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Wednesday, Apr 12, 2017

Anderson Silva Outlines Why He’s Interested in Fighting Nick Diaz, But Not Luke Rockhold or Vitor Belfort

Anderson Silva (left) (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

Anderson Silva is in need of an opponent for UFC 212, but the former middleweight champ isn’t interested in fighting proposed opponents like Luke Rockhold or Vitor Belfort.

Silva was scheduled to fight Kelvin Gastelum at the June 3rd event, but the latter was pulled as a result of a potential anti-doping violation for marijuana. Since that development, there’s been talk about Silva fighting either Rockhold or Belfort, but the star recently told the Brazilian media this (quote via MMA Fighting):

“I’m coming off a win (over Derek Brunson), right, after a long time without wins, so it doesn’t make sense to fight any of them because they are both coming off losses,” Silva said. “It’s not something that will add anything for me. It doesn’t make sense.”

Rockhold hasn’t fought since last June, when he was KO’d by Michael Bisping, while Belfort has lost three straight. Silva was also asked if he’d be willing to fight Nick Diaz again, and the 41 year-old offered this:

“I respect him, he’s an excellent fighter,” Silva said. “It would be an interesting fight. It would be cool because this fight makes sense. The (first) fight was a no contest, so we’ll see. Anything can happen.”

Diaz faced Silva in 2015 and lost via decision, but the fight was overturned to a no-contest, after the latter tested positive for banned substances. The 33 year-old Diaz was coming off back-to-back decision losses to Carlos Condit and Georges St-Pierre prior to that.

posted by FCF Staff @ 8:00 am
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