On Saturday, Anderson "The Spider" Silva, who was the pound-for-pound champion until getting shocked in his last fight by Chris Weidman at 162 when the Long Islander caught a clowning Silva with a stiff left hook and finished him for a knockout.
Weidman, 29, didn't seem to have Silva's respect inside the Octagon that night, but definitely earned it by improving his record to 10-0, and 6-0 in the UFC. When asked if he took Weidman lightly the first time around Silva admitted to it. "Maybe a little bit," Silva said.
Silva still defends his antics somewhat, maintain that the type of shenanigans he was taking part in have always been part of his game. This time, though, fans can expect less of that behavior. "When I go inside the ropes to fight, I'm not joking, because there's danger," Silva said. "The last fight, I have the fault of Weidman winning. Some days, you have a good day for working, some days you have a bad day for working. The last fight was my bad day.
"I don't focus on my last fight. I focus on this fight. This is a new one for me."
Silva has said his footwork was off in their first meeting, and claims that all his errors have been corrected in training. "Obviously we made a few changes. When you see a mistake, you've got to get back and see what that mistake is and change a few things. But like I said, that's in the past, and everything is going to be different from now on."
Silva also said that the loss isn't making him more motivated than he would be for a different opponent. "I'm motivated by the will and the desire to do what I love, which is to train and to fight," Silva said. "There's no reason to wait for fight night. I feel very happy right now. I'm in a great mood, and I'm training harder than ever. There's no reason for anything to go wrong, and I'm 100 percent sure I'm going to win."
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