The Spider and Both Nogueiras At Their New Gym

[T]

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mmamadness.com - Anderson "The Spider" Silva:

Anderson Silva: You can ask me anything you want, except how many girlfriends I have (laughs)

MMA Madness: You do a great Bruce Lee impersonation, has he been an influence to you in any way?

Anderson Silva: Well, I believe he has been an inspiration to everyone. He has definitely influenced me in many ways, but not only him. I try to incorporate anything I see from contemporary martial artists, like Jackie Chan.



MMA Madness: Has your previous study of Tae Kwon Do helped you at all?

Anderson Silva: Definitely. As with any martial art you always learn something. Tae Kwon Do taught me a lot of discipline.

MMA Madness: Have you ever trained in Thailand?

Anderson Silva: No, but I have always wanted to. I have it planned to go at the end of the month and am looking forward to it.

MMA Madness: What happened with the Roy Jones fight?

Anderson Silva: At the moment nothing is happening. The fight is temporarily placed on hold until further notice.

MMA Madness: Does a fight with GSP interest you at all? If so, do you think you would drop weight or have him come up?

Anderson Silva: Depends, a fight is a fight. We are all employees of the UFC and whoever we are told to fight, we will fight. If it was needed we'd figure it out, but I don't intend on dropping weight. My weight class is 185 and I plan to stay there.

MMA Madness: Who would you say commanded the most respect from you after the fight?




Anderson Silva: Every one of my opponents command respect from me, it takes courage to get out there and fight. However, with that said two standouts are Rich Franklin and Hayato Sakurai.

MMA Madness: Do you watch K1? Would you like to fight in a K1 venue?

Anderson Silva: Fighting under the K1 rules is definitely in my long-term projections, but in terms of right now I fight for the UFC and am very happy here.

MMA Madness: You obviously have a great chin, has there been an instance in which you were rocked?

Anderson Silva: Well there is no such thing as a "great chin". A chin is a chin, sometimes you are unfortunate and get hit where it counts and I guess I've just been lucky thus far to not have anyone hit me in that location.

MMA Madness: Who has been your hardest fight in the UFC?

Anderson Silva: All opponents are hard, you never know what to expect but Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin have been the hardest, but it is very difficult to decide.

MMA Madness: Do you know who your next fight is against? Is it Yushin Okami, and do you have any ill feelings towards him?

Anderson Silva: A fight is a fight. If he's next then that is who I am fighting. No I don't have any ill feelings towards him. I just hope my next fight is a good fight.

MMA Madness: Why did you decide that Miami was a good place to open a gym?

Anderson Silva: I love Miami but have never really hung around here. I am more used to Brazil and Los Angeles. Miami is a great city though and I love it the more I'm here.

MMA Madness: Why did you decide to open the gym now?

Anderson Silva: It has always been a goal of mine to open a gym. The Nogueira's and I have been talking about it for a while now and right now just seemed like the best time to do it.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira:

MMA Madness: What are your thoughts and feelings on The Ultimate Fighter 8?

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I am excited; I will be able to showcase pure Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and some of the real methods that are used to teach our students. Fans will be able to see the very technical aspects of the martial art. I will be taking Anderson Silva, Daniel Valverde and my brother will be stopping by as well.

MMA Madness: What are your thoughts on Frank Mir?

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I am looking forward to facing off against Frank Mir and I think he is a very good heavyweight opponent.

MMA Madness: What are your thoughts on the Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia fight?


Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I think it will be very good. Fedor definitely has more of a chance on the ground, but Tim Sylvia may have the edge on the feet. Tim has very good standup and hits very hard.

MMA Madness: Is there any particular heavyweight you want to fight?

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Frank Mir (laughs).

MMA Madness: What were some of your toughest opponents?

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Mirko Cro Cop was definitely very tough and of course Fedor and Tim Sylvia was a challenge as well, he is a very hard hitter.

MMA Madness: So, why did you choose Miami for your gym location and now residency?

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I love the city and the people here love to fight and also my mother has been living here for 19 years. I will still be going back to Brazil every once in a while.

MMA Madness: What happened to the Couture fight and are you still interested in fighting him?

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I really wanted to fight Couture and came to the UFC expecting to fight him at one point and was already training for him, but he left when I arrived. I would still love to fight him.



MMA Madness: Did you enjoy fighting in Pride over UFC?

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I loved the big Pride shows and the Japanese fans, but the UFC is much more structured and organized. For instance, sometimes Pride gave fighters very short notice, like my brother, for one fight they gave him 10 days notice. Also, sometimes we didn't even know the opponent until we got to Japan.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira:

MMA Madness: Now that the HFC stopped as an organization, are you considering signing with the UFC or any other organizations?

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: I would like to sign with the UFC, but I am negotiating with many other organizations right now to see which one is the best for me.

MMA Madness: Who were some of your toughest opponents?

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Dan Henderson.

MMA Madness: If there were someone you could fight right now in the LHW division, who would it be?

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: I would love to fight the UFC Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson right now; I think it would be a very exciting match up.

MMA Madness: I thought you won your fight against Shogun back in Pride, would you like a rematch sometime in the future?

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Yes, I thought I won that fight as well. His ground and pound was not doing much damage and I defended his stomps very well. I had asked for a rematch, but he refused.

MMA Madness: Also, I watched your last fight in the HCF, you displayed a great striking arsenal.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Yeah, my opponent was very strong, but I utilized my boxing skills and a lot of my knees in that fight. It was a very good one.

Good read. Big Nog really respects Tims stand up.

[Severn]

Originally Posted by T

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Good read. Big Nog really respects Tims stand up, does it surprise anyone that he gives the edge to Tim on the stand up vs Fedor?

He said "may" have the edge standing up. He didn't say he did.

[T]

Originally Posted by Severn

He said "may" have the edge standing up. He didn't say he did.

good catch

[kc56]

I think that Big Nog may be the only person who can even hint at Tim being better than Fedor at anything, and not get flamed for it.

Although he did make mention of it several times though with how hard Tim hit.

[Ramma]

Interesting that Shogun turned down a rematch with Rogerio. I would love to watch them go at it again.

[dagreat1]

Originally Posted by kc56

I think that Big Nog may be the only person who can even hint at Tim being better than Fedor at anything, and not get flamed for it.

Although he did make mention of it several times though with how hard Tim hit.

In Nog's fight's with Fedor he bounced Nog's head repeatedly off of the mat in Nog's guard and hit him with shots that seemed harder than anything Tim landed (2 that I remember looking at the TV like "what the fuck"), but I think it's the PRIDE 6 oz gloves as opposed to the UFC 4 oz gloves.

Originally Posted by Ramma

Interesting that Shogun turned down a rematch with Rogerio. I would love to watch them go at it again.

He prolly was never formally offered a rematch with Lil Nog. Lil Nog prolly just expressed interest in a rematch but PRIDE apparently wasn't interested.

That was one of the best fights I've ever seen so I dunno why they wouldn't have booked that rematch.

After reading that about being given 10 days notice to fight and sometimes not knowing who you're fighting until you arrive in Japan (prolly no more than 2-3 days before fight day) it could just be those crazy Japanese. Greatest fights, greatest fans and Takada in a thong on the taiko-drum.

[atj-lucko]

Anderson Silva: Fighting under the K1 rules is definitely in my long-term projections, but in terms of right now I fight for the UFC and am very happy here.

Are you Fucking kidding me!!!, he wants to fight in K-1 why?
Why step down and fight in k-1 nobody paying 50 bucks a PPV to watch kickboxing.
MMA is the greatest sport on earth, why go to fucking Kickboxing??

[dagreat1]

Originally Posted by atj-lucko

Are you Fucking kidding me!!!, he wants to fight in K-1 why?
Why step down and fight in k-1 nobody paying 50 bucks a PPV to watch kickboxing.
MMA is the greatest sport on earth, why go to fucking Kickboxing??

K-1 is amazing, wudduya mean?

He's talking about finishing his career as a K-1 fighter which will be the later stages of his career. It's much less demanding than MMA because you can focus purely on standup and explossiveness is no longer as important, just technique.

MMA is like football, your career doesn't last that long because it's such a physically demanding sport but K-1 is like basketball, you still need to be in shape (well it helps) but you can fight until your 40.

K-1 isn't like crappy ISKA kickboxing, K-1 has the best strikers in the world and they put on amazing Grand Prix tournament every year. It is the most popular fight promotion in Japan (and still was even during PRIDE's reign as the #1 MMA promotion, I recall PRIDE matching K-1 TV ratings only once or twice ever).

You should check it out before you knock it. K-1 Max is sinister too.

Cro Cop, Hunt, Schilt, Manhoef, Kang, even Rampage has fought in K-1.

[singinkangaroooo]

ive watched a little K1 and i agree it is entertaining... the one event i remember is the first 1 i saw and it was one of the grand prix.. it was where Hoost faught Sapp and Sapp won but couldnt continue because he was too tired so Hoost faught in the finals (despite a loss in the semis) and won the tourny ^_^... just thought that was pretty funny

also Ernesto Hoost is really fun to watch.. and ive seen a few other very entertaining matches so K1 isnt all bad.. just no ground game and that is what i like best =/