Former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva has been engaged in a very public dispute with his employers recently prior to the announcement that Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre wasn’t going to happen.

Silva called for the UFC to create an interim middleweight title for he and Yoel Romero to fight over while Bisping and St-Pierre fought for the middleweight title. While the UFC ultimately ended up scrapping the fight between Bisping and GSP, Silva went as far as to threaten to retire if the UFC didn’t meet his demands.

He spoke on The MMA Hour:

“It’s just complete bullshit [Bisping vs. Romero],” Silva said. “I’m tired for save the ass of the UFC all the time. I’m so tired.”

“I don’t believe nothing in Dana’s talk,” Silva added. “Because, I’m very dissapointed. I’m tired, bro. I’m sorry for talking about this, but I’m so tired.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’m done,” Silva said. “I fight for long time in my life, you know? And, I’m tired, bro.”

Now, Jorge Masvidal has stepped to defend Silva in an interview with MMAJunkie, saying:

“A guy like Anderson Silva is one the greatest champions we’ve had,” said Masvidal (32-11 MMA, 9-4 UFC), who meets Demian Maia (24-6 MMA, 18-6 UFC) in a pivotal clash on the pay-per-view main card of UFC 211 at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday. “If he’s not happy, that says a lot.”

With that hot topic, Jorge Masvidal segued into talks of his own potential title shot, saying:

“Maia, he should have fought for the title,” Masvidal said. “He’s the No. 1 guy by far. And people keep asking me, do you think you’re going to get the title shot if you beat Maia? If, God willing, my hand is raised on Saturday, and I don’t fight for the title? The sport has gone circus show.”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/11/2017.