Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was one of the last opponents Anderson Silva faced during his MMA career.. He has insight into Silva’s strategy after sparring with the MMA icon at UFC 234 in what was seen as a “passing of the torch”.
On BS with Jake Paul, Adesanya remarked,
“Bro, you gotta be careful. I gotta be honest with you, you gotta be careful, man. Like, Silva – I think Logan (Paul) DM’ed me a while ago when he was gonna fight Silva, and kind of asked me my opinion and I was like, ‘If you take this fight, take it seriously ’cause he’s no joke.’ Silva is the master. He’s the mastermind, man.”
“… He’s a friendly guy, I love Silva. He’s cool and he’s a humble dude, genuine dude as well. But when it comes to war, he’s a savage. He’s from the streets, bro. You gotta remember this guy is from the streets, from the favelas. He don’t give a f*ck.”
Silva has maintained a charismatic personality throughout his career and has always embraced the entertainment value of fighting while still being successful in the cage or ring. Silva usually has a wide grin on his face during fight week and will joke around.
“The way he talks to you – I remember when we were weighing in, we were in Melbourne, he starts getting teared up. And I’m looking, and I’m like, ‘F*ck all that.’ And I’m getting welled up. I was like, ‘F*ck all that.’ And then I could just see, I was like, this is a tactic.”
“He’s trying to lower my defenses. As soon as I got backstage at the weigh-ins, Eugene (Bareman), my coach said, ‘You know what that was?’ I was like, ‘Yeah. F*ck off, don’t worry. I got this.’”
Paul acknowledges that he has become aware of some of those things, but he vows not to let them divert him from his goal of winning his sixth professional boxing match.
During bouts, Silva has a history of antics to throw his opponent off guard. His belief in his skills as one of the best strikers MMA has ever seen keeps him calm in the heat of battle.
Adesanya said, “He’s a crafty dude, he’s a spider. He’ll f*cking lure you into the web. False sense of security – that’s one thing he’s good at. I’ve seen him do it for years.”
According to Adesanya, Paul can win if he employs the proper approach. He also cautioned Paul from taking the age difference into account.
Adesanya assured,
“You can get it done. Silva can be beat. And this is boxing as well, it’s not MMA. He is getting older, and I don’t really think that plays a factor as everyone is saying. Don’t f*cking believe the hype, just because he’s 42 or whatever. He’s a different kind of 42-year-old. He’s just different.”