Chris Weidman has a long history with Brazilian fighters in the UFC, and it would be special for Bruno Silva to be the last in that lineage to face Weidman at UFC Atlantic City.
Silva and Weidman will fight on the main card of Saturday's UFC show in New Jersey, 'Brindad' confirmed in an interview with MMA Fighting's Trocason Franca On the podcast, Weidman said that retiring after “the biggest fight of my career” would be unique considering Weidman's position in the sport, and because “I always talk about things like, It is said that this is because the [chasing] Legacy” on your belt.
“I'm fighting for something different than a lot of other fighters,” Silva said. “People focus too much on the belt. Instead, they see a path to the belt. Do you want to beat five no-mans and become UFC champion? Or do you want to fight 20 fights and play your best fight and then become UFC champion? Do you want to be? I obviously choose the difficult path. Years from now, when I look back on my record, [Alexander] Shlemenko, [Artem] Frolov, Brad Tavares, Alex 'Poitan' [Pereira], Brendan Allen, Chris Weidman. Look at the guys I've been fighting! ”
“No. That's the mission,” he continued. “I prefer the hard path of a legacy to the short path just to wear something around my waist. I don't even know if it will make me happy, right? Happiness and a belt Between, I prefer happiness. The belt is the result of my work and will definitely come someday. But I want to live in the moment and enjoy my life and career as much as possible. I want more. There is still a lot to happen in my career. For him [career] It will end eventually — and I don't want it to end, I want him to fight more after this — but it's his decision to stop fighting, his family, his body. So I hope he is at peace with his family. ”
Silva said he had just finished sparring in Curitiba, Brazil. At that time, he received a phone call from his manager informing him that he would be facing Weidman on March 30th. Silva and his team immediately celebrated by jumping up and down and shouting with joy at the decision to face the legend.
Weidman has won six of seven matches against Brazilians in mixed martial arts, most notably title wins over Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort. 'Bildard' wants to join Ronaldo Souza as the only Brazilians to disrupt that run, and he hopes to achieve that with a knockout win.
“Weidman has always had the same game,” Silva said. “He's not a striker, but he always had good wrestling and a good brain. The difference is age and injuries. He's not that old, and he's not that much older than me — I'm 34. , he's 39 years old — but he's had a lot of five-round fights and his body is worn out. So if he wants to end his career against me, It ends in a loss. I want a knockout. This would be my 20th knockout and it would be a big name on my resume.”
The Weidman has struggled with a number of injuries over the past few years, including a recent leg fracture, but the ferocious striker 'Brindad' is adamant he has no intention of going after his opponent's legs out of the blue.
“People keep saying, 'Kick your legs, kick your legs,' but Chris Weidman probably trained it because he knew it was a hole.” [in his game]”Silva said. “If I go for it right away, I'll give him an easy takedown. Imagine, a minute into a fight, he pushes me down and I have to fight my way out of it. , and had to expend a ton of energy for something unnecessary. I want to finish on my feet and I feel like my hunger will make the difference in this fight.”
