...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor
Chris Weidman not only didn't feel disrespected by Anderson Silva's tactics in last night's UFC 162 main event Middleweight Title victory, he said he "felt for Silva" afterward.
Weidman was asked how he felt as the decision was being read. He said he thought about how much he respects Silva. "You develop respect, I'm hugging the dude like I love him. I feel for him. I'm obviously happy for myself, I'm happy for my family, but I feel for him, also."
Fans seem more upset with Silva's cocky tactics, or "clowning" as an angry and irritated Joe Rogan put it during his PPV commentary, than Weidman was.
When asked if Silva crossed a line, Weidman said no. "He's a genius at getting into people's minds. He's a smart dude. I kept my composure, kept moving forward, and believed in my stand up. That's really it... When he was doing that, I was telling myself don't get mad, don't get fooled into his game, keep going for punches and takedowns. My stand up is good. I feel I've gone with world class boxers and kick boxers and done really well... There was a point where I thought, you know what, I've got long arms, I'm going for it, he tilted his head back, and I'm just going to go for and I went for it and got it."
When asked if he feels like he won't get credit for this win as much as Silva will get blamed for losing, Weidman wasn't worried. "Anderson has won a lot of his fights because of what he did and what I caught him on. He's not letting his defense down. It looks like he is. He knows exactly what he's doing. I capitalized on that. A lot of guys couldn't do that... I don't feel disrespected. We went in there and we fought... We expected him to do that… I don't see him as being cocky. I see him as trying to mentally defeat you out there. That's just part of the warfare, it's like any other style, it works of him. I tried not to let him get into my head. I just kept walking forward, throwing my punches… and it got to the point where I said, screw this, I'm hitting him. I believe in my power, I believe in my sparring."
He said he slept well the night before the fight and was relaxed right before the fight. "It was crazy, I felt really calm in the dressing room," he said. "Almost overly calm. I thought usually I'm more nervous. I wondered if this was bad. You always have doubts, though. I took all my anxiety and put it in God's hands. I felt confident the whole time. I told myself I'm doing this for my family. I felt I was destined for this opportunity. I felt it was my time, I'm not going to defeat myself. If I didn't defeat myself, I thought I'd win this fight."
He said while his win hasn't completely sunk in yet, "I'm really excited to go back out there and hold onto this belt as long as I can."
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
