UFC middleweight No.1 contender Chris Weidman was left frustrated yesterday after current champion Anderson Silva missed a UFC 162 media day in Los Angeles to promote their upcoming fight.
“I hope he has a good reason why he didn’t go,” Weidman said of Silva’s no-show. “I just went out to Los Angeles for three days. I just wasted time during my camp. I haven’t been in this sport as long as him, but you watch these superstar basketball players like LeBron James, and after every game – win or lose – he answers questions from the media. … There’s always stuff that you don’t want to do when you’re an athlete, but you just have to do it.”
Weidman then fired off a warning shot to Silva, who was fined $50,000 by the UFC for his failure to appear, not to take him lightly.
“I hope he’s staying grounded. I hope his head isn’t getting so big that he thinks he doesn’t have to do things for the UFC, but who am I to judge? If his head is really getting too big, I’m definitely going to bring him down to earth on July 6.”
For his part, Silva has since claimed he was unaware of his media obligations on that day.
“I never missed any commitment with the UFC,” Silva told Brazilian site vega.com. “I would never book a trip to Brazil if I knew I should be in Los Angeles.”
