WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho recently did an interview with Tatame and spoke on a variety of things. Check out some excerpts below:
How do you think would be the UFC middleweight division with you and Anderson Silva?
I think Anderson is doing the right thing. He always praises me, wants the best for me, and said we wouldn’t fight me, he’s the best, and I don’t wanna fight him too. I think he’ll go up (to light-heavyweight) and until then I’ll go there and when I get closer to the title, he’d be already retired. He already done a lot for the sport, and we they have a lot of great athletes there and I can’t let this opportunity go away, it’ll be a better motivation, show the Paulão from the Pride GP. The problem in this depression moment was motivation, it was a very complicated moment, but now things are better and I can show my best game.
I sure hope he shows the Filho from PRIDE, because the fighter that has had two matches in the WEC isn't the same guy. So Filho thinks that Silva will make the permanent move up to the UFC LHW division. I would hope that's true, because there is no one worthy of a title shot at the present time. No one except Yushin Okami, and he has a fight coming up at UFC 92 against Dean Lister. All of the dream fights are in the UFC LHW division for Silva. I would love to see how Filho would match up with some one like UFC MW contender Nathan Marquardt.
What do you think about Anderson’s fight with Cote?
In fact I didn’t watched it yet, but (Josuel) Distak told me that he kind of preserved himself. He’s a lot better technically than Cote, he did a game preserving himself to fight again in December. He might face Chuck Liddell, and he needs to get there well, but that’s what I think will happen. They told me we’d do a tough fight, so I think it’s gonna be Liddell. They’re both great strikers and it’d be a huge fight. UFC has the tougher athletes and he’s dominating it, so I think they won’t rest until they take him from there, but they can try, try, but they won’t make it. Anderson is with a great rhythm, understood his own game, has a surprising ground game… I think he can complicate everyone’s life in the octagon. Middleweight division has tougher athletes than light-heavyweight, the move better and has more technique, so Anderson can go up and beat everybody.
So Filho thinks that Silva will fight Liddell for his next fight in December? While it's possible that Silva will face Liddell next, I doubt that it will be in December. The PPV event(UFC 92) is already stacked pretty much and it's doubtful they would throw a mega-fight like Silva vs. Liddell on that card. The rumor is that Silva could face Liddell on a UFC card that will take place in London next February. In terms of the UFC MW division having tougher athletes, I think he was referring to them possibly being more well rounded. If that's the case he could make that argument since many of the guys at LHW like to stand and trade or GnP. Many of the UFC LHW fighters either don't have any submission skills or they just prefer not to use them.
How do you think would be a fight between Anderson and Chuck?
Liddell is a slow fighter. He moves well, but he’s slow, and I believe Anderson will dance in front of him, connect some punches… Anderson would win that for sure.
Indeed, I think Anderson Silva would knock Chuck Liddell out.
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