In January of 2015, MMA legends Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz stepped into the cage together for a matchup that had fight fans drooling in anticipation. After five wild, rounds, Silva was announced the winner of this fight by unanimous decision. Unfortunately, that result was eventually overturned when Silva tested positive for Drostanolone and Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites.<\/p>\n
Four years later, Anderson Silva says he’s still interested in a do-over with Nick Diaz \u2014 but not for the UFC’s benefit. The former middleweight champion feels the UFC has a habit of using aging stars to promote young prospects, and he doesn’t want a potential rematch with Diaz to serve that purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the fight with Nick Diaz would be a very cool fight, very interesting,\u201d Silva said in a Portuguese interview with Rap 77 (translation via\u00a0MMAjunkie<\/a>). \u201cBecause our last fight, both of us ended up getting caught in the doping, and it was a no-contest. So, actually, the fight didn\u2019t exist. But I think Nick is a guy who has a name, a guy who has a history in this sport. And what we can\u2019t accept is going into the UFC\u2019s game of wanting to use the legends that they have to promote the young guys.<\/p>\n “I\u2019ve talked about this a lot with Nick and with other athletes, as well,” he continued. “We don\u2019t have an issue with fighting any of these kids. We don\u2019t have an issue. We just want to be respected for everything we have built in this sport. Never, in my early trajectory, I never called out anyone. I always let things happen naturally. And I think it can\u2019t be different.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UFC has this thing of wanting to promote new talents that don\u2019t have the charisma with the older athletes who have the charisma and who knew how to get the machine working when we were in there. And that\u2019s something that today\u2019s kids can\u2019t do. They go up there, they fight, do good fights. But, once they open their mouths, they only say crap. And they can\u2019t get charisma with the audience. It\u2019s no use being a good fighter and not being charismatic.\u201d<\/p>\n