Den brasilianske welterviktaren Erick Silva mötte senast Neil Magny under UFC Fight Night 74, då han förlorade via delat domslut och skadade sin armbåge som han sedan fått opereras för. Nu är Silvas plan att åka till USA för att träna under en längre tid och bli en bättre fighter.
Det här berättar Silva, via ”MMAFighting”:
Since I have to stay out for a while because of the injury, I was cleared from my physical therapy in Brazil and decided to come here to train my ground game
I’m here at Renzo’s for three weeks, and I will stay one more week here before going to California. Rafael Cordeiro is waiting for me there. I will stay there the rest of the year, and I plan on also working a technical evolution with Rafael.
I plan on coming to New York all the time. I don’t know if I will be doing the same in California yet. I plan on staying more and training in the United States next year, at Kings MMA and here with John Danaher. He’s being very important, strategy-wise and on my ground game. I will return to New York in January and stay two more weeks here, and I will go from New York to California and come back.
I don’t have anything set, but I would like to fight Jake Ellenberger or get a rematch with Dong Hyun Kim. Because I’m is more mature now, more focused, going for new challenges, and the result would be completely different.
Kim avslutade Silva via knockout i andra ronden när de mötte varandra 2013 och kommer härnäst att möta Jorge Masvidal under Fight Night 79. Ellenberger kommer att möta Tarec Saffiedine under UFC on FOX 18 i januari.
The difference is that I’m more mature now. When I entered the UFC I was a kid getting excited, a lot of new things going on in my life. It’s not like that now. I’ve been through good and bad moments, so I’m aware of what can and can’t happen, of what I want, and that makes me more responsible for the things I want and where I want to go.
Det har pratats en del om Silva på skvallersidor om kändisar den senaste tiden, då han först blev tillsammans med ringtjejen Camila Oliveira och sedan den brasilianska skådespelerskan Grazi Massafera. Enligt Silva är detta ingenting som påverkar honom negativt.
It doesn’t affect me in a negative way. I don’t care much about it. But it bothers you because you end up getting an attention you don’t want,. I don’t like when people talk about things I don’t want them to, instead of fighting. When you see yourself in a situation like this, you get scared, you think ‘why are they gossiping about me?’
If I tell you it doesn’t affect me, I would be lying, because you get attention you don’t want, and even if you try to ignore it, you know it’s there. It’s complicated. Like you said, people see me as a celebrity. I don’t like that. I like doing my job as a good fighter. I know I have to do things outside the Octagon to get sponsors, but when your life gets that kind of attention you get a little upset.
Flytten till New York och Kalifornien är också någonting som hjälpt honom undvika media:
In my head, I don’t see this as me running away. It’s not. I see this as me going for a technical evolution and new challenges. I’m not running away from Brazil. But that helps, of course. I walk around and I don’t need to worry about all of that part. If affects you a lot, but it’s not a concern.
