Wanderlei Silva wants to fight Anderson Silva

Wanderlei Silva has admitted he would like to fight UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva after his fight against Rich Franklin in Germany on June 13.

Wanderlei Silva is a former training partner of Anderson Silva, during their time together at the Chute Box camp.

He told MMA Weekly: “I’ve always respected Anderson. I’ve never spoken about him but he has started talking about me. He started it. Why? I was a good friend of his before.

“I don’t know why he’s started talking s*** about me. Before he started, I didn’t want to fight at middleweight.

“But after he started talking, you couldn’t pay me to stop. I love the challenge. I love guys talking about me because it gives me more motivation to train.

“Now, I want to fight with him. I want to have a chance to fight with him.

“But first, I need to focus for Rich. I know I need to beat him and have a good performance to have a chance to fight the champion.”

The Axe Murderer added: “Thales was afraid of him. He was afraid to punch, he was afraid to move.

“This is the worst situation for a fighter. During the fight, I’m going ‘more’, give the punch. For a long time, I was bored.

“Anderson is a champion and the other guy needs to give the best. But Anderson would put Thales in the corner and he would not attack.

“Many times we have seen this in Chute Boxe, and the fights, too, and I’m staying in his corner going ‘go, go go!’

“The guy would stay in the corner and he would not go. This is his fault. He puts the guys in the corner and I don’t know why he doesn’t go. This is bad. The situation is bad because the fans want to see the guy beat.

“Maybe he is waiting because if he attacks, the guy is going to get the takedown and it’s trouble.

“But you need to have risk. You need to open your guard because this sport is hard. Many guys watching see just who won.

“They don’t see the fight, just this guy won, or the other guy won. But I prefer to lose in an emotional fight than win a boring one.

“I’m not fighting for money. I’m fighting for emotion. I know the fans are paying $49 to watch a main event.

“So I prefer to lose an exciting fight because I know I give my best, and my opponent won because he had the best day.

“You win a boring fight, what is better, win or lose? This is the question. You should put your life more at risk.

“Anderson’s performance says a lot about him, no? His last two fights with Patrick Cote and with Thales, I don’t know. This is a question, what is better for him? Win or lose?

“This is a new sport. Imagine one guy who has never seen it before and he pays $49 to sit at home and see the fight, what impression is he going to have? That it’s fake? It’s possible!

“They might think ‘yeah, this is fake. It’s like pro wrestling’. But you have a lot of guys working hard for this sport.

“This is no respect for the boss, no respect for the fans. Every fighter needs to know about their responsibility in the ring, not just to win or lose. You have more power, you have more responsibility.

“I don’t fight just with my technique, I fight with my heart. I respect my fans, and for this, my fans respect this.

“My fans know that every time I stay in the best condition and put my life on the line. For me, no problem.”

Tags: Anderson Silva, Patrick Cote, Rich Franklin, UFC, Wanderlei Silva