Anderson Silva: After Aldo, 'Jacare,' 'I don’t see anyone that could really represent Brazil'

Anderson Silva doesn’t seem that optimistic about the future of Brazilian MMA.

At a press conference in support of May’s UFC 198, the former UFC middleweight champion painted a pretty gloomy picture about the state of the sport in his home country, noting a sea change in titleholders and few prospects coming down the talent pipeline.

“I believe that we lost a lot,” Silva, via translator, said today in Rio de Janeiro. “This thing about having this force, and this ability to go in there and renew – I had the opportunity to come from a time when I had great idols in the sport, and looking up to them I was able to get to where I’m at today. We can’t see that today in the new talents that we have.”

For most of 2012, when Silva reigned as middleweight champ, Brazilian UFC fighters also held titles at heavyweight (Junior Dos Santos), featherweight (Jose Aldo) and bantamweight (Renan Barao).

Now, only two Brazilian champs populate the UFC’s champion roster: heavyweight titleholder Fabricio Werdum, who defends his title at UFC 198 against Stipe Miocic; and lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos.

UFC 198 takes place May 14 at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, and the main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Silva (33-7 MMA, 16-3 UFC), who meets Uriah Hall (12-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) on the event’s pay-per-view main card, has high hopes for his former training partner and longtime MMA veteran Ronaldo Souza (22-4 MMA, 5-1 UFC). “Jacare” Souza will attempt to win a title shot in UFC 198’s co-headliner against former Brazilian light heavyweight champ Vitor Belfort (25-11 MMA, 14-7 UFC).

But at the same time, Silva, who this past month lost a close decision to Michael Bisping in London to remain winless in his past four UFC outings, doesn’t see many stars on the horizon.

“I bet all my chips on ‘Jacare,’” Silva said. “I think he can fight for the belt; it should have already happened. Unfortunately, after Jose Aldo and ‘Jacare,’ I don’t see anyone that could really represent Brazil.”

Silva did mention undefeated welterweight and “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3” winner Warlley Alves (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who also is scheduled for UFC 198 opposite Bryan Barbarena (11-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC), as a potential champion.

“But other than that, we really don’t have anyone. So the amount of fighters we have in Brazil, we have very few now. There was a time when we had almost all the belts in the UFC, and now, we only have two: Werdum and dos Anjos. They’re two great athletes, and they hold the belt here in Brazil.”

The good news, at least in the short term, is that the situation doesn’t appear to be hindering the popularity of the sport in Brazil. UFC 198’s ticket sales were strong out of the gate with 32,000 tickets reportedly sold in a few hours. Giovanni Decker, the UFC’s senior vice president and general manager of Brazil, said the promotion will hold two more major events in the country this year, with stadium shows targeted for September and November.

In the long term, however, the UFC’s best talent development system remains “The Ultimate Fighter.” And so far, plans for a fifth season of “TUF Brazil” haven’t been announced.

Although he undoubtedly is the biggest MMA star ever to come from Brazil, Silva downplayed his role in the downturn. He brushed aside a reporter’s question about whether his positive drug test and suspension had an affect on the MMA star’s popularity.

“I don’t think about that,” he said. “The kids still have me as a reference. Just to end this whole doping thing, I went very quickly from a guy who’s on steroids, to a guy who’s on nothing. With my voice, I don’t use anything; I don’t have any problems with doping. It doesn’t affect my legacy or my career in any way.”

For more on UFC 198, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.