There’s no denying that Anderson Silva’s “clowning” cost him his title against Chris Weidman. He was, after all, leaning backward, with his hands down and his body not in position to defend the incoming punch that dropped him.
At the same time, that clowning has long been a part of his game and has opened opportunities to punish opponents during his legendary UFC run.
Silva talked in a recent interview with Globo TV and made it clear that the lesson he has taken away from the Weidman loss isn’t that he should change his style (via MMA Fighting):
“If Muhammad Ali came up saying I wasn’t humble, then I’d think if I was humble or not,” he said in a Sunday interview on Brazil’s Globo TV. “There was no lack of respect. I respect everybody. All the provocation, hands down… It should continue, it’s part of the show”
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“Nobody likes to lose,” Silva said. “I train four months to win. But you end [up] learning with your mistakes, and I learned the worst way possible. After everything that happened, we calm down and I realized I had something to question, even question Anderson Silva. I lost to myself, and that’s the worst loss. Losing by knockout shakes you, [it] will be in history, but will leave a lesson.”
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“Everybody has to retire, but it’s not my time yet,” Silva said. “I’ll get a rematch. Chris gave me this opportunity and we’re fighting again. That’s another chance to overcome, reinvent myself as a person and athlete.”
Silva and Weidman will rematch at the UFC’s year end show in the main event of UFC 168.