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Anderson Silva Spider Kick Press Conference Highlights
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva held a press conference at this new Spider Kick gym earlier today in Los Angeles, California. During the presser, he announced that professional MMA fighter and kickboxer Alex Pereria will be a part of his training camp for Silva’s upcoming fight with Israel Adesanya at UFC 234. 411mania was on hand for the presser.
Previously, Pereria knocked out Adesanya in a kickboxing bout at Glory of Heroes 7 in March 2017. Pereria will be helping Silva train for the upcoming fight.
Silva will face Adesanya in the co-main event at UFC 234 in February 2019. UFC President Dana White recently confirmed that Silva will receive a middleweight title shot with a victory over Adesanya. This will mark Silva’s first fight in the Octagon since his decision win over Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in February 2017.
Currently, the former middleweight king and pound-for-pound great is the betting underdog against the surging Adesanya, who is undefeated at 15-0 in MMA and 4-0 inside the Octagon. Speaking to 411 on Adesanya and his potential, Silva stated:
“I believe he’s a great fighter. He’s the new guy in the UFC, the new talent. The new guys are coming — the new fighters come in this sport. But I’m so happy to fight Israel because that’s the great moment in tis sport. That’s the evolution for this sport. I believe in the evolution for the sport. I’m very happy. IH’m very lucky because I have the opportunity to fight the new talent in the UFC.”
After the fight match-up was announced, Adesanya told The MMA Hour that his upcoming fight with Silva the following: “I’ll tell you this right now: This means more to me than the (expletive) world title.” When asked about Silva about Adesanya’s comments at the press conference, he responded with the following:
“I believe this specific fight is not about fight for the belt. It’s a good challenge and a good challenge for Israel And Israel is young, but I believe in this point — it’s a new opportunity for me and Israel. It’s two big fighters. Israel is young, but a good fighter. I’m old — but I think I’m not the best, but I’m a good fighter too. And this is a very interesting fight.”
After the press conference, 411mania was able to speak to Anderson Silva directly about his new venture with the Spider Kick Gym.
Silva stated on his new space in LA: “So, this [Spider Kick Gym] is the big project I have. I talked to my partners and opened this space here close to the celebrities and everybody just to try and make the life of these people better. It’s a sports-made team, and [it covers] recovering [the body] and training and mentally and health. That’s a good space for help[ing] people.”
Of course, Silva and Adesanya both have their last opponent in common with Derek Brunson, scoring wins over the UFC middleweight in their last respective bouts. Regarding Adesanya’s stunning first round knockout over Brunson last month at UFC 230, he said: “Yeah, I watched the fight. I believe Israel did a good job with Derek Brunson, and let’s go see because my fight with Israel is very interesting. It’s a very interesting fight. It’s two strikers, and one young and one more old. It’s very special. It’s a very special moment. It’s a good challenge for me and Israel.”
2019 will also see some great change for the UFC as they end their broadcast partnership with FOX and FOX Sports and start a new one with ESPN, which will see live UFC fights on ESPN and ESPN+. Silva has been a part of the UFC through its broadcast eras on Spike TV, FOX Sports and now ESPN.
Regarding this milestone moment for UFC and the sport, Silva said: “I believe UFC is a huge company. We have good people for work in this space, and ESPN is huge in sports. This is a new step for the UFC.”
At the press conference, a new Anderson Silva-branded logo, Spider Kick was revealed. Spider Kick represents a new lifestyle brand and merchandise created for Silva. The Spider Kick logo is a silhouette of Anderson Silva performing his “Spider Kick” move (see below). Fans might recognize the image as the kick he used to knock out Vitor Belfort at at UFC 126.
Silva worked with Johann Jarmoune, Design Director of Design Brands Group, to create the logo and newly branded merchandise. Jarmoune wanted to create an image and lifestyle brand for Silva that’s comparable to Michael Jordan’s Air Jordan brand and Nike’s Tiger Woods collection for golf.
UFC 234 is set for February 10, 2019. The event will be held at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The main card will be broadcast live on pay-per-view. You can check out a full video of today’s press conference below (video courtesy of MMAjunkie).