Anderson Silva Opens Up: I Lost My Focus

The shock of Anderson Silva’s loss to Chris Weidman has been well publicized. The long-time Middleweight king was steam rolled by a big left hook in round two, and suffered a seemingly huge fall from grace. Widely criticized by fans and pundits, Silva has certainly been under fire as of late.

Silva has spoken up about the loss to Mundo De Luta, expressing his side of the now infamous knockout:

“I lost my focus and made a technical mistake,” said Silva. “It was one of the things that I left – the philosophy of the martial art –and it cost me the belt. I always fought with this feeing of keeping the martial art philosophy and keeping the control of the situation – trying to be as calm as possible for me to keep the balance of the octagon, which is very hard to do.””

Silva’s ‘Loss of control’ has certainly been the subject of many debates since UFC 162, and the immediate rematch that materialized after the loss has opened plenty more avenues for speculation.

“I was so sad with myself, with my lack of control on the moment, that I said some words that weren’t nice. I said I wouldn’t fight for the title. But after I signed the contract (earlier in the year), Dana told me that he would give [me a rematch if I had lost the belt]. I was so out of myself that I didn’t think about it.”

I was more surprised than anyone when Silva said that he would not accept the rematch, especially after being so dominant in the division. It would seem that the loss may have re-ignited the fire in Silva’s camp, and he is very realistic about the loss.

The Spider needs to take Weidman more seriously next time, if only so we can see if Weidman is truly the better fighter. What I mean by that is Weidman needs to beat Silva at his best, no excuses. If he can do that then there will be no dispute about who is the better fighter.

“The criticism is valid, but I’m human,” he said. “I made a technical mistake, and it was good for me and for the people around me to learn. I had to be able to know that focus is always needed. I lost focus, and now I will get better.”

Most fans are more excited about the rematch, which stands to be the biggest UFC fight ever. I really hope both men come in at 100%. If Silva can learn from his mistakes, and it seems he has, he might be able to regain the title and lay the path for a rubber match. Only time will tell.