sad and disappointed with the UFC” said Silva.
Silva also spoke about how he was the backup fighter for UFC 204 if either Michael Bisping or Dan Henderson had to be removed from the card, the way he was told the news was another moment of disrespect for the former champion.
“It’s more absurd how that (offer) came. They didn’t even talk to me,” Silva claimed. “My representatives came as a messenger pigeon. I'm not the type of guy to get messages. After everything I’ve done, I still have to stand by and wait for a fight I won? I found it a little unpleasant. I will say it again: I’m really disappointed with the way they have treated me, very upset with all that. I was not the one who said I was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Dana said that. Maybe he said that to promote the event or because he really thought that. We will never know the truth. The fact is that everything I’ve done, no one else could do. I don’t want to be cocky or arrogant or think I’m the best, but what I’ve tried to do all those years was to show I was different from the others. And that’s not my opinion, but everyone’s."
Silva isn't currently scheduled for his next fight.
