Recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee Wanderlei Silva appeared on the Combate podcast “Mundo da Luta” this week and spoke about his desire to try his hand at “real” boxing.
Silva expressed disappointment in the recent duel between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, which ended in a draw.
“This is breaking new ground in entertainment,” Silva said. “All I can say is, if Wanderlei Silva has an exhibition fight, we’ll see what a real exhibition is. It has to be the real deal. What would you do if I had the opportunity to beat Chael Sonnen? I was going to beat Sonnen. People were giving me the opportunity (laughs). I’m not his friend, I’m just an acquaintance.”
The Pride Fighting Championships veteran, who had a tough battle with Sonnen on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil in 2014, said he now has a good relationship with the American.
“He’s a good guy. I like him. The rivalry is over,” Silva said.
Silva, who is still considering returning from his mixed martial arts retirement to fight under boxing rules, named two former rivals he would like to face.
“I would love to have a rematch with someone I’ve already faced,” Silva said. “For example, Quinton Jackson would be good. We’re 2-2 and we could have a boxing rematch. Ricardo Arona too. He hasn’t fought in a while. I’ve already fought Arona in jiu-jitsu (i.e. on the ground in two Pride bouts), but he hasn’t fought me in boxing yet. Why not? I’m training, but I’m in no rush. Let’s promote it first. It would be good to do it in Brazil. I haven’t fought here in a while. It would be nice to fight for my crowd.”
“The Axe Murderer” also spoke about the emotions he felt when he and his friend and Chute Boxe training partner Mauricio Rua accepted the Hall of Fame trophy from his son.
“Everything happens at the right time. If I had received this award sooner, it would not have been presented to me by my son,” he said. “It was a special feeling to receive it from him alongside ‘Shogun,’ who I have greatly respected and supported since the beginning. He said he was inspired by me at one point, but I was inspired by him too. Before his match against ‘Rampage’ Jackson at Pride, I told him he needed a great match to prove himself. He overcame ‘Rampage’ and then won Pride 2005, a great victory that earned him a Hall of Fame induction.”
