Earlier this week an unusually irate Anderson Silva demanded that the UFC give him an interim middleweight title shot against Yoel Romero at UFC 212 or he’ll retire, but it seems that his plea hasn’t had the impact he might have been hoping for.
Speaking to TMZ earlier this week, UFC President Dana White shrugged off Silva’s demand and made it clear that there’s no chance the former champion will be fighting the division’s current No.1 contender next, given that he’s only won once in his past six fights.
“We will not do an interim title [with Silva]. No. It won’t happen,” White stated. “Bisping’s ready, willing and able to fight the actual No. 1 contender, who is Yoel Romero.”
Silva had originally been set to face Kelvin Gastelum at the event in Brazil on June 3rd, but the fight was scrapped when Gastelum tested positive for marijuana.
Since then the UFC has been trying to come up with a suitable alternative for Silva, but though they haven’t been able to come with a solution so far, White doesn’t feel that the Brazilian star’s anger at them is justified.
“Anderson’s mad. I didn’t pull Kelvin Gastelum out. Kelvin Gastelum smoked weed, and now he got busted, and we’ve done everything we could to make another fight for Anderson. So it’s nothing we did.”
As for Silva’s retirement threat, White called his bluff by stating that perhaps the 42-year-old should retire if that’s the way he feels.
“Every time for the last however many years, dealing with Anderson is always interesting,” White said. “Obviously, he wants an interim title – obviously, we’re not going to do an interim title. He’s definitely coming out publicly (with his demands). You know my philosophy on that: If you ever say the ‘R’ word, you should probably do it, anyway. If you’re considering retirement, you should probably do it.”
