Renzo Gracie with GSP. Photo: Luca Atalla/GRACIEMAG
A former fighter turned coach to many MMA greats, Renzo Gracie put the cards on the table as he commented on Anderson Silva’s defeat to Chris Weidman at UFC 162, which cost him the middleweight belt.
Gracie gave Silva some valuable advice in his analysis of that bout:
“Anderson is a great champion,” he told Combate.com. “All he needs to do is put his head in place and remember that, when he was a kid, he was working hard to get to where he is now, and go back to being that kid. The moment you forger who you are, you begin falling for traps like that. Life charges you.”
The professor went on to stress Anderson’s disrespect for his adversary, and didn’t blink before stating Silva had paid the price for his actions:
“I was there for his fight with Demian,” Gracie recalled. “His behavior in this bout (vs. Weidman) was worse. He was more aggressive and more insulting than that time. The vocabulary he was using … He was insulting Weidman … and that’s something he shouldn’t do. He’s a champion, he’s an example. He has a fantastic story as a UFC fighter and he was supposed to act properly. I gave an interview before the fight to see if he would correct that, but to no avail. Unfortunately, if that is trapped in your soul it’s gonna come out, right? And that’s what cost him the belt.”
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What advice would you, reader, give Anderson?
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