PHOENIX – Dana White was stunned to find out that Anderson Silva is speaking poorly about the UFC.
The UFC president doesn’t understand where Silva’s comments are coming from alleging poor treatment from the promotion. Silva, a former UFC middleweight champion and one of the biggest stars in UFC history, recently aired some grievances, saying the UFC and White didn’t respect his legacy and tried to make him look bad and force him to retire while he looked for his way out of the company.
“They try to use you and kick you out. And when you’re out, they try to destroy your career (so) you don’t fight anywhere,” Silva told Sportsnaut. “This happened (to) a lot of fighters. People don’t think about that. I had a good time in UFC and bad times, too.”
White was confused by these comments and claims he never spoke badly about the former UFC champion outside of his controversial fight against Demian Maia in 2010.
“What the f*ck is Anderson Silva talking about?” White told reporters at the UFC 274 post-fight news conference. “When have any of you ever heard me talk negatively, except for the fight in Abu Dhabi, about Anderson Silva? Never. I’ve never talked bad about Anderson Silva.
“Not only that, we let the guy fight through his contract. He lost seven of his last eight, or eight of his last nine fights. Always treated him with … I don’t know where the hell this is coming from.
“From him, that then I started trying to make it so he couldn’t make money after. I said Jake Paul’s looking to fight somebody; fight Anderson Silva. That guy’s out there. He’s available. And he’s 47 years old. It baffles me.”
White did tell reporters in late 2020 following Silva’s final fight of his UFC contract that Silva “should never fight again” and was critical of his performance in his TKO loss against Uriah Hall.
Silva went on to keep fighting despite White’s public skepticism that “The Spider” didn’t have the capacity to continue his career. Silva switched to the sport of boxing and in 2021 he outpointed former campion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June and then knocked out former UFC champion Tito Ortiz in September.
Silva is supposed to return against Brazilian MMA fighter Bruno Machado in an exhibition boxing match on May 14 in Dubai.
Dana White: ‘What the f*ck is Anderson Silva talking about?’
