Dana White Knows Anderson Silva Isn’t Happy With Him

In an interview with “The Jim Rome Show” on CBS Sports Radio (via MMA Junkie), Dana White said that he is planning to meet with Anderson Silva, who he said is “not happy” with him. Silva’s fight with Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 212 was cancelled and after several replacement fights fell through, Silva claimed he was being mistreated by the company. Here are highlights:

On needing to meet with Silva to fix their relationship: “I have to deal with tons of different personalities and egos and lots of different things with all of the athletes that I deal with. Anderson Silva has always been one of those guys that’s been unique to deal with – (but) never at this level. I didn’t make Kelvin Gastelum test positive for marijuana and pull out of the fight, and we tried to make other fights and get other opponents for him. You can’t demand a title fight or (threaten), ‘I’m going to retire.’ Especially when you know that my philosophy is this: If you even mention the word ‘retirement,’ you should probably retire. I know he’s not thrilled and happy with me. He and I need to sit down and do a face-to-face.”

On how he feels about Silva: “At the end of the day, despite Anderson Silva going crazy on Instagram and saying all these things right now, he’s actually a really nice guy. He’s angry right now and we need to sit down. Everything is better face-to-face, so I probably need to fly out to California and sit down to talk with him – and soon, very soon.”