Israel Adesanya’s Recent Comments Serve as a Reminder That Anderson Silva Deserves Props

It looks like Anderson Silva will face Israel Adesanya right around the corner, and recent comments “The Last Stylebender” made about the expected bout, should prompt more praise being sent the legend’s way.

Recently it was reported that Adesanya and Silva have agreed to fight at UFC 234, which will go down on February 9th in Melbourne, Australia. As this is being written, the bout is not officially signed, but there are certainly plenty of signs the contest will happen.

While news of Adesanya – Silva prompted cheers in some circles, in others, concerns were expressed about its competitiveness. The argument being the soon to be 44-year-old Silva will be badly outgunned by the 29-year-old, rising star.

Well, since word of the planned fight broke, Adesanya appeared on “The MMA Hour”, and while discussing what led up to the scrap, the vaunted striker said this (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“That was set, I thought it was ready, and then yesterday I got the call from my trainer saying ‘Jacare’ needs more time to prepare,” Adesanya said. “And I can understand, because he just fought a hard battle (with ex-champ Chris Weidman). Mine was easy. I cleaned (Derek Brunson) easily, but his battle was back-and-forth. So he would have taken some knocks, some injuries.”

“I want to believe he went and thought about it, and thought about who he was and what his legacy is,” Adesanya said. “Because he’s the guy that always wanted to face the best. He’s at the twilight of his career now, and he gets paid a lot of money, so he might not want to face guys like me – people who can kill him, people who can make him look bad. He might want to just have an easy ride out. But I know he’s still the guy who always wanted to challenge himself.”

This last point is a really interesting one, and it’s something that seems to be getting overlooked by some, in debates about the contest. Regardless of whether you think Silva is in for a short and sad night, as Adesanya noted, the legend certainly could have opted for easy bouts to close out his career.

Instead, Silva’s elected to throw hands and feet with one of the middleweight division’s most experienced and accomplished strikers. That says a lot about his desire to compete, and even about his possible aspirations to fight for the belt again. That’s impressive stuff.

It should also be noted that Adesanya has also reminded folks that Silva should never be taken lightly.