Q&A with UFC middleweight Wanderlei Silva

By Brett Okamoto

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 | midnight

Las Vegas-based UFC middleweight and former PRIDE star Wanderlei Silva was the guest of honor at a recent question & answer session with fans inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Here are some of the best moments with Silva, who is scheduled to face British fighter Michael Bisping at UFC 110 in February in Australia.

Q. What are you doing in your training specifically for Michael Bisping?

I'm doing a lot of standup because I want to knock him out. He's a man that likes to fight standup and sometimes he's a guy afraid to shoot. I've been training more boxing, Muay Thai, knees, elbows. I want to make a very interesting show for my friends.

Q. What round will you knock out Bisping?

Like fight with Michael Bisping, he's got a great style. Sometimes guys respect you so much, it's OK, you're a professional, but some guys don't respect you and that's OK, too. I love that.

The second is good — I'm going to try in the second. Going to try in the first, too, sure. Part of fight today is everybody is a strong guy, big guy. You wrap your hands, but it's still solid. One touch and it's done. One wrong movement and a guy catches you, it's done. I like the fight with Michael Bisping though. He's got a great style.

Q. You don't use it much, but you're a black belt jiu-jitsu. Are you ever going to psyche someone out and go for a submission?

Yeah, I love jiu-jitsu. I train it every day. I train more jiu-jitsu for defense so guys don't submit me. I know a lot of good positions. I watched Bisping fight against Dennis Kang (at UFC 105) and I think Dennis Kang had his best moments on top on the ground. Bisping is good on standup and I think on the ground he's good, but on top of him would be a good position for me. Maybe I'll look to do that in this fight.

Q. You've fought at 205 and 185 before. Do you feel more comfortable every time you drop back to 185 now that you've done it already?

It's good to drop down because you lose weight and you look better. (Laughing). I'll start my diet here and lose the last 7 to 10 pounds that week in Australia.

Q. Is the time change hard when you fight overseas?

Sometimes. When you change hours, over there it can be six or seven o'clock and you want to sleep. You feel like you're drunk. And then at one or two in the morning, you wake up and you're ready — but where are you going at two in the morning? So every time I travel, I try to sleep the whole night I travel.

Q. If you could have a rematch with any fighter you've fought in the past, who would it be?

I wanted to fight with Dan Henderson, but he left (for Strikeforce). I would say Rich Franklin. Our first fight was a close match. I think I won, he thought he won. It was a tough decision. But the UFC is great with a lot of good fighters. So all fights have the potential to be a great match.

Q. What was your most rewarding or favorite victory? Mine was when (Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson) went through the ropes (at Pride 28 in 2004).

(Laughing). Me too.

Q. There have been some questionable judging in recent fights, especially the light heavyweight championship fight between Lyoto Machida and Maurico 'Shogun' Rua at UFC 104. How would you fix the scoring?

First, it's so easy when you're comfortable in your home, watching the fight, and you think this guy won or this guy won. But the judges, they have to make a decision round by round.

I do think judges need to be watching more of who is attacking. In the Lyoto fight, he was running and Shogun was attacking more. I think the judges need to look at this. I cant wait for the rematch in May. We're going to find out who the true champion is of the light heavyweight division.

Q. Vitor Belfort came in and won a catchweight fight and got a title shot. How bad do you want to fight Anderson Silva for the tile?

Really, I talk with Anderson again who was my friend for so long and we had our problems but we're done with those problems. At this moment, I don't want a fight with him. He's the champion. I need to prove myself again inside the Octagon. I need to fight better. After few fights I would feel comfortable, but now, I don't want a fight with him.

Q. Who do you enjoy watching fight?

Antonio Nogueira and Randy Couture are great fighters. Two idols. They changed the game. (When they fought at UFC 102) Randy was down and got out. Unbelievable. He's 46, I'm 33. But Randy, any time I ask him the secret of staying in great shape he never tells me.

Q. How have you handled the losses, especially the knockout ones?

I remember last year, I lost to Jackson. I trained six months for that fight because he's real tough. I had one wrong movement. I touched him and he was going back, I went after him, he got me and it was done. Out. I didn't remember it. I remember standing up, walk, sit down in locker room and talking to my coach and I said, "What happened?" He was like, "It's done." I started to cry. Losing is so bad. Last year was hard for me. This is the first time in my life I go to no parties. I hear 'pop pop pop' of New Year's fireworks and I stayed in bed. But thinking of bad moments in life, there's no need to stop doing what you do. I think in the future I'll have a lot of lessons for my fighters and in seminars around the world. I've been through a lot and I want to pass this on to other fighters.

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com. Also follow him on twitter: LVSunFighting.