Thiago Silva, current UFC Light Heavyweight contender, discusses his most recent bout with former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans.
Some speculation arose in the fight, as Silva appeared to have Evans rattled, and was too gassed to finish him.
Here, Silva addresses the questions.

What did you think of the fight?

The fight was good, although I lost. It was difficult to defend the takedowns and ended up losing on points. I took a lot of takedowns, right?

Did you expect him to work so hard on takedowns?

I expected some, but I didn’t think he would insist on it that much. I thought he would exchange a little more, but ran away from striking and went for takedowns.

How did the injury effect you?

To some extent it hurt a little … I hurt my back with four weeks to the fight, and I went almost three and a half weeks without training anything, just doing strengthening and physiotherapy. I lost a bit of timing and strength.

Did you expect the fight to be more difficult after losing a month of training?

I thought it would be much worse than it was. I managed to push the pace and did what I could. I went to my maximum. This is not right, but I tried, I did what I could and tried my best.

In the third round you started teasing him and almost knocked him down. At that moment, did you think you were winning the fight?

I knew I was losing. I didn’t have much energy and was trying to provoke him to see if he would come over to me, but he didn’t buy it. I knew I was losing, I lost the first two rounds.

When you knocked him down him, did you not think you needed to try to finish him?

I was exhausted, man … I started to provoke him because he was getting gassed, tired … Whether or not he has heavy hands, there comes a time that most people do not know what is happening … I think the energy made the difference, I was pretty tired.

What does the UFC think about the fight?

They said it was a good fight, but I need to recover from the injury.

Your goal was to win to have a rematch with Lyoto. How do you see yourself in the UFC now?

Now I’ll wait … They will probably match me up in a good fight, Dana White already said this, and I’m here to fight the best. I want to fight the best and I think I’m on that path. I’ll keep training, there’s nothing I can do. Losing happens.

Will you get some time off now?

The back is bad, man … I’m at home in bed, just got back from the doctor. I have a very strong compression in some muscle, on the vertebra … I have to do some treatment, no date yet… I will go to three doctors and then I will start physical therapy again.

Is this the same injury that forced you to postpone the fight against Machida?

It’s the same injury, maybe even a little worse, but this time I did not want to cancel the fight. I think it’s annoying to select an event and have to cancel the fight, so I went the way it was. Now, I am going to treat myself.

Do you regret having fought without being 100%?

I have no regrets, because I like to fight. Cancelling the fight would not have been good. With a month to the fight I had a very good training camp … I was not 100% but I did what I could. We never fight 100%, it is very difficult.

Courtesy of tatame