Anderson Silva turns down offer to fight Yoel Romero
During today’s UFC 212 press conference in Brazil, former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva told reporters that he had two potential opponents in mind for the June 3 pay-per-view event.
“The Spider” indicated that he was interested in a rematch with former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz, as well as a potential scrap with top middleweight contender Yoel Romero.
Anderson Silva says Nick Diaz is an interesting fight, and also a possibility for UFC 212.
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) April 11, 2017
“Anderson Silva says Nick Diaz is an interesting fight, and also a possibility for UFC 212.”
Anderson Silva says Yoel Romero "would be interesting" for him to fight at UFC 212: "We'll have to wait for the UFC and see what happens."
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) April 11, 2017
“Anderson Silva says Yoel Romero ‘would be interesting’ for him to fight at UFC 212: ‘We’ll have to wait for the UFC and see what happens.’”
In addition to sharing his interest in UFC 212 scraps with Nick Diaz and Yoel Romero, Anderson Silva also shutdown the possibility of fighting former UFC champions Vitor Belfort or Luke Rockhold at the event.
Anderson Silva not interested in fighting Luke Rockhold because he's coming off a loss.
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) April 11, 2017
“Anderson Silva not interested in fighting Luke Rockhold because he’s coming off a loss.”
And that's the same reason why he's not interested in fighting Vitor Belfort.
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) April 11, 2017
“And that’s the same reason why he’s not interested in fighting Vitor Belfort.”
The news that Anderson Silva was open to a bout with Yoel Romero had many fans quite excited for the potential showdown.
Unfortunately however, news just broke from Romero’s manager Malki Kawa that “The Spider” has turned down an apparent offer to fight “The Soldier of God” on June 3 in Brazil.
Getting a few reporters asking me a few questions I'll answer them here:
1) yes Yoel has a valid passport— malki kawa (@malkikawa) April 12, 2017
Getting a few reporters asking me a few questions I’ll answer them here:
1) yes Yoel has a valid passport
2)Yes I watched his press conference, and saw his remarks about Yoel. About an hour after, I was informed he turned it down
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) April 12, 2017
2)Yes I watched his press conference, and saw his remarks about Yoel. About an hour after, I was informed he turned it down
https://twitter.com/malkikawa/status/851973823440326656
3) no, I don’t blame him. No one wants to fight him, not even the supposed …
4) we wait for title is next move
With that said, there is still the potential of Anderson Silva having a rematch with Nick Diaz at June’s UFC 212 event.
Silva defeated Diaz via decision in their first encounter at UFC 183 in January of 2015. However, the bout was eventually overturned to a no-contest, this after Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites and Silva tested positive for more serious banned substances.