Earlier this week an interview with Anderson Silva emerged in which he claimed he’d just been KO’d twice in his last sparring session ahead of his boxing match with Jake Paul on Saturday night, but now he’s claiming he just misspoke.
The legendary former UFC champion also revealed that the interview had actually taken place a month ago.
“After seeing the reports and concern for me, I’d like to clarify two important things,” Silva said in a statement. “One, I was NEVER knocked out in sparring. I misspoke in that interview as I sometimes do when interviewing in English and exaggerated the normal back-and-forth action that occurs in sparring.
“Second, this sparring session I referenced was in early September. The interview with MMA Weekly was done on Sept. 13 and, for some reason, just released this week. So, it wasn’t recent.
“More importantly, my training camp has been great. I am fit and ready to fight and the only knockout people should be worried about is the one I’m about to deliver to Jake Paul on Saturday night.”
The 47-year-old Silva and 26-year-old Paul will now have to keep their fingers crossed that his explanation will help smooth things over with the Arizona Boxing Commission, who have announced that they’ll be holding a meeting at 6.30pm on Thursday to discuss Silva’s comments as they weigh up whether the fight can go ahead or not.
