Anderson Silva: I’m going to give back the knockout

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva (33-5 MMA, 16-1 UFC) recently appeared as a guest on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour,” where he explained how he plans to defeat currrent champion Chris Weidman (10-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at UFC 168 this December:

“I (will) give back the knockout,” said Silva. “I’m working hard now. Chris is the new champion and is a great fighter, but I’m training hard. The new Anderson is coming.”

Although Silva plans to end the rematch with a knockout,  he doesn’t expect Weidman to stand in front of him:

“I (will) train more jiu-jitsu because Weidman come to fight me and (won’t) stand up together in this fight. Go for the ground, go for the ground. I train more jiu-jitsu, and ninjitsu.”

The 38-year old continued,

“I’m working hard for a long time. My big goal is train the kids, new athletes coming. I’m normal guy. Sometimes I have good day, sometimes I don’t have good day. People will have the new chance to see the real Anderson. It’s normal.”

Silva also talked about his relationship with Steven Seagal, and why he shouldn’t get all the credit for his devestating front-kick finish of Vitor Belfort:

“I have a good relationship with master Seagal. He is a great man, great master, but I worked hard the front kick for a long time. I started martial arts and my first master showed me the movement. I’ve trained Capoeira, Taekwondo, but one day master Steven Seagal came to the academy, watched the training, watched my front kick and said ‘you move (to) the left’ and that’s it. (He doesn’t) showed the kick and bla, bla, bla. He’s not my coach, he’s my friend.”

Anderson Silva will rematch Chris Weidman for the UFC middleweight title in the main event of UFC 168, which takes place December 28 live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.